Strawberry Poke Cake

We celebrated our baby's first birthday on Canada Day.  I decided to go with a red and white theme for the party to tie in with Canada Day, and wanted to serve a red and white dessert - something easy, something a little different, but pretty.  I found this recipe for Strawberry Poke Cake over at Stella B's Kitchen, and it seemed perfect for the event.

Here is the recipe:

1 box white cake mix (plus applicable ingredients for the mix - eggs, water, oil)
1 small box of strawberry jello (3 oz / 85 g)
1 cup boiling water
1/2 cup ice cold water
Whipping cream
Fresh strawberries, sliced

Bake the cake according to the package directions.  I baked mine in a 9 x 13 glass pan.  Be sure to completely cool the cake before moving to step two.  Using a plastic spoon or a wooden spoon handle, poke holes into the cake about 1/2 inch apart.
Stir the small box of strawberry jello  mix into 1 cup boiling water.  Stir until dissolved. Add a 1/2 cup of ice cold water.

Once the jello is dissolved, slowly spoon or pour the warm liquid jello over cake and holes, covering the cake as evenly as possible. To me, it looked like there wasn't enough jello to go on the cake, but there was.  Just trust the recipe.  Cover and refrigerate for several hours before serving.

While the cake is chilling, slice your strawberries.  As many as you prefer to top the cake.  Around this time would also be ideal to put your mixing bowl and whipping attachment into the fridge to get them nice and cold for whipping the cream :-)

Just prior to serving, whip you whipping cream.  Serve your cake topped with strawberries and whip cream!  Yum!

Store leftover cake in the refigerator.

VERDICT:
My mother-in-law will confirm that I was super nervous about the cake.  It was so simple to make (it was a cake mix, no fussing around with all sorts of ingredients this time), but I just didn't think the holes in the cake and the jello were going to work out properly.  We decided that serving the cake upside down was certainly the way to go, as it hid all those holes.  And low and behold, when we cut the cake and flipped it over, it looked perfect! It was so pretty...and tasted good too!  I served it up with strawberries and real whipping cream, and it was well-received by the approximately 15 adults who ate it.  Yay!  It wasn't too sweet, which was a nice bonus.  A great summery dessert!  I will be trying it again...and maybe try some new jello flavours with it.