So recently I was looking for some new ideas for dessert on Pinterest and was reading about Jello Cakes or Poke Cakes. Sounded interesting – who doesnt like jello and mixing it with some cake sounds pretty tasty!

It is easy to make and the combination is delicious! It is now a current fav in our household. I was telling my mom about this new found dessert and she informed me that she use to make it for us when we were kids. Huh – I have no recollection of this but I must admit eating my jello cupcakes does take make me to a happy place and maybe subconsiously think about enjoying these in childhood.

I have made these now a couple of times and prefer making them with fork pokes over straw pokes. I have found that the straw removes cake where the fork does not. I also use a measuring cup to pour the jello liquid over the cooked cupcakes – I tried a turkey baster but that got liquidy sticky jello everywhere! I have also found using the measuring cup allows the cupcakes to get more saturated with jello and its flavour.

Jello Cupcakes Recipe: adapted from Kraftrecipes.com

Cake Mix – white is best to take on the flavour of your jello; I use gluten free cake mixes and it works great!

Jello – pack of your choice – strawberry and strawberry banana are our current favs to use

1) Make cupcakes as per cake mix package. Once cupcakes are cooked and cooled enough to handle (about 20-30min) take a fork and make little punctured holes (as shown below)

2) Using a large (atleast 2 cup) measuring cup, stir 1 cup (250ml) boiling water into jello powder. Stir until powder is dissolved then add 3/4 cup (200ml) of cold water and mix. Pour liquid jello carefully onto each cupcake about 2 TBSP per cupcake (or more based on your preference to start). Once every cupcake has been jelloed I then pour a bit extra onto each one. The left over jello in the measuring cup I cool and enjoy as jello later!

It can get a bit messy pouring jello from the measuring cup so I sit the cupcakes into a cookie sheet which will catch all the extra juice. Trust me, cleaning up sticky jello off the counter is not fun!

3) Put the cupcakes in the fridge for atleast 3 hours – the goal is to get the cupcakes and jello to set. Before serving you can icing with your fav icing. For ours I use my mom’s recipe (as below) for icing – it’s quick to whip up and and oh so delicious!

Mom’s Butter Cream Icing:

1/4 cup softened butter

pinch of salt

2 1/2 cups of icing sugar

2-4 tsp of milk

1/2 tsp of vanilla extract (*for these cupcakes I did 1/4 tsp vanilla and 1/4 tsp almond extract)

1) whip together with a mixer butter and salt until nicely creamed. Then slowly add (about 1/2 cup at a time) icing sugar. Mix. Add 1/2 tsp of vanilla (or alternative option). Then add 2-4 tsp of milk (for thicker icing add less milk). Mix. When at the icing consistency of your preference then icing your cupcakes!

Now it’s time to enjoy!!