This Skinny Berry Cheesecake Trifle is the perfect holiday dessert for entertaining. No guilt here with this lightened up recipe.
If you’re looking for a showstopping dessert that’s on the lighter side for a special occasion (New Year’s would be perfect), look no further. I’ve got you covered. I made this Skinny Berry Cheesecake Trifle for our Christmas Eve Open House and it was a hit! I never divulged the fact that this decadent looking dessert was actually skinnied down ;).
I loved how festive this trifle looked with all the fresh berries layered throughout and piled on top. I used a combination of fresh strawberries and raspberries(Costco’s is a great place to buy berries at a good price – they even carry Driscoll’s berries, which I love). As far as I’m concerned, if I can sneak fruit into dessert, especially a lightened up dessert that still tastes decadent, it’s a win-win.
One trick I used was to substitute low-fat cottage cheese for the full-fat cream cheese and reduced fat sour cream for full-fat sour cream. Non-fat Greek yogurt would also be a great substitute for sour cream. This trifle was also lightened up by using angel food cake in place of pound cake which is often used in trifles.
Of course, portion sizes are important (this dessert is still high in sugar), so just a scoop of this gorgeous Trifle will satisfy your sweet tooth ;).
More Skinny Recipes:
Skinny Strawberry Cheesecake Parfaits
Skinny Hot Spinach Dip
Skinny Hot Spinach and Artichoke Dip
Skinny Philly Cheese Steak Dip
Skinny Strawberry Raspberry Cheesecake Trifle Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups non-fat or low-fat cottage cheese
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 cup non-fat or low-fat sour cream
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 cup whipping cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 Angel Food cake cut into 1" cubes
- 1 quart fresh strawberries sliced
- 1 quart fresh raspberries
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 3 tablespoons amaretto
- fresh raspberries for garnish
Instructions
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Place cottage cheese in food processor and process until smooth. Add powdered sugar, sour cream, vanilla and almond extracts and process until mixed well.
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Beat whipping cream until light peaks form. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and 1 tablespoon sugar. Continue to beat until stiff peaks form. Fold whipped cream into cottage cheese mixture. Add cake cubes and gently fold together until cake pieces are coated with cottage cheese mixture.
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Mix strawberries, raspberries, 2 tablespoons sugar and amaretto together. Place a layer of strawberries and raspberries in the bottom of a trifle bowl. Top with a layer of cake mixture. Add another layer of berries, then another layer of cake mixture. End with a layer of berries. Garnish with additional fresh berries.
If you like this Skinny Berry Cheesecake Trifle, you might also like:
Strawberry Whipped Cream Santas
Love how you skinnied this!! I would never have thought to add cottage cheese and sour cream…looks gorgeous!
Thanks Asiya – cottage cheese is surprisingly a great low-fat substitute for cream cheese in many recipes!
I love how you used berries to make this look festive looking instead of dye or some other funky stuff! And love the addition of cottage cheese. 🙂 I don’t like cottage cheese by itself, but I love sneaking it into stuff.
I just voted for you on Healthline–good luck! I wouldn’t think to use cottage cheese in something like this either–such a great idea! This looks like it would be a fantastic New Year’s dessert.
Cottage cheese is a great way to lighten things up. I use it, rather than ricotta cheese, to make lasagna and ziti. Nobody ever knows the difference! This trifle is absolutely stunning, Jeanette!
Trifle is one of my favourite desserts so I love that you’ve shared with us a skinny version! Yum yum!
Looks great, Jeanette!! Hope you and your family has a Happy New Year!
looks so pretty!
WOW! what a gorgeous dessert – and right up m y alley – we LOVE berries. I cannot wait to try it.
Thanks Heather – our guests loved this dessert and I loved the fact that it was light and had lots of berries in it so it was healthier than most holiday desserts.
This would have been a perfect dessert for New Year’s Eve. So it will be the perfect dessert for my birthday at the end of this month! 😉
Thanks a lot for this nice recipe and beautiful pictures!
