I love a good dessert salad, you know the ones – the ones that probably shouldn’t actually be called a salad at all. This berry cheesecake fluff is one of those. It’s a bunch of delicious things mixed all together into one creamy, fluffy, dessert salad. Similar to my strawberry fluff salad, this one is great to serve as a side dish, as a stand alone dessert, or even as a topping for something like strawberry shortcake. It’s the perfect option for a sweet tooth like me who also wants a little healthy fruit in the mix! With just six ingredients, it’s simple to make and so yummy. Plus, with it’s red, white, and blue colors – it’s perfect for Memorial Day, a 4th of July party, or really any backyard bbq! It’s one of my favorite easy patriotic desserts ever! It’s also a super light dessert, a no bake dessert, and a simple recipe that’s perfect for the summer!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Easy – all you do for this recipe is whip, mix, and serve! It couldn’t be much easier! Sweet but not to sweet – the combination of the cream cheese and whipping cream counterbalances the sweetness of the powdered sugar, making this taste more like cheesecake filling than say buttercream frosting that’s ultra sweet. Great to make ahead – if you need a dish to make ahead of time, this is a perfect one. Whip it all up, store in the refrigerator, and serve when you’re ready!
Ingredients
Ingredient Notes
Angel food cake – you can use either store-bought angel food cake cut into cubes or pound cake. I prefer angel food cake for the light and fluffy texture but if you can’t find it for some reason, pound cake works as well.Berries – make sure you’re using fresh strawberries and blueberries for this one. Frozen tends to hold liquid when it thaws and can mess with the texture and taste of the salad. So, just go with fresh berries! If you don’t like strawberries or blueberries, you can choose your favorite berries instead. Cream cheese – make sure your cream cheese is softened before you try to make this. I typically take it out of the fridge about 30 minutes before I’m ready to make this so it’s nice and soft at room temperature. If it’s not soft, you’ll end up with chunks, not smooth cream cheese filling. Heavy cream – any kind of heavy whipping cream works, just make sure it’s nice and cold. I like to keep it in the refrigerator until right before I add it to the dessert.
How to make cheesecake fluff
If you’ve made any fluff recipes before (there are a ton of different flavors), this one is likely going to be similar. It’s also very similar to how I start my cherry cheesecake dip! I’ve included step by step instructions below but make sure to check out the recipe card for the full recipe! For the first step, you’ll need to whip the cream cheese and powdered sugar together in a large mixing bowl until it is smooth and creamy. You can either do this with a hand mixer, an electric mixer, a stand mixer, or even by hand (but that’s not the easiest). If your cream cheese isn’t soft, let it soften before doing this step or you’ll end up with little chunks of cream cheese, which doesn’t taste good. So stick with softened cream cheese! Also, I recommend doing this at a low speed so it doesn’t splatter everywhere, at least until you’ve gotten the mixture somewhat mixed together. Powdered sugar likes to fly! For the second step, add the heavy whipping cream to the cream cheese mixture and whip until it is light and fluffy. You’ll see soft stiff peaks begin to form as the mixture comes together, which tells you it’s ready. This mixture will have a nice cheesecake flavor and the texture of homemade whipped cream. Add the blueberries and sliced strawberries and carefully fold them into the whipped mixture. You don’t want to beat these in or the color of the mixture will change and you’ll end up with piece of berries instead of the berries you really want. Finally, fold in the cubed angel food cake and stir gently so you combine it into the cheesecake fluff but don’t break all of the pieces of angel food cake into crumbles. Of if you’d prefer to skip adding it to the actual fluff, you could also serve the fluff on top of a slice of angel food cake for a sweet treat instead! If you’re serving right away, transfer to a separate bowl and garnish with fresh strawberries and blueberries to serve. Then chill for 30 minutes in the large bowl so all of the flavors have time to come together. If not serving right away, wrap the top with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator until ready to serve. You might even want to wait to add the angel food cake cubes in if you’re going to store overnight then serve the next day. You can also serve this in individual serving dishes rather than one large bowl if you want to serve it as a dessert instead of a fluff salad. If you want to omit the angel food cake altogether, you could even use this kind of like a dip and serve with graham crackers, Vanilla Wafers, and shortbread cookies for dipping.
Storage & Recipe Tips
Store the cheesecake fluff covered in the fridge (or in an airtight container) for up to three days. If you know you’re going to make this ahead of time and store overnight, I recommend waiting to add the angel food cake and garnish on top until right before you’re serving. Try this with different kinds of berries to get slightly different flavors! Triple berry with blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries is another personal favorite. If you go with all sweet berries (like blackberries and blueberries), I recommend adding a tsp of lemon zest or lemon juice into the mixture to add a little sour to the sweet. Turn it into one of the best creamy desserts by spooning the cheesecake fluff over top of a slice of pound cake or angel food cake instead of adding them into the fluff salad. It’s like a red white and blue cheesecake without all the baking! Or if you don’t like angel food cake, this would be delicious with chocolate cake as well! Make this a yummy 4th of July dessert by garnishing with strawberries or pieces of angel food cake cut into stars. Or you could go all out and use the angel food cake, strawberries, and blueberries to turn the top into an American flag like I did with this flag cake.
More Easy Dessert Recipes
If you like this fruit based desserts, you’ll love these other delicious fruity desserts!
4th of July strawberries – these fun red white and blue strawberries are great for any patriotic holiday!Kool aid pie recipe – a three ingredient pie that’s fruity, fun, and delicious for the summer months! Strawberry cheesecake bars – four layers of deliciousness in these bright and fruity dessert bars!Old fashioned jello cake – this yummy raspberry jello poke cake is not only bright in flavor but bright in color too! Lemon cupcakes with cream cheese frosting – sweet lemon cupcakes with a creamy cream cheese frosting!
