Strawberry Poke Cake (From Scratch)
on Mar 31, 2018, Updated Nov 16, 2021
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This strawberry poke cake is made from scratch at home! It is a soft, moist jello poke cake that is topped with whipped cream and fresh strawberries. This cake delivers the taste of strawberries in every bite and makes for an easy and elegant dessert!
If you, like me, are scared of making cakes because of the idea of decorating them scares you, then I have got just the perfect thing for you! Enter – this gorgeous strawberry poke cake. It’s basically baked in 13″X9″ baking pan and slathered with whipped cream on top. Pretty straightforward, right? After it’s baked, you all you really need to do is cut it into slices, and the thickness of each slice is enough for you to get a good forkful in every bite. The jello seeps through the cake and makes adds a pretty gradient throughout the cake.
Quick Walk Through: Strawberry Poke Cake
What is a poke cake?
A poke cake, like the name suggests, is a cake that you poke holes into after its baked and cooled. The holes are then filled with jello or other liquid fillings such as condensed milk, chocolate, pudding or even pureed fruit. This infuses every bite of the cake with the filling and keeps it moist.
I love making jello poke cakes, because after filling the holes with jello, the cake is refrigerated and the jelly sets so you get slightly wobbly jelly in every bite of the cake. Because its so simple to make, you can easily turn this strawberry poke cake into a chocolate poke cake, a banana poke cake, coconut poke cake or even a lemon poke cake. Just switch up the filling and you have a different poke cake every time.
Frequently Asked Questions
Absolutely! If you don’t have access to fresh strawberries, you can easily swap them with frozen instead. The texture of frozen strawberries might be a bit mushy as compared to the fresh ones, but other than that it should work just fine.
Generally, the back of a wooden spoon is used to poke holes into the cake. However, you can also use a thick skewer or a fruit fork to do this. Make sure the holes are about an inch apart and do not poke holes around the edges as that will make the jello spill out. Here’s a video on how to poke a poke cake that might come in handy.
Top tips to make a Strawberry Poke Cake
- Baking Pan: Use a 9″X13″ baking pan for this recipe. It’s the optimal size because the cake rises quite a bit and the cake will overflow in a smaller cake pan. If you don’t have that size, you can divide the batter into two square 8″ pans.
- Jello: Jello comes in different pack sizes in different countries. If you are in the U.S. you can use 1 pack (3 ounces) Strawberry Jello, which translates to a 90g pack in India
- Line with parchment: Lining the cake tin with parchment paper is really important for this recipe because the jello seeps through the cake to the bottom of the pan and can become sticky which makes it difficult to lift the slices when you want to serve. The parchment paper avoids any mess, and helps lift up each slice smoothly. If you leave the sides of the parchment paper hanging while lining the cake tin, you can just use to lift them out when you are ready to serve.
Are you also going gaga over that super moist slice of cake with the jello seeping in? We took two days to finish the cake because it does make twelve squares but I have to say – everyone who ate it was such a fan!
Strawberry Poke Cake (From Scratch)
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups Fine Granulated Sugar
- 1 cup Butter , at room temperature
- 4 Eggs
- 1 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
- 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
- 3 1/4 cups All-Purpose Flour, Maida
- 1 cup Milk
- 90 grams Strawberry Flavoured Jello
- 3 cups Whipped Cream
- 1 cup Fresh Strawberries, sliced
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350F/ 175C. Grease and line a 13X9" baking pan with parchment paper. Leave extra paper hanging on the side so that it's easy to lift up the cake later.
- In a bowl, patiently beat the butter and sugar together for 3-4 minutes till light and fluffy. If using a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment or else just use a hand mixer.
- Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after every egg to make sure its combined well into the mixture. Also stir in the vanilla extract and baking powder.
- Alternate between adding the flour and milk and mix until just combined. Alternating the dry and wet ingredients means that you add 1/3 of the flour first, mix and add half the milk; mix and then add 1/3 of the flour again, mix add the remaining milk and then the flour. This helps incorporate everything well and avoids over mixing.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared baking tin and bake for approximate 45 minutes or till a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Once the cake is baked, let it cool for 15 minutes.
- In the meanwhile, prepare the jello according to package instructions.
- Once the cake is cooled, poke the cake with the back of wooden spoon or thick skewer and make holes in the cake at every inch. Pour the jello into the holes and refrigerate the cake for 3-4 hours.
