Mini Strawberry Lemonade Trifles

When I was a teenager & the "cool" thing to do was to go to Olive Garden and get all you can eat soup, salad & breadsticks. (Mainly we went for the breadsticks... those were the days when carbs weren't a concern). I always accompanied my meal by a large Strawberry Lemonade.

I still to this day love Strawberry Lemonade, but now I know how much sugar is actually in that delicious beverage in order to make it so delicious. 
So now to satisfy my Strawberry & Lemon combo cravings I look for other scrumptious, but not so guilt-inducing desserts. These Mini Strawberry Lemonade Trifles are the perfect mini dessert to give you that tart & sweet combo! PLUS, they're so simple to make!

Mini Strawberry Lemonade Trifles
(makes 12 mini trifles)
INGREDIENTS:
1 lemon cake mix
2 pints strawberries, de-stemmed & sliced
1 container of Cool Whip, thawed
1 3.4 oz. box vanilla instant pudding mix


DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9" x 13" pan and set aside. Remove lids from 12 mason jars, set aside.
2. Prepare lemon cake mix as directed on the box. Pour cake batter into prepared 9" x 13" pan and bake for   30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
3. While the cake is cooling, prepare the vanilla pudding as directed on the box. 
4. Next de-stem the strawberries and cut into 1/4" thick slices. 
5. Once the cake is cooled completely, cut the entire cake into small 1/2" x 1/2" cake cubes.
6. Begin layering the trifles by putting 3-4 cake cubes in the bottom of each mason jar, next put 1 tablespoon of vanilla pudding, followed by 4-5 slices of strawberries & top the strawberries with 1 tablespoon of Cool Whip. Repeat the layers one more time, ending with the strawberries. Using a pastry bag or a spoon, put a large dollop of Cool Whip on the top of the strawberries and top with a whole or halved strawberry.
7. Refrigerate until eaten.