Strawberry Poke Cake

One of my favorite childhood memories is Sunday dinner at my grandma's house every week after church. Once a month, Sunday dinner included a birthday celebration for the family birthdays in that month.  I enjoyed these birthday parties until I became a teenager, and to my extreme (because I was a teenager) distress and mortification, my loving grandma bought a “singing candle.”  Oh, the horror! The "candle" is a little machine that you put a candle on, stick it in a cake, and when you twist the machine it begins "singing" the happy birthday song in a buzzy, metallic hum.  Parents of teenagers: if you want to have some fun and embarrass your super-cool children in front of their friends and family, buy this candle! I searched around online, and (can you believe it?) I think I have found it!  Find it here.  It is amazing.  I am not responsible for what happens.

I  remember my family struggling, laughing, at every birthday to turn the singing candle just the right way so it would start singing (it broke a lot- I guess you might want to know that before you buy it), and then we would all try to jump in and sing “Happy Birthday” along with it, but inevitably we would start too late and have to wait for it to finish the song to join in on the next round (it would keep singing until you turned it off- another perk).  Sometimes we couldn’t get it to turn off, and it would just keep singing and singing as, giggling, we cut the cake and moved out on the deck to get away from it.  The best part, though, was when the battery began to die.  In the middle of the birthday song the music began to slow, drawl, and drag to a depressing conclusion, sometimes even stopping mid-song.  At some point my "embarrassment" faded and I started looking forward to the misadventures of the birthday candle that would inevitably occur each month.  

When my birthday rolled around each June, my grandma would switch up from the chocolate cake with vanilla icing and mini-chocolate chip sprinkles to a strawberry poke cake- just for me.  It was my favorite!  And whenever I eat a strawberry poke cake now, all the memories of the candle and Sunday dinners and family fun come flooding back, and I can feel that special birthday feeling again.

So I decided to replicate my beautiful birthday cake for the annual Fourth of July party (recipe at end of post).  The ingredients are pretty simple: white cake mix, eggs, vegetable oil, water, whipped topping, strawberry gelatin mix, and sprinkles (optional but fun).

First, just make your favorite white cake mix according to the instructions on the box.

You'd think that would be the easy part (because it is).  Apparently, I can't follow directions because my bundt cake turned out like this...

Yikes! I still have no idea what I did wrong!  I wanted to do a bundt cake because that is what my grandma always does.  Not happening! So I tried again, just a sheet cake this time, and managed to do that right. Whew.

Let the cake cool for about 15 minutes, and poke it with a fork every 1/2 inch or so.  Get it- poke cake?  Ooooohhhh!

Add the strawberry gelatin mix to 1 cup of boiling water and stir for about 2 minutes.  Add 1/2 cup of cold water to the gelatin mixture and pour it over the cake.

Refrigerate the cake for at least 3 hours.

Spread the whipped topping evenly on the cake and add the sprinkles of your choice.  Try not to eat the cool-whip with a spoon like I do.  Refrigerate again for another hour. 

Enjoy!  It was delicious- flavorful and moist and fun- a big hit.  I think it would be neat to experiment with some different gelatin colors, but I haven't tried that yet!  Let me know what flavors you have tried in the comments!

Strawberry Poke Cake

Ingredients:
- 1 package boxed White Cake mix
- The ingredients needed to make the cake mix (on the back of the box- vegetable oil, water, egg whites)
- 1 (3 oz) package strawberry gelatin mix
- 1 cup boiling water
- 1/2 cup cold water
- 1 tub (8 oz) whipped topping

Prepare the cake mix as directed in a 13x9-inch cake pan.  Allow the cake to cool for about 15 minutes.  Poke it with a fork every 1/2 inch or so.
Boil one cup of water.  Add the strawberry gelatin mix to the boiling water and stir well, about 2 minutes.  Stir in 1/2 cup of cold water.  Pour carefully over the cake and refrigerate, at least 3 hours.

Use the entire tub of whipped topping to frost the cake.  Add sprinkles (optional).  Refrigerate for at least one hour and serve.