Food: Pampered Chef's Lime-Berry Mousse Trifle

One of my favorite things to make during the Spring and Summer months is Pampered Chef's Lime-Berry Mousse Trifle. It's refreshing and e-very-time  I make it, people are begging for the recipe. As much as I would claim it as mine, I cannot. So if you aren't familiar with this recipe or its delicious wonderfulness, I'm going to share the recipe (with a few of my adjustments) for you.

NOTE: this recipe only takes about 20 minutes to make, so with a shopping trip and making it, you can have a last-minute recipe ready for a party, get together, or...well...yourself in under an hour. Also, you can find the original recipe here. Any adjustments I have made will be noted below with an asterisk (*). 


Pampered Chef's Lime-Berry Mousse Trifle (with slight adjustments by Jana)

What You'll Need:

• 4-5 limes, divided 
• *8 ounces cream cheese, softened 
• 2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
• *16 ounces frozen whipped topping, thawed, divided
• *3 cups assorted berries such as strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries (the recipe calls for fresh, but I have also used frozen. Frozen is messier in the end, but more convenient and cheap, depending on the time of year)
• *16 oz frozen prepared pound cake, thawed
• 1 pint lime sherbet, softened
• *1/4 cup sliced almond 

Instructions:

1. Thinly slice two limes; set aside. Zest remaining limes to measure about 1 Tbsp; juice limes to make about *1/2-3/4 cup juice. (Just juice the rest of the limes until there is nothing left...then take the rinds and boil them as talked about here) 
2. In a large bowl, whisk cream cheese, condensed milk, lime juice and zest. 
3. Fill a zip-closed bag with about *3/4 cup of the whipped topping and set aside. 
4. Gently fold in the remaining topping until smooth. 
5. Slice strawberries *(if you are using fresh) and put all the berries in a small bowl. 
6. Cut the pound cake into 1-inch cubes with a bread knife or a small paring knife (whatever knife works best for you. Just don't butcher the cake)
7. To assemble the trifle, place half of the pound cake cubes on the bottom of a trifle bowl. Top with half of the sherbet and spread evenly. Top sherbet with half of the berries and half of the cream cheese mixture. Place the sliced limes around the inside of the bowl, *saving two pretty ones for the end (You can skip this entire part because it is a garnish, but it sure does make it pretty!). Repeat layers one more time with remaining pound cake cubes, sherbet, berries, and cream cheese mixture. 
8. *Cut a small corner off the bottom of the zip-closed bag with the rest of the whipped topping. Pipe little rosettes (or whatever) around the rim of the trifle and *one large one in the center. Sprinkle the top of the trifle with the sliced almonds. 
9. *With the paring knife, cut a slit in the lime from the center to the edge. Slightly twist them open and arrange on top of the center rosette of the trifle. 
10. *If you are not serving within the hour, I totally recommend putting this in the fridge. Otherwise, everything will begin to melt. 

I have prepared this recipe the night before by slicing the fruit and pound cake and mixing the cream cheese mixture (without the whipped topping) the night before. Then all I had to do in the morning was mix in the whipped topping and then assemble. This is a great way to prep it before you have a get together. If you are having a party in the evening, but will have 4 million other things to do, if you prep it the night before, then assembling it at the last minute will literally take you 5 minutes. 

This is SUCH A GREAT dessert!! Give a try and tell me how you like it (or if you altered it...I've always wondered what it would taste like with a different flavor sherbet...or if you use angel food cake instead of pound cake). 

Enjoy! 

I made this one for a baby shower, and there was about this much left over. When I said I was going to throw the rest out, it was like slow motion of people saying "Noooooooo!" as they dove for the rest...well, it didn't happen quite like that, but super duper close to it.