Gluten-Free Patriotic Poke Cake

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by Brianna Hesch

Poke Cakes are a fun and retro dessert perfect for the 4th of July! What is a poke cake? It’s a dessert and an art project! Just like the name says, it’s a cake that you poke holes in, and then fill with colored liquid! They usually turn out bright and colorful, and they are a lot of fun to make.

For this recipe, we are going to use gluten-free gelatin! You can use any color or flavor of gelatin. We used blue raspberry and strawberry Jell-O brand gelatin to make this red, white, and blue poke cake. Because of the colors, it’s perfect for a 4th of July barbecue, cookout, or party.

After you make your cake, you poke holes all over it with a chopstick or the handle of a spoon. Then you pour gelatin powder mixed with hot water into the holes and chill your cake. The gelatin flavors your cake, and makes it very soft, moist, and delicious – and full of color!

Remember to have an adult help you with using any equipment like an oven, electric mixer, or hot kettle.

If you need to eat dairy free too, you can use dairy-free milk in your cake batter and frost your poke cake with whipped coconut cream. You can also use a dairy-free whipped topping!

You can bake your cake ahead of time for this recipe, so you can make it a day or two ahead of time if you’d like. We baked the cake, and then added the gelatin and chilled it. If you’re going to make this cake in advance, just use the whipped cream on top the same day that you eat it, as it can separate and become gross in the fridge overnight.

If you want, you can make a festive flag on top using fresh cut fruit, or you can use bright red, white, and blue sprinkles. We found some fun red, white and blue stars that were perfect and just sprinkled them on top.

Gluten-Free Patriotic Poke Cake Recipe

For the cake:

  • 2 ½ cup gluten-free flour
  • 1 ¾ cup white sugar
  • 1 ½ teaspoons xanthan gum (omit if you are using a flour that already has xanthan gum)
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup milk
  • ¾ cup oil
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 3 eggs

For the poke fillings and decorations:

  • 1, 3 oz box of red gelatin (I used strawberry flavored Jell-O)
  • 1, 3 oz box of blue gelatin (I used blue raspberry flavored Jell-O)
  • 2 cups boiling water
  • 1, 15 oz can coconut cream (or 1 ½ cups of heavy whipping cream), chilled
  • ½ cup powdered sugar

Directions:

  • Pre-heat the oven to 350°F and lightly grease a 9×13 inch or other rectangular baking pan.
  • Measure the gluten-free flour, white sugar, xanthan gum, baking powder, and salt and place all into a large bowl and whisk to combine.
  • In a second bowl, add the milk, oil, vanilla extract and eggs and whisk until smooth.
  • Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined and smooth. Don’t overmix it.
  • Bake the cake in the pre-heated oven until a toothpick comes out clean. If you used a 9×13 inch rectangle pan, it will take about 40-45 minutes to bake. If your pan is slightly smaller, it will take about 50-55 minutes. Remember to have an adult put the pan in the oven, test the cake for doneness, and remove it from the oven using oven mitts for safety.
  • Let your cake cool and then poke holes all over with the handle of a spoon or chopstick.
  • Pour the blue gelatin mix into a small bowl and the red gelatin mix into another small bowl. Have an adult help you pour 1 cup of boiling water into each of the bowls and whisk it until smooth. Pour the still-hot gelatin into the holes you poked in the cake. We poured the gelatin alternating colors in rows, so that each slice would get some red and some blue, but it would not all turn purple by overlapping colors.
  • Cover your cake and chill for at least 4 hours.
  • In a large bowl with an electric mixer, have an adult help you whip some chilled coconut cream until soft and fluffy and add in your powdered sugar. You can also whip some heavy cream into soft peaks if you can do dairy. If you prefer, you can also use a container of frozen whipped topping.
  • Gently frost your cake with whipped cream, and garnish with festive sprinkles.