Tahni Mesann
Christmas trifle from the supermarket? Yes, it’s a thing, and this year the Better Homes and Gardens team and surrounding office put them to the test. Trifle, it’s the kind of Christmas dessert you either love or you loathe, but there’s one thing you can’t deny: those delicious layers of cake, jelly, custard and cream look good in the centre of the table.
But what if you don’t have time to make your trifle recipe from scratch?
Turns out, both Coles and Woolworths sell ready-made Christmas trifles. Our blind taste-test yielded surprising results, but the clear winner was hailed as “perfect,” “the GOAT”, and “went back for seconds!”
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- The Better Homes and Gardens team and wider office blind taste-tested three supermarket trifles from Coles and Woolworths
- While the trifles from Coles looked the most appetising, the winner was Woolworths’ $35 Caramelised Biscuit Trifle. It scored an 8/10.
The best supermarket Christmas trifle
When setting up the trifles for the taste test, I have to admit, I didn’t have high hopes for the Woolworths’ trifle. Coles’ trifles just looked the part, you know? They had more defined, multi-coloured layers and seemed more impressive. Also, a lamington-inspired trifle? Count me in. The Woollies trifle, on the other hand, just looked kinda brown.
But the proof is in the pudding, or should I say, the trifle? When everyone started tasting them, the overwhelmingly positive reaction to Woolworths’ trifle was undeniable. Here are the final scores:
- Woolworths Caramelised Biscuit Trifle, 8/10
- Coles Decadent Lamington Trifle, 7/10
- Coles Summer Strawberry Shortbread Trifle, 5/10
Winner, Woolworths: 8/10
01
Caramelised Biscuit Trifle (1.2kg)
from $35, Woolworths
Best for: Zero-effort crowd-pleaser
I observed the taste-test as it was happening, and it soon became clear #14, aka Woolworths’ Caramelised Biscuit Trifle, was a crowd favourite.
“Creamy, caramel-y,” said one. “GOAT,” wrote another on their scorecard. Others said it tasted exactly like Biscoff, “Yum!!!” In the end, 17 people ended up testing this trifle, and three of them gave it perfect 10s, while three others gave it a 9/10. “I went back for seconds!” wrote one reviewer, almost apologetically, when #14 was listed twice on their scorecard.
Those who gave this dessert a slightly lower score said it was too sweet. “Good but you can’t eat too much,” wrote one reviewer. I tasted all of the trifles too, and can confidently say this was my top pick of the bunch, but I do see where the critics are coming from. So, if you end up buying this trifle to bring to Christmas lunch, make sure you swing past the fridge section for a tub of thickened cream and some fresh berries to cut through the sweetness.
2nd Place, Coles: 7/10
02
Decadent Lamington Trifle (720g)
from $16, Coles
Best for: Lamington lovers
The second most popular trifle was this lamington-inspired beauty. The pack says it’s made up of several layers: raspberry coulis, choc mousse, lamington sponge, vanilla flavoured mallow and dark chocolate ganache, topped with desiccated coconut.
One reviewer who gave it a 7 described it as “nice and creamy.” One thing I liked about this trifle was how light it was to eat, which I think has a lot to do with the chocolate mousse layer. The raspberry coulis, right at the bottom of the dish, was difficult to scoop out initially, but provided just the right amount of sweetness and zing to the whole experience.
3nd Place, Coles: 5/10
03
Decadent Lamington Trifle (720g)
from $16, Coles
Best for: Those who find most desserts too sweet
Of all the trifles, I was excited to eat this one most. It had lovely pink and yellow layers (pink mallow and vanilla custard, respectively) that just looked really impressive. Sadly, it was the trifle that impressed me the least. One reviewer gave it a 5/10 noting “flavour could be richer.”
I have to agree. The shortbread biscuit topping gave the dish an odd, soggy texture and all of the layers tasted kind of bland. If I had to sum it up I’d say this: it tastes like someone spilled red cordial on a kids’ birthday cake. Not exactly unpleasant, but not exactly ideal either.
How we tested the supermarket trifles
We set up a trifle taste-testing station in the BHG office. Coles generously provided two trifles for us to try, but we purchased the Woolworths trifle ourselves.
During the test, we anonymised each product by removing the packaging and assigning them a number. Tasters would then rate the trifles out of 10 based on appearance, texture and taste.
Scores were rounded to whole numbers and averaged. Each trifle was tested on its own (without additional fruit toppings, sauces, cream or ice-cream).