Knauf
Knauf, I hope you have this for your birthday – it tastes decadent, but it’s so light.
Do you know how many carbohydrates are in this? My husband is a diabetic! Also, I usually substitute Splenda in all my recipes for reg sugar. You can’t taste the difference. What do you think about that?
Karen – I don’t know how many carbohydrates per serving. I used store bought angel food cake, so you might be able to figure it out by looking at this: http://www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate/nutrition-calories/food/albertsons/angel-food-cake/ as a benchmark. I’ve never used Splenda and am not familiar with that product. I’m guessing you would substitute all the sugar in this recipe (including the powdered sugar) with Splenda? I don’t know if you can substitute Splenda in Angel Food cake recipes from scratch. I found this sugar-free angel food cake recipe but have never tried it. Would love to hear if you try it. http://notecook.com/desserts/cakes/sugar-free-angel-food-cake/
Its NOT the fat you should be worrying about…its the sugar!!!!
This is so NOT healthy!
Hi Joy, thanks for your comment. This is a lightened up dessert, and you’ll see my note in the post that portion size is still important as this is high in sugar.
I served this at lunch with my parents, it was really nice and they couldn’t tell about the ingredients – they delved in for seconds! Next time I will reduce the sugar as I prefer my desserts a bit more tart and this was a tad sweet for my taste. But I will be making it again!
Lorraine – so glad you tried this and liked it. I agree – there is a lot of sugar in this recipe. I made it for our holiday party. If I make it again for our family, I’ll do the same and use less sugar.
Hi Jeanette. I don’t do alcohol. what could i use instread of the amaretto ? and could i use a ordinary sponge cake instead?
You could leave the amaretto out or use a little almond extract.
Jeanette- First time on your blog. I like it! Thanks! Loved your beautiful slimmed down Berry Trifle. Just wondering where you live to be able buy fresh berries at Christmas time? I live in Oregon, and every thing is pretty much frozen by then?
Hi Brenda – thanks so much for visiting my blog! I actually found the berries for this trifle at Costco’s. I don’t usually buy fresh berries in the wintertime, but for special occasions like Christmas it’s nice if you can find them.
I am so excited to be making this yummy trifle for my mom yhis mother’s day! Should i serve it immediately after making, or would it be ok to makd it in the morning and refrigerate it until dinner? Thank you!
Briana, this is best after it’s been refrigerated first.
Jeanette, let me tell you….. This is by far one of my family’s fav dessert!!!! I’m actually making it for work tomorrow and I had to double the recipe so my little ones could have some too. I’ve used honey, agave and stevia to substitute the sugar and each time it’s a hit. Thank you!!
Mia, so glad to hear you tried this and your family liked it! Thank you for letting me know and for sharing your substitutions.
This is gorgeous!!
How far ahead can I make and refrigerate this yummy Skinny Strawberry Raspberry Cheesecake Trifle?
Donna – I think I made it the night before.
love this recipe. Thanks for sharing
I love trifles…but I never make them or seem to ever eat them too often! This looks delicious. Loving the addition of cottage cheese.
Thanks Alanna, the cottage cheese lightens this up nicely.
I never would have thought to add cottage cheese. Love this. It’s gorgeous!
Thanks Liz – I’ve used pureed cottage cheese with good success as a substitute for cream cheese in several recipes.
Jeanette this looks amazing- I love trifle (mum makes one for all main occasions) but never seen a lightened up one- Pinning!
Could I use ultra-low fat cream cheese instead of cottage cheese? I like the idea of using fat-free Greek yogurt instead of sour cream too.
I don’t have a food processor. If I do use cottage cheese, can I put it in a blender instead?
A blender should work fine.
Hi Sylvia, both of your substitutions should work fine. Taste and see how you like it – I find Greek yogurt is more tart than sour cream so you may want to make it a little sweeter.