Ann's Entitled Life

Strawberry Jello Poke Cake Recipe

May 21, 2018 By Ann Leave a Comment

This delicious poke cake recipe from scratch is so simple to make. If you are a fan of jello poke cake recipes, you will want to try this fabulous strawberry poke cake recipe! Dressed up in red, white, and blue, this strawberry and jello poke cake has a list of easy to follow instructions to customize your cake as you see fit. Bake and serve this mouthwatering poke cake tonight. Yum!!

Strawberry Jello Poke Cake Recipe

On this easy to make poke cake, a few little extras go a long way! Forming flowers from strawberries is a simple way to dress up any cake. It looks especially appealing in the spring and summertime.

• If you are not certain how to grease and flour a baking dish, click here for directions on how to grease and flour a baking pan! Because this poke cake is not removed from the 13×9 Baking Pan you do not use wax paper on the bottom of the pan! A simple grease and flour for easy serving is all that is necessary.

• As with all poke cakes, the color/flavor of jello is subjective. This cake is basically red, white and blue. You could certainly use strawberry jello for an even strawberry-er tasting cake. And yes, if you like you can substitute sugar-free jello.

• This cake recipe is from scratch. If you prefer a box cake mix, go for it! Just use a white cake mix so your guests can see the blue streaks from the jello.

• My wonderful (I’m not at all biased) Classic Vanilla Buttercream Frosting Recipe was used to frost this cake. It is a simple, delicious recipe. If you choose, you can tint the frosting, as well as swap out the vanilla for strawberry extract (again for a stronger strawberry flavor).

• Interested in making your own vanilla extracy? Click here to learn how to make vanilla extract!

Strawberry Jello Poke Cake Ingredients:

• 1 cup All-purpose Flour
• 1½ cup Cake Flour
• 2½ tsp Baking Powder
• ½ tsp Salt
• 1½ cup Granulated Sugar
• 1 cup Butter (softened)
• 2 tsp Vanilla
• 3 large Eggs
• 1¼ cup Whole Milk
• 6 Strawberries (for garnish)
• 3 oz Blue Jello (small box)
• 1¼ cups Water, divided

Strawberry Jello Poke Cake Mise en Place:

• Measuring Cup
• 13×9 Baking Pan
• Spatula
• Stand Mixer, bowl and beaters.
• Large Bowl
• Pot

Strawberry Jello Poke Cake Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350°.
• Grease and flour a 13″x9″ pan. Set aside.

• Sift all-purpose flour and cake flour into a large bowl.
• Add the baking powder and salt to flours, stir and set aside.

• Using a stand (or hand) mixer, combine granulated sugar and softened butter until smooth.
• Add vanilla.
• Add eggs one at a time until combined.
• Add half of the flour mixture, combine.
• Add one cup of milk; mix well.
• Add in remaining flour, combine.

• Add remaining ¼ cup of milk. Mix until well combined.
• Pour batter into prepared cake pan.
• Place cake batter into preheated 350° oven for 35-40 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. The top should be golden brown.
• Remove cake from oven and place on a rack or on the top of the oven (do not remove from pan).
• Bring one cup of water to a boil. Once the water comes to a boil, add the small box of blue jello. Stir it until everything has dissolved. Then turn off the burner and add in the remaining ¼ cup of cold water. Stir; remove from burner and set aside.

• Poke your cake. I used a kabob skewer. You can use the back of a wooden spoon too. Once you are happy with your pokes, pour the jello mixture over the top of the cake.
• Place the poke cake into the fridge to chill for about 30 minutes.
• While the cake is chilling, whip up some buttercream frosting. This best ever buttercream frosting recipe was used to frost this cake!
• Once the cake is cooled, frost with buttercream frosting.

• Slice your hulled strawberries into thin slices and place them on a the frosted cake. Arrange to look like a flower. Dot with a piece of strawberry to form the center of the strawberry flower.

Strawberry Jello Poke Cake Recipe
By Ann
This delicious poke cake recipe from scratch is so simple to make. If you are a fan of jello poke cake recipes, you will want to try this fabulous strawberry poke cake recipe! Dressed up in red, white, and blue, this strawberry and jello poke cake has a list of easy to follow instructions to customize your cake as you see fit. Bake and serve this mouthwatering poke cake tonight. Yum!

Prep Time: 15 Minutes
Cook Time: 35 Minutes
Total Time: 1 Hour 20 Minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup All-purpose Flour
• 1½ cup Cake Flour
• 2½ tsp Baking Powder
• ½ tsp Salt
• 1½ cup Granulated Sugar
• 1 cup Butter (softened)
• 2 tsp Vanilla
• 3 large Eggs
• 1¼ cup Whole Milk
• 6 strawberries (for garnish)
• 3 oz Blue Jello (small box)
• 1¼ cups Water, divided

