Pumpkin Trifle Is the Best Dessert You’ll Eat This Fall

Pumpkin Trifle is the perfect dessert for a cozy fall day. Cubes of moist, spiced pumpkin cake are nestled between layers of creamy pumpkin filling and fluffy whipped cream. We cut the oil in the cake by using cinnamon applesauce, which bumps up the flavor and the moisture. This is sure to become one of your go-to cake recipes with whole-wheat flour for extra fiber, and beta carotene–rich pumpkin puree. Read below for our expert tips, including how to assemble your trifle, and what to use if you don’t have a trifle dish.  

Tips from the EatingWell Test Kitchen

These are the key tips we learned while developing and testing this recipe in our Test Kitchen to make sure it works, tastes great and is good for you too! 

• For trifles, use larger cake pieces to prevent them from getting mushy when refrigerated overnight.
• You can use a glass bowl if you don’t have a trifle dish.
• This dessert is quick, easy and perfect for sharing with family and friends during the fall season, especially at Thanksgiving.
• Serve it with a regular cup of hot coffee or Chocolate-Hazelnut Iced Coffee, a chai latte or your favorite warm tea.

Nutrition Notes

• Pumpkin puree’s nutritional benefits should come as no surprise. As a member of the squash family, pumpkin’s rich orange color shows that it is high in vitamin A, which is beneficial for your immunity and for your eye health. It also contains potassium to help keep your blood pressure in a healthy range. Look for pumpkin puree versus pumpkin pie filling (which already contains spices) to control the added sugars in your recipes. 
• Whole-wheat flour is added to this recipe to provide some extra fiber to aid in digestive health. Adding in small amounts of whole-wheat flour in place of all-purpose flour can bump up the fiber content of your baked goods without changing the end result—and every extra gram of fiber helps!
• Cinnamon applesauce is a flavor-packed addition to this recipe that helps provide moisture to the cake and is a good substitute for some of the oil in the cake. You’ll also get an extra gram of fiber and some vitamin C to bump up the nutrition in this delicious dessert.