Refrigerated Strawberry Cake - Oh My!

 Hey everyone.  The thaw has begun.  The polar vortex is on the wane - hip hip hooray!  It was in the high 30's today and is supposed to be 60 on Saturday.  Yes!  We will take it.

Yesterday, I posted a recipe for a soup that I made and hinted at the fabulous dessert we were having with the promise of a recipe today.  Well, it's your lucky day and here it is.  It is a dessert that I have made for years with a slight modification.

My friend Joyce sent me a recipe the other day and commented on how good it looked.  It did indeed look wonderful.  I told her I had been making one quite similar for many years.  The recipe she sent used a strawberry cake mix, but I have always made mine with a white cake.  I love white cake.  Sometimes, strawberry flavored things sort of overwhelm me with "too much" strawberry flavor.  It can be too sweet and somewhat cloying, but that is just me.  Otherwise, the recipe was pretty similar except it used frozen strawberries in syrup instead of strawberry jello.  This was one of the first "poke" cakes I ever made.  Is it good?  You bet it is!

While making soup, I decided we needed a fabulous dessert to go along with it.  We were stuck in the house after all, and that calls for fabulousness somehow, don't you think?  So, I thought of the strawberry cake.  I didn't have a strawberry cake mix, but I did have a white cake mix.  I didn't have frozen strawberries in syrup, but I did have a bag of whole frozen strawberries from Aldi's and a box of strawberry jello.  I didn't have Cool Whip, but I did have heavy whipping cream.  I also had the necessary box of vanilla instant pudding and milk.  Everyone makes sure they have milk when there is a winter weather warning right?  Everything was a go!

This is a really easy cake to make, but I did make the  modification of adding the frozen berries to the jello.  Wow, what an addition!  How did I never think of that?  This cake is like eating the lightest, airiest, fluffiest strawberry shortcake you can imagine.  It was a taste of sunshine, of summer, of warm days and bare feet.  Oh my goodness and Yummmy  Yum  Yum.    Here is what you need:

1 white cake mix, baked according to directions on the box(or a strawberry cake mix if you desire)
1 20 oz. bag frozen strawberries, thawed, no sugar added
1 small box strawberry jello
1 cup boiling water
1 box vanilla instant pudding, made with only 1 cup of milk, not 2
8 ounces Cool Whip thawed, or 1 and 1/2 pints heavy whipping cream

Bake the cake according to directions.  Let cool.  Poke all over with the handle of a wooden spoon.

Pour 1 cup boiling water over the contents of a small box of strawberry jello which you place in a bowl.  Stir to dissolve completely.   Place the thawed strawberries in a blender or food processor and pour the  hot jello over the berries.  Place the lid tightly on the blender/processor and cover with a tea towel while blending.  Blend until you still have some chunks of berries left, not totally liquid.  Pour this over the cake.

Sorry, the color is so artificial looking.  It was the lighting when I took the picture.  Using a spatula, smooth the strawberry mixture over the cake so it will soak into the holes.

Make the instant pudding with only 1 cup of milk, not 2 as the box calls for.  Cover the strawberries with the pudding.

If you are using heavy whipping cream, whip the cream using a mixer adding just a little sugar and vanilla until it forms stiff peaks.  Spread over the pudding.  If you are using Cool Whip, simply cover the pudding with the Cool Whip.   Refrigerate until ready to serve - IF you can resist diving right in.  This cake should be refrigerated at all times.

Cake descriptions -  Heavenly.  Ethereal.  Fabulous.  Delicious.  Amazing.  And, I just finished a piece while typing this blog.  So good with coffee.  So, so good.  If you use a white cake, you will notice how light and airy the dessert is.  It's like eating heavenly strawberry air with so many layers of flavor with a hint of cake.  I don't know how it would be with a strawberry cake - very strawberry is my guess.  It's up to you.  Take your pick.  You do want to make this cake.  Let me know what you think.

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

Doubtless God could have made a better berry (than the strawberry), but doubtless God never did.  William Allen Butler