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350°.
• Grease and flour a 13″x9″ pan. Set aside.
• Sift all-purpose flour and cake flour into a large bowl.
• Add the baking powder and salt to flours, stir and set aside.
• Using a stand (or hand) mixer, combine granulated sugar and softened butter until smooth.
• Add vanilla.
• Add eggs one at a time until combined.
• Add half of the flour mixture, combine.
• Add one cup of milk; mix well.
• Add in remaining flour, combine.
• Add remaining ¼ cup of milk. Mix until well combined.
• Pour batter into prepared cake pan.
• Place cake batter into preheated 350° oven for 35-40 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. The top should be golden brown.
• Remove cake from oven and place on a rack or on the top of the oven (do not remove from pan).
• Bring one cup of water to a boil. Once the water comes to a boil, add the small box of blue jello. Stir it until everything has dissolved. Then turn off the burner and add in the remaining ¼ cup of cold water. Stir; remove from burner and set aside.
• Poke your cake. I used a kabob skewer. You can use the back of a wooden spoon too. Once you are happy with your pokes, pour the jello mixture over the top of the cake.
• Place the poke cake into the fridge to chill for about 30 minutes.
• While the cake is chilling, whip up some buttercream frosting.
• Once the cake is cooled, frost with buttercream frosting.
• Slice your hulled strawberries into thin slices and place them on the frosted cake. Arrange to look like a flower. Dot with a piece of strawberry to form the center of the strawberry flower.

Makes 20 servings Strawberry Jello Poke Cake

• To print the Strawberry Jello Poke Cake recipe click here.

If you would like more strawberry recipes, you might enjoy these delicious strawberry treats:

• Strawberry Breakfast Sandwich Recipe – Sweet, delicious strawberries, creamy mascarpone, and a fantastic pound cake make for one fabulous breakfast! Or, eat this tasty strawberry sandwich treat as a dessert. Simply marvelous!

• Strawberry Rhubarb Galette Recipe – Using fresh (or frozen) fruit, this pretty galette dessert is easy to make, but impressive to serve – not to mention super tasty! Make it for a treat tonight!

• Strawberry Tart Recipe – A visually stunning presentation, this strawberry tart is actually simple to make. Make this strawberry tart for dessert, to take to a party, serve with tea or for anytime really. Your friends and family will be impressed. Only you will know how truly easy this strawberry tart recipe is to prepare!

• Disclosure the links in this post may be affiliate links.

• For more Recipes on Ann’s Entitled Life, click here.

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Filed Under: Desserts, Recipes

How to Make a Rainbow Flower Container Garden

May 16, 2018 By Ann Leave a Comment

Small space flower container gardening does not have to be boring. Create a beautiful rainbow flower container garden to sit on your patio, window box, or three-season room. This post gives step-by-step detailing what flowers to plant, and how to grow a beautiful rainbow flower container garden!

How to Make a Rainbow Flower Container Garden

You can purchase seeds or already sprouted flowers at: your local garden center, Home Depot, online seed and plant companies such as Burpee. Heck, even Amazon sells seeds.

As I have shared before, I use earth boxes for most of my container gardening. While I predominately grow vegetables, I also love the beauty of containers filled with flowers!

Growing a rainbow garden in the ground or in a container is fairly easy. The most important points are selecting the correct colors (Note: the colors of the rainbow are Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet), as well as what will grow well in your zone. Knowing your planting zone can quickly help you pick flowers that will work well for you.

Rainbow Container Garden Supplies:

• Garden Containers – you can choose pots, long rectangles, grow towers, raised containers, and more! These days the type of plant containers truly seems endless. Use what works best for your space and physical needs.

• Potting Soil – potting soil (as opposed to top soil) is lighter and contains nutrients to give your flowers a great start. You can choose from traditional potting soil, or organic potting soil.

• Plant Food – if your soil does not contain plant food (and even if it does) all-purpose plant food will give your flowers a great start!

• Garden Spade – todig a hole to transplant your flowers

• Garden Gloves – if you don’t like to get your hands dirty – or if you have long nails. I seldom use gloves when gardening, but I started my containers last week and my nails are unusually long right now (for me). Yikes. It took two days to get them clean (yes, yes, run them over a bar of soap first but I can’t be the only person who thinks that feels weird). I set in my vegetables and flowers this week and did pull on a pair of gloves.

• For a comprehensive list of garden tools, click here.

• Flowers, a few of each color of the rainbow (the colors of the rainbow are Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet)

Used in this tutorial:

* Red: Diabunda Red
* Orange: Celosia
* Yellow: Viola Penny Yellow
* Green: Plumosa Fern
* Blue: Ageratum
* Purple: Pansy
* Pacifica Deep Orchid

Rainbow Container Garden Instructions:

• Select 7 different types of flowers, one for each color of the rainbow (the colors of the rainbow are Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet).
• Select different types and textures to create a unique arrangement. Take caution to select flowers that all need similar sun conditions; full sun or partial sun or full shade.
• Next, fill the flower bed with Potting Soil making sure to breakdown any clumps with your hands.

• Now, you will want to take the flowers and arrange them outside the box, evenly spacing them and following the traditional pattern: red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. Keep in mind which plants will grow taller as that may how you decide to place them.
• Now its time to planting. Start with the two ends and middle; the red, green and pink flowers, this will help keep things evenly spaced. Remove the flower from the container (give the roots a little fluff), dig a small hole & place the flower in it. If your soil did not come with ferilizer (or even if it did), give a scoop of all-purpose plant food so your plants have the nutrients they need to grow large and beautiful (you are going to want to feed again later in the season based on flowers selected).
• Pat the dirt around the flower to secure it in place.

