Name: Peaches and Cream Trifle
Prep time: 15 min
Total time: 4 h 15 min
Yield: 12
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk; 1-1/2 cups cold water; 1 (3.4 oz.) package instant vanilla pudding mix; 2 cups heavy whipping cream, whipped; 1 (12 oz.) pound cake (like Sara Lee), cubed; 4 cups sliced fresh peaches; 1/2 cup peach preserves

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Peaches and Cream Trifle is a light, refreshing, cool, and creamy layered dessert. This dessert features fresh peaches, vanilla pudding, and freshly whipped cream. This trifle is the perfect ending to a summertime meal.

Fresh peaches are my jam! Get it, jam? I don’t remember a time in my life when I didn’t look forward to peach season.

Back in the old days (as my grandkids say) when I was growing up in Georgia, we had several peach trees. I’d pick a peach, wipe it on my shorts and take a big bite – peeling and all.

Mom’s peach ice cream was out-of-this-world good. I wish I had her recipe. I’m still trying to recreate it. I’ll never forget those hot summer Sunday afternoons, sitting on the porch, taking our turns cranking out that frozen concoction studded with cubes of fresh peaches.

I can’t mention peaches without thinking about mom’s peach cobbler. It’s another winner! But let’s get back to Peaches and Cream Trifle.

Layered Peach Trifle in Glass Bowl

Fun Facts About Peaches

Freshly picked peaches piled up high

Even though Georgia (my beloved home state) is known as the peach state, peaches have reigned as South Carolina’s (my current home for over 28 years) official state fruit since 1984.

South Carolina produces more peaches than Georgia. In the USA, South Carolina is the number two producer of peaches, and California (because of its size) is number one. Georgia actually ranks number 4, after New Jersey.

There are two main varieties of peaches; freestone and clingstone. Peaches are a great source of vitamins A and C and a medium peach has only 59 calories.

July is the national peach month and the largest peach is located in Gaffney, South Carolina. It’s not a real peach. It’s actually a water tower made to look like a peach.

How To Pick The Perfect Peach

Peaches get sweeter and juicier as they ripen. Use these tips to choose the perfect peach.

A ripe peach is slightly soft. If it’s firm, it’s not ready.
Ripe peaches have a sweet smell.
Avoid bruised peaches with brown spots.
Choose tree-ripened peaches.
Buy local if possible. I buy my peaches from a local peach farm. They also have a little restaurant on-site and serve the best peach empanadas topped with vanilla ice cream. I’m going to recreate their recipe one of these days.

Ingredients for Peaches and Cream Trifle

For this trifle, you’ll need:

Sweetened condensed milk
Water
Instant vanilla pudding mix
Heavy whipping cream, whipped
Pound cake, cubed (homemade or storebought)
Fresh peaches, peeled and sliced
Peach preserves

My dad’s famous sour cream pound cake is the perfect cake for this trifle. However, when I need a dessert in a hurry, I use a storebought pound cake (like a 12-oz. Sara Lee pound cake).

How To Layer Peaches and Cream Trifle

Whenever I’m making this trifle, I cube the cake, whip the whipping cream, and mix up the pudding ingredients. That way, when it’s time to start layering, everything is ready to go.

I use my hand mixer to combine the water, condensed milk, and pudding mix. My stand mixer is used for whipping the cream to stiff peaks. Then I use a spatula to fold the whipped cream into the pudding mixture.

You can use a 4-quart trifle dish or glass bowl for this dessert. The bottom layer is 2 cups of the pudding mixture.

Bottom Layer of Trifle - Pudding and Whipped Cream mixture, in the bottom of a glass bowl

Add half of the pound cake cubes.

second layer - cubed pound cake

Then add half of the sliced peaches brushed with half of the peach preserves.

Fresh Sliced Peaches brushed with peach preserves in a glass bowl

Add half of the remaining pudding mixture. Repeat the layers. (The top layer will be the remaining pudding mixture.)

Refrigerate for 2-4 hours before serving. This is an easy dessert to make and it always gets rave reviews.

Peaches and Cream Trifle served in a fluted pink bowl with rose gold forks

Helpful Hint: You can also make this dessert by using fresh sliced strawberries and strawberry preserves in place of the peaches and peach preserves. It then becomes a strawberry and cream trifle and it’s delicious too!