Cherry Delight Is The Easy Layered Dessert You Need To Try

It's always smart to have a no-bake dessert up your sleeve. From last-minute social gatherings to your own personal late-night hankerings, you never know when you're going to need something sweet that comes together fast. Dessert pizza and two-ingredient lemon bars are both easy and delicious, but they require an oven. The kind of dessert we're referring to can be assembled in minutes. It hits all the right notes: fruity, creamy, and a little crunchy. We're talking about cherry delight.

In case you aren't in the know, cherry delight is a layered confection that you need in your life. Take it to a party, and it will disappear. Put it in your own fridge, and we're not liable for what happens next. Similar to a no-bake cheesecake or a trifle, cherry delight is long on wow factor and short on prep work. 

To make it, you just need to pack a mixture of graham cracker crumbs and melted butter into a prepared baking dish, then layer in a blended mixture of cream cheese, powdered sugar, whipped cream, and vanilla. Finally, scoop cherry pie filling over the top. Let your dessert set in the fridge for at least two hours for proper consistency ... or don't, and immediately attack it with a spoon. It will be a little softer than it ought to be, but we won't tell on you!

The quick-and-dirty preparation of cherry delight has been described already, but, if you have a little more time and patience, you can really class this trifle up and make it extraordinary. Baking the butter-and-graham cracker crust will give it a bit of a toastier flavor that offsets all the sweetness of the pie filling nicely. You can also substitute chocolate graham crackers for the normal ones in the crust ... because who doesn't love the combination of cherries and chocolate?

If you aren't a huge fan of sugar-bomb desserts, you can tweak the creamy middle section to flip it into something more rich and less sweet. To that end, making your own whipped cream (we recommend taking it to the stiff peak stage for texture) can enhance the filling, along with mixing in some sour cream and/or lemon zest for a more tart, zingy layer. Taking time with an electric beater to really froth the middle layer will introduce air into the mixture, giving it irresistible airiness. Play with proportions, too. The cherry pie filling on top is obviously going to be your most cloying element, so feel free to use more or less, depending on how big a punch of sugary goodness you are going for. This is a recipe that really invites you to make it your own.