REAL Strawberry Jell-O Poke Cake

Book Update:  Yeah… still working on that final.

Recipe:  I grew up with strawberry jell-O poke cake.  You know the one where you stick holes in a white cake, pour jello all over it, top it with some Cool Whip and throw it in the fridge?  Yeah, that one.  It’s yummy.  It’s a great cool dessert in the summer, but it…. lacks something.  Like strawberries.  Like real food.  So, here is a real food version and I also provide shortcuts in case you want REAL food taste without actually making the entire thing from scratch… 🙂  Sneaky, huh?

Strawberry Jell-O Poke Cake
serves 16

Cake:
2 and 1/4 cups AP flour
4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 cup whole milk, room temp.
2 tsp. vanilla
6 large egg whites, room temp.
12 Tb. butter, softened
1 and 3/4 cup sugar

Filling/Topping:
4 cups frozed sliced strawberries (one 16 oz. bag works perfectly)
6 Tb. sugar, dividied
1/2 cup water
2 Tb. orange juice
2 Tb. strawberry Jell-O
2 cups heavy cream
Zest of 2 oranges
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract or fiori di sicilia

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray or grease a 13×9 pan.
2.  To make the Cake:  In one bowl, whisk the dry stuff:  flour, baking powder and salt.
3.  In another bowl, whisk the wet stuff:  milk, vanilla and egg whites.
4.  In your stand mixer or large bowl:  beat the sugar and butter together about 4-6 minutes on medium-high.
5.  Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the butter/sugar and mix.  Add 1/2 the milk mixture and beat.  Add 1/3 of the flour mixture and beat.  Add 1/2 the milk mixture and beat.  Finally, add the rest of your flour and beat until combined.  Pour into your prepped cake pan and bake 35 minutes.
(To Cheat:  Buy a white cake mix and bake as directed.)

6.  Let the cake cool completely.
7.  In a saucepan, mix 3 cups of those frozen strawberries, 2 Tb. sugar, water and orange juice.  Stir this over medium-low heat until the strawberries get mushy.  It took me about 10-15 minutes.
8.  Strain that mixture in a strainer with a batter bowl or preferably a bowl with a spout attached underneath.  Either way, have your strainer on top of a bowl.  Strain the strawberries from the juice.  Put the strawberries into the fridge.
9.  Sprinkle the strawberry gelatin onto the reserved juice and stick that into the fridge for 20 minutes.
10.  Poke lots and lots of holes into the cake using toothpicks or even better, skewers.
11.  Pour the strawberry jello mixture over the cake SLOWLY.  Wrap/cover and fridge the cake for 3 hours.

12.  Into the Food Processor:  add your reserved fridge strawberries and 1 cup frozen strawberries with 2 Tb. sugar.  Pulse that in the processor for 7-10 times – until you get a spreadable mixture.
13.  Spread onto cake.

14.  Now, using your whip attachment, whip (on high setting) the 2 cups of heavy cream with 2 Tb. of sugar, orange zest and extract to medium peaks.  Voila!  Real whipped cream topping!
(To cheat on this part:  Stir the zest and extract into TruWhip or Trader Joe’s House Whip.)

Recipe from America’s Test Kitchen