- An hour before serving, spread whipped cream over the cake and decorate with strawberries slices. Refrigerate again for an hour or till ready to serve. This cake keeps well in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.
Notes
- Baking Pan: Use a 9″X13″ baking pan for this recipe. It’s the optimal size because the cake rises quite a bit and the cake will overflow in a smaller cake pan. If you don’t have that size, you can divide the batter into two square 8″ pans.
- Jello: Jello comes in different pack sizes in different countries. If you are in the U.S. you can use 1 pack (3 ounces) Strawberry Jello, which translates to a 90g pack in India
- Line with parchment: Lining the cake tin with parchment paper is really important for this recipe because the jello seeps through the cake to the bottom of the pan and can become sticky which makes it difficult to lift the slices when you want to serve. The parchment paper avoids any mess, and helps lift up each slice smoothly. If you leave the sides of the parchment paper hanging while lining the cake tin, you can just use to left them out when you are ready to serve.
This cake was a hit at our BBQ with friends and family. The baking time is way too long, 30 to 35 minutes is Max! Definitely check it at 30. I took mine out somewhere between 30-35, toothpick was clean and very lightly golden brown was starting. It is a dense cake, but the jello totally soaks in beautifully and it was not dry at all. I left mine (covered) overnight and added fresh whipped cream and strawberries a couple hours before serving. I just sweetened heavy cream with powdered sugar and vanilla to top it. We all loved the density, and the flavor is excellent. It is not fluffy like a boxed cake, but it certainly was everyone’s preference! I wish I had taken a photo! Will make it again!
44 minutes is WAY too long. Mine was done at 35, and even with oven differences, there’s no way. It would have been dried and burnt!
Hey Sarah, Thank you for the feedback. bake time depends on the oven settings.
I’m making this today. 1st time from scratch cake. I have always put jello in cake while still warm and always moist and perfect
Hey Kimberly, that sounds fantastic. so so glad to know. Thanks.
The cake had a nice taste, but it was very heavy and a bit dry. I used Oat milk. Would this be the cause? Thanks!
Hey Erica, I have not tried it with oats milk yet and hence I’m not sure about this.
Delicious and fluffy I used duck eggs and it made it really fluffy and fun to make.
Yaay Taylor, So great to hear you liked the recipe! Thank you for sharing your tip.
This recipe did not work at all. I read previous reviews and baked the cake for less time, but it was still so dense and dry. I thought maybe it was meant to be that way cause you’re adding jello, but then after adding the jello, the texture was like rubber. I imagine using a boxed cake mix would have yielded better results.
Hey Michelle, I’m sorry this didn’t work out well for you, i have baked this many times and it has turned out perfect.
Cake seems to be fab. With all those eggs and butter how could it go wrong? however when i saw 45 minutes baking time i was curious. I checked it after 35 minutes and it was already overbaked Could this be a typo?-Raquellia
I use black cherry Jello, and LOVE the intense flavor!!
i didn’t like the cake recipe, it called for way too much flour as it makes the cake chewy instead of moist.
Hey Paige, I’m sorry this didn’t work out well for you, i have baked this many times and it has turned out perfect.
Hi! Looked like a great recipe—I made it yesterday, and it turned out really dense, almost like a shortbread some bites! I did refrigerate it overnight after I added the jello. Other than that, the cake was lovely and the batter tasted good. Any idea what went wrong?
Hey Kit, i have baked this a multiple times and it has turned out perfect.
This cake was delicious! Yes it’s denser than a cake mix, but the flavor is so much better! It soaked up the jello perfectly and topped with homemade whipped cream and fresh strawberries, a perfect summer dessert! A hit at our BBQ today! 13 adults and 3 toddlers!
Warnings! Do NOT BAKE FOR 45 minutes….mine was done in about 30-35! I think I took it out before 35. Maybe check it by 30 minutes.
Hey Sherry, Thank you for the feedback. bake time depends on the oven settings.
Maybe the cake was over mixed? Mine was great, yes it’s denser than boxed cake, but delicious flavor. Mine was not dry at all. I took it out of the oven around 30 minutes.
Hey Sherry, so so happy you liked the recipe.
You can use strawberry syrup yet it’ll make the cake incredibly moist due to the fact that the syrup won’t establish as the jelly does
Hey Ritika! We haven’t tried this, but glad it worked out for you! Thanks for reaching out to us 🙂