I hope everyone is having (had) a great 4th of July. I should have planned this better to have this post up before the 4th of July but I think I got distracted with the fact that I actually had a 4 day weekend from work! And for once, this workaholic actually relaxed a bit. I hadn't planned to bake this weekend but if you know me, I can't sit still for long. I wanted to make something other than the go to flag pound cake or a parfait. On Sunday, I decided I wanted to try out a recipe that I found a few months ago that got me curious. I thought Independence Day would be a fun way to try this one out....a poke cake.
So what is poke cake? Poke cake is a simple way to dress up your cake without decorating and change the flavor without making your own cake from scratch (although you can make your own cake for this if you really wanted to). I just wanted to share something that was fairly quick and easy that any casual baker can make. Poke cake can be made with box cake mix and a large box of flavored gelatin. Here's how:
Patriotic Poke Cake
1 pkg. (2-layer size) white cake mix (plus ingredients listed on box)
2 cups boiling water 1 pkg. (large) Jell-o Berry Blue Flavor Gelatin
1 tub (8 oz.) COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed
1 package fresh strawberries, sliced
Follow directions for box cake.
Place 2 baked 9-inch round cake layers, top side up, each in clean 9-inch round cake pan. Pierce cakes with large fork at 1/2-inch intervals.
Stir boiling water into JELL-O Gelatin in medium bowl at least 2 min. until completely dissolved. Carefully pour gelatin evenly over cake layers. Refrigerate 3 hours.
Dip one of the cake pans in warm water 10 sec.; unmold onto serving plate. Spread with about 1 cup of the whipped topping and add sliced strawberries. Unmold second cake layer; carefully place on first cake layer. Frost top and side of cake with remaining whipped topping. Top with additional strawberries. Refrigerate at least 1 hour or until ready to serve.
Source: adapted from Kraftrecipes.com
Final result
Sueshine Notes about Poke Cake:
1) Have fun with the Jello flavors and toppings. I picked Berry Blue, white cake, and strawberries because I wanted a red, white, blue theme. You can even do one layer one flavor and the second layer a different color.
2) Don't be afraid to pour in all the Jello. I was a little wary of pouring in all the liquid because it's a lot of liquid and I thought it would make my cake soggy. Do it. My cake did not have that many blue streaks throughout the cake because I only used half.
3) This can be made to be diabetic friendly. This is one of the first recipes that you can find most of the ingredients in sugar free or reduced sugar ready-made. Pillsbury is currently the only mainstream company that makes a sugar free boxed cake available in your local grocery story. Their yellow cake can be used for this recipe. Jell-O makes several of their flavors in sugar free form and it does not taste any different. Cool Whip comes in regular, sugar free, lite, and fat free so you have a few options there.
My first poke cake was pretty fun to make and it's so easy that I whipped it up in a few hours. I've also seen different versions of poke cake made with pudding so this cake is something I want to revisit in the future with a diabetic friendly version. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend. I'm off to enjoy my last few hours of relaxation and watch some fireworks with my hubby :)
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