Easy Patriotic Jell-O Poke Cake

Have you made a Jell-O Poke Cake before? With the 4th of July weekend upon us and my son's birthday on June 30th, I decided I'd make him a red, white, and blue-themed Jell-O Poke Cake. I already had everything I needed, the only thing I bought was fresh strawberries and blueberries. Feel free to scroll to the bottom straight to the recipe, although I would love it if you read this entire post. 

Fun fact, Jell-O Poke cakes were first made around the 1970s when Jell-O made an advertisement to increase their sales. I would say that was smart advertising because they are still popular all these decades later, in 2023. It also goes to show the impact of advertising and marketing. Something you may not know about me, is many years ago I worked for a local newspaper. Fast forward to 2014, I started my blog and I am very active in social media marketing. I know social media marketing and influencers are a newer form of advertising. I often think brands are too focused on the immediate return, they want to know how many views did it get in seven days, and they want to know all your engagement rates and insights. I think they too often forget that it is about the long haul. 

As a brand you shouldn't be so focused on the immediate to see if it was a good investment, the fact of the matter is that Instagram Reel, TikTok Post, or static posts will live on and produce fruit for many years to come. I personally will search for a certain product or service I once saw on social media oftentimes, many months later, or even years later. Do you know how many times, I think "Where was that place they vacationed or visited?" I frequently save recipe Reels and TikTok's, for next year's holiday. Oftentimes I will save a post featuring a local restaurant or place I want to take my family, to later visit. So when a brand collaborates with an influencer for a sponsored post I know that is well worth the investment and I am not just saying that because this is what I do, I also use social media as a search engine in my personal life. 

In the same vein, I hope brands and people realize why influencers charge. A lot of time goes into creating a Reel or TikTok. You have to shoot the content, then edit the content, then post and actively participate on the social media platform in comments, replies, and stories to get that content in front of people. There is also the investment we make into nice cameras, upgraded phones with quality cameras, lighting equipment, and the list goes on. I often hear people say that it would be so easy to create content, and I also hear from people once they actually try to grow their social media platform, once they actually post content and see how much work goes into getting engagement, that is when they realize how much work goes into it. They realize how it takes consistency over a long period of time before you start seeing your work pay off. 

I think the term influencer often gets a bad name because of what some influencers charge or who they work with and the list goes on. I think people, followers, if you will often forget that they started somewhere, they did FREE content for months, years, and many times still do FREE content. It is not all about the money, some of us really do love blogging, really do love creating content on social media, we love the art, we love the process, and we love learning about photography, lighting, and framing a shot. Social media platforms are constantly changing and adding features and then we have to learn how to implement those features. 

Another thing I often hear from people who are just starting out blogging or posting social media content as a business, is they think their idea, recipe, or small shop product, already exists so why should they even try. I always encourage them that what they post may be similar to someone else, but it is going to be different because they will add their voice and their style. I am sure you have stumbled across plenty of Jell-O Poke Cake posts and they didn't go into advertising and social media marketing in any way. 

While I do believe in giving credit to a content creator if you are using their exact recipe, that is the right thing to do. Even if you are going to change it up a bit, it is very kind to tag the one who inspired you to make it, there are some recipes or ideas that you just simply can't pick one creator, because there are so many. There are also so many recipes that who really knows who the original creator is for example a basic taco recipe or enchiladas. What about a Jell-O Poke Cake Recipe, there are thousands or even millions of posts. When you see someone share a popular recipe, be kind, and support their love of baking, creating, and sharing. A simple that looks yummy comment is so greatly appreciated. Or a great idea I'm going to make that this weekend too!

When I first started this post I didn't intend on sharing all of that, but that is another thing I love about blogging and creating content, it is a fun creative outlet that can start in one place and end up someplace completely different than what you first thought. Thank you for reading all of that if you did and now I will move on to the Patriotic Jell-O Poke Cake.

JELL-O POKE CAKE RECIPE

What you need:

1 White Box Cake Mix

3 Eggs

1 Cup of Water

1/2 Cup of Oil or Applesauce

1 Berry Blue Jell-O Mix (I used a 6-ounce box, you could use a 3-ounce box)

1 Cherry or Strawberry Jell-O Mix (6-ounce or 3-ounce box)

Icing Ingredients:

16-ounce Tub of Cool Whip softened

8-ounce Cream Cheese softened

1/4 Cup of Sugar

Garnish:

Either patriotic sprinkles or berries to create a flag. I used strawberries and blueberries, but you could also use raspberries and blackberries too. 

Directions:

Make the box cake according to the package directions. Mix the cake mix, 3 eggs, 1 cup of water, 1/2 cup of oil, and combine.

Pour into a 9x13 baking dish, or whatever baking dish you want to bake it in. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. 

While the cake is baking prepare your Jell-O. You can prepare according to the package directions. I like to use a little less water than what it calls for. Since I used the 6-ounce size box, it calls for 2 cups of boiling water and 2 cups of cold water. I used 2 cups of boiling water, but only 1 cup of cold water. Set your Jell-O aside on the counter, do not put it in the refrigerator.

Let your cake cook for about 30 minutes. Then poke holes into the cake. I used a metal straw, you can use the handle of a wooden spoon, and you can even use a fork or butter knife if you need to. 

Pour the Jell-O into the holes, I used a medicine syringe, I mostly see people pour it over the cake. Because I used the larger 6-ounce boxes of each color, I knew I would have leftover Jell-O and did not want to drench the entire cake. After using the medicine syringe I had enough Jell-O to make 7 small Jell-O Cups. 

Place the Jell-O-filled cake into the refrigerator for 1 hour and make your icing.

You could just use cool whip alone, but I wanted to doctor it up a bit. So used a 16-ounce tub of cool whip, one block of cream cheese, and 1/4 cup of sugar. I would have left the sugar out if I was just eating it, I thought it tasted fine, and plus you are going to eat it with sweet Jell-O and sweet cake, but my kids tasted it and wanted it sweeter so I added 1/4 cup of sugar and blend those three together. Then put the icing over the Jell-O Cake and chill for 3-4 hours.

You could leave the cake as is with just the cool whip or you could use patriotic sprinkles to garnish it. I used strawberries and blueberries to make a flag. Slice your strawberries and arrange your patriotic flag design. I've also seen others use raspberries and blackberries. Use what you have! That is one thing I love about cooking, baking, and creating, is you can totally have fun with it and improvise using what you have. 

This Jell-O Cake was very easy to make and I love how pretty it looks with the red and blue Jell-O. This would be a great dessert to make on this 4th of July weekend, or Pin this post on Pinterest to remind you to make it next Memorial Day weekend. 

As always if you would like to see this Jell-O Poke Cake in video form, check out our TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube. I truly appreciate every one of you that reads my blog posts, and thank you for every like, comment, and share. It is because of your faithful support of my little creative outlet that it has turned into a nice little business for our family.