Eggnog infused cake is layered with fresh cranberry sauce and eggnog pudding in this gorgeous, show-stopping holiday dessert!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
If you’re looking for an unforgettable dessert to serve for Christmas dinner this year, look no further than this beautiful Cranberry Eggnog Trifle!
This pretty layered dessert combines some of the best flavors of the holiday season–cranberry and eggnog–into a delicious creation that tastes as good as it looks.
Honestly, this trifle almost too pretty to eat. But you’ll definitely want to eat it–layers of white cake made with eggnog, a fresh cranberry sauce, and vanilla pudding that’s also made with eggnog.
It’s an amazing flavor combination that is sure to impress your friends, family and dinner guests this holiday season. Topped with homemade whipped cream and sugared cranberries, this dessert couldn’t be an prettier or more festive.
If you’d like to get some of the prep work done for this dessert ahead of time, you’ll save tons of time on the day of your big feast, so I definitely recommend going that route.
The cake, pudding, and cranberry sauce can all be made a day ahead or more, and stored in separate containers. Store the cake and room temperature and everything else in the refrigerator.
I recommend making the whipped cream the day of, and then layer all the ingredients in your trifle bowl within an hour of serving. The cake soaks up all the eggnog and cranberry goodness, and it tends to get too soggy if you assemble the trifle more than a few hours early.
For an even simpler (and easier to serve) presentation, you can use individual trifle bowls, or even Mason jars for layer the ingredients.
Since this is a dish that you want to present in it’s most beautiful state, I don’t recommend assembling it the day before. But even then, the leftovers were still delicious!
Be sure to save this recipe to your favorite Pinterest board for later.
Ingredients
- White cake mix
- Eggnog
- Vegetable oil
- Eggs
- Nutmeg
- Cranberries
- Sugar
- Vanilla pudding mix
- Milk
- Cream
- Powdered sugar
Cranberry Eggnog Trifle
Ingredients
For the cake
- 1 white cake mix
- 1 1/4 cups eggnog
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 3 egg whites
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
For the Cranberry Sauce
- 4 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
- 1 1/3 cups water
- 1 1/3 cups sugar
For the pudding
- 2 boxes 3.4 oz. instant vanilla pudding
- 3 cups eggnog
- 2 1/2 cups milk
For the topping
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
- Additional cranberries for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 x 13-inch baking pan; line with parchment paper.
- In large bowl, beat cake ingredients with electric mixer on medium speed about 2 minutes or until well combined. Spread into prepared pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Cool completely.
- While cake bakes and cools, make cranberry sauce and pudding. In a medium saucepan, heat cranberry sauce ingredients to boiling over medium-high heat. Simmer for an additional 5-10 minutes or until berries have burst and sauce begins to thicken. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
- In large bowl, whisk pudding ingredients until well combined. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
- Cut cooled cake into cubes. Just before assembling trifle, in medium bowl, beat whipping cream and powdered sugar with electric mixer on high speed to stiff peaks.
- In trifle bowl, layer cake cubes, pudding mixture and cranberry sauce; repeat twice. Finish with a final layer of cake and pudding (no cranberry sauce). Top with whipped cream and garnish with additional cranberries, if desired. Serve within 1-2 hours.
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5 comments
Debbie
Can you make this without the eggnog? I do not like eggnog.
Plagiarism
Please credit Cindy Rahe/Betty Crocker for this recipe because it’s theirs, not yours
Michelle
For the cranberry sauce…would adding a bit of orange zest be n9ce in this or not with the eggnog flavour?
Danelle
I think it would be great.
Florence Gee
This looked absolutely delicious, but you did not deliniate between what ingredients belong to the cake mix, the cranberry sauce or the pudding. In other words, what ingredients go for each layer could you please state in a message that would be very helpful.
Thank you Flo Gee