Patriotic Poke Cake

Patriotic Poke Cake is the perfect chilled dessert for your Independence Day. It is so fun with the red white and blue colors inside.

The flavors in this Patriotic Poke Cake are tart and sweet and just yummy!  And the red white and blue colors are so much fun. It makes for the perfect 4th of July dessert! Feel free to go the extra mile and add red, white and blue sprinkles or edible stars over the top.

Adding the Colors:

Adding the color to this Patriotic Poke Cake is much easier than it seems, I added the jello colors with one of my children’s medicine dispensers.  You can also pour it in but the dispenser to keep the colors from bleeding into each other as you can see in the picture below.  You can also use condiment squeeze bottles. Be sure to make nice holes in the spots you want the color to go, I used the handle end of a butter knife to make the holes in the cake, then I alternated the red and blue colors. If you want to make bigger holes, you can use the handle of a wooden spoon.

Switch it up for Different Holidays:

You can easily switch the colors to make this work for different holidays- like grape and lime or orange jello for halloween. Cherry or Lime would work great together for Christmas. Purple and Pink or Yellow of Easter. Red and Pink for Valentine’s Day. The list goes on and on and the possibilities are endless!

Be sure to make this cake well in advance of when you want to serve it, the longer it gets in the fridge, the better it will taste.  I like to make it up the night before I plan to serve it so all the flavors have a chance to settle. I also like this cake to be COLD when I serve it. It makes it more refreshing for a hot day.

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Patriotic Poke Cake

Ingredients

• white cake mix 15 oz, unprepared
• 1/2 c. water
• 1/2 c. sour cream
• 1/3 c. vegetable oil
• 3 eggs
• For the Filling:
• 1- 3 oz. package raspberry jell-o mix or any red color flavor
• 1- 3 oz. package berry blue jell-o mix or any blue color flavor

For the Frosting:

• 8 oz. cream cheese
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 12 oz. cold whipped topping cool whip

Optional:

• Fruit like raspberries, strawberries, or blue berries
• Sprinkles

Instructions

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together the cake ingredients then cook it according to the directions on the box in a 9x13 inch pan.
2. When cake is completely cooled after baking, mix together the first jello package with 1 cup boiling water, then stir in 1/2 c. cold water. Jell-o mix needs to remain in liquid form for dispensing so don't refrigerate before adding to cake.
3. Make a bunch of holes in the cake using the handle end of a butter knife. Using a child's medicine dispenser, add about 1 to 2 tsp of Jello into every other hole. (see picture above)
4. When finished, repeat steps with the second color of jell-o.
5. Cover cake and refrigerate until ready to serve. Add frosting when cake is cold.
6. Using a hand mixer, thoroughly blend the frosting ingredients, then spread evenly over the cake.
7. Optional: just before serving, top with fruit or sprinkles.

Optional: Make Layered Jell-O Cups with the Extras!

You only need the 3 oz. packages of Jell-O for this recipe, but I actually made up the 6 oz. packages so that I could make some cute layered jello cups for the 4th of July as well.  To make these cute cups, just make one package at a time and give the first layer enough time to set in the refrigerator before adding the second color. This is perfect for the smaller kids or the picky eaters. Sprinkle them with red, white, and blue sprinkles or pop rocks to make them look over-the-top festive!

Loving these 4th of July treats? Give these a try!

• Firecracker Sugar Cookie Bars: Festive sugar cookies with a little 4th of July surprise. These delicious cookies are topped with POP ROCKS instead of sprinkles. Kids go crazy over them!
• Strawberries and Cream Cake: A fresh and fruity cake that is perfect for summer. Position the sliced fruit to look like fireworks for the 4th of July!
• Angle Food Cake with Pineapple Whip: Add blueberries to this angel food cake dessert for a little lighter red, white, and blue dessert.