Strawberry Poke Cake – Immaculate Bites

Why It Is Called Poke Cake

With poke cakes, you bake a sheet cake, let it cool and then poke holes in it (thus the name) to fill with colorful gelatin before adding the frosting and other toppings. You can use the handle of a wooden spoon, chopsticks, or even a fork to poke the cake. The idea is that the gelatin can seep down into the baked cake, creating colorful and flavor-packed stripes throughout.

Recipe Ingredients

• Box Cake Mix – I like the white cake mix for this recipe because the red jello stripe looks so pretty against the white cake, but you could use yellow or even chocolate too. You can also whip up your own homemade cake mix if you prefer.
• Gelatin – Strawberry jello poke cake calls for, you guessed it, strawberry jello. But, again, you can use any flavor of jello you like!
• Whipped cream – Now, you could use Cool Whip as your topping, but I much prefer homemade whipped cream to the top of this jello poke cake recipe. It’s so worth it! 😋
• Fresh strawberries – These are optional as a topping for your cake, but they look and taste great, so I definitely recommend using them.

How to Make Strawberry Poke Cake

Bake the Cake

• Make the Cake – Mix the cake mix and other ingredients listed on the box (usually water, eggs, and oil) in a large bowl using a hand mixer. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds. Then, beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. (Photos 1-2)
• Bake the cake mix according to the package instructions in a 13×9-inch cake pan. (Photos 3-4)
• Cool – Remove the baked cake from the oven and allow it to cool for 15 minutes.
• Poke – Then, poke all over the top of the cake with the handle of a wooden spoon or a chopstick, creating small holes. (Photo 5)

The Gelatin and Topping

• Start the Gelatin – Boil water in a small saucepan, then whisk in gelatin until it’s completely dissolved. Next, whisk in the cold water. (Photo 6)
• Assemble the Cake – Pour gelatin over the cake slowly, ensuring it gets in all the holes. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours or overnight. (Photo 7)
• Add Toppings – Top the cake generously with whipped cream. Add fresh strawberries on top to decorate. 🍓 (Photos 8-10)

Recipe Variations

1. Jello Swap – Oh, the recipe variations for this one! For the filling, you can use literally any flavor of jello, pudding, fruit puree, homemade custard, caramel sauce, or anything else you think would be delicious.
2. Adult Version – To make a spiked version of this cake, add some liqueur (amaretto, chocolate, cherry, etc.) to the liquid jello before pouring it over the cake. Yum! 🤤
3. Cake Swap – Any cake flavor will do, boxed cake or homemade! Think chocolate cake with cherry jello, spice cake with peach jello, vanilla cake with chocolate pudding, coconut cake with banana pudding, and the list goes on.
4. Topping Swap – I love homemade whipped cream to frost this cake, but you could use a regular frosting instead. And you can top the frosting with toasted coconut, any kind of fruit, chocolate drizzle, graham cracker crumble, or whatever sounds good. Seriously, the flavor combinations are practically infinite! ♾️

Tips and Tricks

1. When making the jello, ensure the gelatin mix is completely dissolved in boiling water before adding the cold water. Otherwise, it won’t set properly.
2. It’s best to poke holes in your cake as soon as it comes out of the oven. Once the cake cools down, it will be more crumbly, and you won’t get those beautifully defined stripes when you pour the jello over it.
3. When filling the holes with jello, give the cake pan a few taps to get rid of any air bubbles. This will help you fill the holes completely and get more defined stripes.

Make-Ahead Instructions

You can make this cake three days in advance. Follow the recipe instructions to a T, and then store the cake in an airtight container in the fridge until you are ready to serve it.

Serving and Storage Instructions

As noted in the recipe, you have to chill this cake for at least three hours to make sure the jello is completely set before you cut the cake and serve it.

Store cake leftovers in the fridge in an airtight container. They’ll stay good for 3-5 days, though I daresay your family will wipe out any leftovers long before then. 😉

FAQs

What Goes with Strawberry Poke Cake

I love to indulge in sweet cakes with a strong cup of coffee or ginger tea. Sometimes I add an extra dollop of homemade whipped cream to my slice of cake and my coffee because it’s just that good!

You could also serve this cake with lemon curd or a chocolate sauce. I sometimes use my chocolate gravy from my Southern chocolate gravy and biscuits recipe for this. 😁

More Easy Cake Recipes to Try

1. Yellow Cake
2. Buttermilk Pound Cake
3. Hot Milk Cake
4. Pumpkin Cheesecake
5. Spice Cake

Conclusion

Ok, so maybe this cake recipe is a little dated, but vintage is the rage. What flavor combinations do you plan on trying out? Drop your best one in the comments section below. ❤️