In preparation of the Fourth of July I have found I need two things 1. Produce and 2. A Sharp Knife.

It has been a hot summer here in the Boston area and knowing this I always prepare lots of cut fruits and veggies that are placed in glass containers in my fridge for snacking or for easy food preparation. After going to the grocery stores and Costco yesterday I came home to chop all my new finds up. I have 3 containers of cucumbers, 1 very large container of tomatoes, 12 chopped apples in a mixing bowl with lemon juice for pie, and 3 containers of strawberries. I felt good about this because when traveling over the fourth of July and surrounding days I see a need for cool raw items like fruit and cutting it up just makes it more accessible. The other day I went through 2 cartons of chopped strawberries from Saturday’s farm stand because of a Graduation party. If they had not been so accessible I may have just gone and lazily bought something. Instead my vegan version of a Fruit Trifle went over so well it was empty within 1 hour. The grocery store cake was barely missing a third of its frosting. So with that I am going to give you my trifle recipe and hopefully you will take that to the next fiesta you get invited to this summer as well as my tips to remember to “chop, contain, and take away” all those delicious fruits and veggies you buy each week. The 30 minutes it takes to do them all after shopping saves so much time later that week when you are in a hurry!

Ingredients for Marscapone:

1 8oz container vegan cream cheese

1/3cup vegan sour cream

1/3cup vegan powdered sugar

Ingredients for Whipped Cream:

2 cans chilled Coconut Milk

4 tablespoons Coconut Flour

1tbs Vanilla Extract

1-2cups Vegan Powdered Sugar

Ingredients for Cake:

1 lemon cake mix (try Organics by Dr. Oetker)

2 tablespoons freshly ground flaxseed powder

1 egg worth of egg replacer (I use Ener-gee Egg Replacer and buy it at Whole Foods)

Vegetable/Soybean Oil

Water

Ingredients for Fruit Filling:

4 cups chopped fresh strawberries

4 cups fresh blueberries

START: Make the yellow cake per the box specifications adding 1 egg worth of egg replacer and 2 eggs worth of powdered flaxseed (2tbsp). I use two circular cake pans and fill each half way. Bake until slightly browned and allow to cool before starting trifle.

CREAMS: In separate bowls, begin mixing the ingredients outlined above for each of the marscapone and whipped creams. For the whipped cream take only the white coconut cream substance from the can draining away any liquid before it goes in the bowl.  You can double either recipe for more thick creamy layers to the trifle if you have a larger trifle bowl. Whip both until thick and place into the refrigerator while you wait to prep the  rest of the trifle.

FRUIT: Chop the strawberries into small squares about the same size as a large blueberry. Blueberries can remain as is for layering.

MAKING THE LAYERS: I start the bottom layer with lemon cake. I trim the edges that are crusty off first and then slide to the bottom of the trifle bowl. I then top it with 1/2 of the marscapone cream. The next layer is of 1/2 of the blueberries. Then 1/2 of the whipped cream on top and last a layer of 1/2 of the chopped strawberries. Then repeat the whole set of layers. I save a few blueberries to sprinkle with the strawberries on the top layer as well since it is exposed.

Refrigerate until it is time to serve. Enjoy!

PS: This was a crowd pleaser to even non-vegans (since I am the only one that was at this party). They were whispering about it outside and talking to my mother about how talented I was. It is too simple to be talent so sneak around telling everyone you are an amazing chef and whip this up tomorrow morning for your Independence Day party!