• Repeat with the remaining flowers.
• Give your flower bed a drink of water and it is ready to grow.

Make certain you water regularly, and feed your flowers according to their specific needs. I know it sounds complicated, but it really isn’t. Picking commonly available flowers makes it easy to read the little tag that comes with them for light, watering, and feeding requirements. That little tag is a wealth of information for how tall the flowers grow, how close together they can be planted, etc.

You do not need to be an expert to grow a beautiful rainbow container garden. It can usually be assumed that if your local gardening center has flowers out in the flats for landscaping, they are good to grow in your area (of course you can ask at the garden center to be sure).

More Gardening Articles You Might Enjoy:

• If you would like to plant a rainbow garden or fruits or vegetables check out this How to Grow a Rainbow Garden post for details.

• How to Create the Perfect Vegetable Garden on a Patio – small space patio gardening tips and tricks!

• Disclosure the links in this post may be affiliate links.

• Click here for more How Does Your Garden Grow Topics on Ann’s Entitled Life.

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Filed Under: How Does Your Garden Grow

Frozen Greek Yogurt Berry Fruit Pops

May 14, 2018 By Ann Leave a Comment

These Frozen Greek Yogurt Berry Fruit Pops can be made with (nearly) any fresh or frozen berry fruit! A simple two-ingredient recipe, these delicious, healthy yogurt popsicles are a fabulous summertime treat!

If you are looking for a great way to get a healthy treat in with the summer heat you can make your own fruit and yogurt pops that fit the bill. Sweet summer berries meet vanilla Greek yogurt for a combination that you are sure to love. Make these for yourself or the kids, no matter who wants them they are a great alternative to traditional popsicles.

Frozen Greek Yogurt Berry Fruit Pops

Notes:

You can use any freezer pop mold to make these delicious frozen Greek yogurt pops.

Great alternatives to blueberries to make these frozen treats:

• Strawberries
• Blackberries
• Raspberries

Frozen Greek Yogurt Berry Fruit Pops Ingredients:

• 2 cups Vanilla Greek Yogurt
• 1 quart fresh or thawed frozen Berry Fruit (blueberries were used in this recipe)

Frozen Greek Yogurt Berry Fruit Pops Mise en Place:

• Frozen Pop Mold
• Bowl
• Spoon or Spatula

Frozen Greek Yogurt Berry Fruit Pops Directions:

• In a large bowl smash blueberries with a spoon.
• This will make the juices flow and the berries easier to mix it.
• Add in the Greek Yogurt mixing well. Mush berries more along the edges while stirring. The entire batch should take on a light fruit-colored tint.
• Split into four 4 oz molds leaving a small amount of head space for expanding.

• Freeze until solid. For most freezers, this will take about 4 hours so – it is best to make Greek y fruit pops the day before if you have plans to use them for a party, BBQ or backyard picnic.
• Remove from molds with a quick dunk in a bowl of warm water for a great healthy frozen snack to make any summer day amazing.

Frozen Greek Yogurt Berry Fruit Pops
By Ann
These Frozen Greek Yogurt Berry Fruit Pops can be made with (nearly) any fresh or frozen berry fruit! A simple two-ingredient recipe, these delicious, healthy yogurt popsicles are a fabulous summertime treat!

Prep Time: 10 Minutes
Cook Time: 0 Minutes
Total Time: 4 Hours 10 Minutes (or freeze overnight)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Vanilla Greek Yogurt
• 1 quart fresh or thawed frozen Berry Fruit

Directions:

• In a large bowl smash blueberries with a spoon.
• This will make the juices flow and the berries easier to mix it.
• Add in the Greek Yogurt mixing well. Mush berries more along the edges while stirring. The entire batch should take on a light fruit-colored tint.
• Split into four 4 oz molds leaving a small amount of head space for expanding.
• Freeze until solid. For most freezers, this will take about 4 hours so – it is best to make Greek yogurt fruit pops the day before if you have plans to use them for a party, BBQ or backyard picnic.
• Remove from molds with a quick dunk in a bowl of warm water for a great healthy frozen snack to make any summer day amazing.

Makes 8 servings Frozen Greek Yogurt Berry Fruit Pops

If you are looking for more fun homemade summertime popsicle treats, you may want to try one of these:

Brownie Mocha Popsicles Recipe – The High Tide Cocktail will remind you of warm summer days and fun times on the beach. A sweet, delicious rum cocktail with a touch of Midori citrus, the high tide is a fabulous adult libation.

Chocolate Banana Pudding Pops Recipe – These frozen chocolate banana pudding pops are a delicious, luscious, simply fabulous treats on a hot summer day.

Mangoscato Popsicles – These are for the over 21 crowd! A delicious, cool and fun ice pop dessert and libation in one.

• Disclosure the links in this post may be affiliate links.

• For more Recipes on Ann’s Entitled Life, click here.

• If you enjoyed this post, be sure to sign up for the Ann’s Entitled Life weekly newsletter, and never miss another article!