4th of July Poke Cake

You can bet we love a good summer sweet treat around here and this 4th of July poke cake is just perfect for your patriotic festivities. This is one of my favorite 4th of July desserts because it is light, refreshing, SO EASY to make, and it’s full of colorful fun!

Do you typically get together with others to celebrate the 4th of July? Sometimes we do, sometimes it’s just our family, but we always have a backyard barbecue complete with a no fuss dessert. You’ll probably find us eating chips and salsa verde, some grilled steak, and mojitos or strawberry sangria!

This poke cake is so perfect because it can be baked ahead of time and then it’s easy to top it with the jello and whipped cream! It holds up great if you make it the night before or early in the morning. You can even use an unfrosted sheet cake purchased from the store if you’re opposed to baking.

If you’d like to go extra patriotic, you can turn the top of this cake into an American flag poke cake.  Follow the same instructions to make your poke cake, but after you top with with whipped cream or Cool Whip, grab some blueberries for the upper left corner and slice some strawberries to make stripes.  Easy peasy and so festive!

4th of July cake Ingredients:

• 1 white 9×13 sheet cake or the ingredients to make one (I use a boxed mix which requires the mix, egg whites, water, and oil)
• 3 oz. box of red Jello (any flavor you like – cherry, strawberry
• 3 oz. box of blue Jello (usually blue raspberry)
• 2 cups boiling water
• 2 cups ice water
• 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• OR 8 oz. tub of Cool Whip (instead of heavy cream and powdered sugar)
• super cute sprinkles (you can find the ones I used through my referral link here)

How to make 4th of July poke cake:

We’re going to start with the prepared sheet cake. It is simple and quick to bake your own using a boxed cake mix. WHITE CAKE, so that you get your red, white, and blue. This typically means that you use only the egg whites. If you add in the whole eggs, the yolks with give a creamy tint to the cake – it’s not really a big deal and will still be delicious.

Mix and bake your cake according to the instructions on the box. It does not need to cool completely before moving on to the jello part of the recipe. I cool my cake maybe 5 minutes or so, just enough that it’s not going to burn me while I’m doing the poking and adding the jello.

Prepare the Jello according to the instructions on the boxes. Typically, you boil 1 cup of water (per color of Jello), stir the gelatin powder into the boiling water until it’s dissolved, and then stir in cold water. It’s important to dissolve the gelatin completely in the boiling water.

Now we get to the super fun part – poking the holes in the cake!! I like to use the end of my wooden spoon – it’s a nice 1/4″ circle in diameter. You can also use a fork or really anything you like. I made nice even holes spaced about 1″ apart.

Now that your poke cake is prepared and your jello is ready, let’s pour our colors on! Since we usually use one prepared recipe of jello for a whole cake, I used only half of each bowl. You can pour the remaining liquid jello into another pan to make jello squares or use it to make red white and blue layered jello cups!

Using a ladle or spoon, pour the red jello into every other row of holes. Go back over the rows until you’ve used half of your red jello mixture. Then, repeat with the blue jello mixture, filling in every OTHER row of holes. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and put it into the refrigerator for at least an hour or two.

After the cake and jello has cooled and set in the refrigerator, it’s time to add the whipped topping. I love using real whipped cream, but I also use Cool Whip if I want to cut down on dishes or prep time. Whip up the cream to soft peaks, then whisk in the powdered sugar. If using the Cool Whip, set it out to warm up for 15 minutes or so before spreading on the cake.

Gently pile your topping over the cake and spread it evenly to cover the entire top of the cake, concealing your red and blue jello surprise inside! Add some festive sprinkles or even red and blue fruits (like blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries) over the top and serve!

To serve your fantastic 4th of July poke cake, simply slice into squares. The blue and red drips of jello will be on display! Such a fun way to serve up a patriotic dessert!

The cake will keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. I did find that the coloring in my sprinkles bled after a little while, though, so if you make it ahead of time, you can frost it, but definitely wait until just before serving to add the sprinkles.

Variations

There are so many variations you could do with a jello poke cake! Change up the colors of jello or the cake mix flavor for different seasons or occasions! Here are some ideas to get you started.

• Strawberry jello and white cake topped with fresh strawberry slices
• Lemon jello over white or lemon cake topped with lemon zest or candied lemon peel
• Coconut cream over white cake topped with sweetened coconut
• Cream cheese pudding over a pumpkin or spice cake layer
• Red and green jello over white cake for a Christmas treat
• Lime jello and white cake for St. Patty’s Day
• Caramel over chocolate cake topped with candy bars

If you need a SUPER FUN cocktail recipe to go with the festivities, you might also like to mix up some Jolly Rancher Vodka and make this easy cocktail!

4th of July Poke Cake Recipe