Lemon Poke Cake

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This year we switched it up a little when it came to Easter dessert.  Instead of serving our traditional fare of brownies, fruit salad, etc, we looked for a couple of new recipes to try.  One of those new recipes came from the Spring 2013 issue of Kraft Food and Family Magazine.

Our Lemon Poke Cake was absolutely scrumptious.  It was light and not too sweet.  We ended up serving ours with fresh cut strawberry slices which took it to a whole new level.

Possible variation – by using a different flavor of Jell-O and/or Pudding Mix you could easily adapt this cake to another flavor of your choosing!

You will need:

2 round white cake layers (9 inch), cooled

2 cups boiling water

1 6 oz package of lemon flavored Jell-O Gelatin (not instant)

1 3.4 oz package of lemon flavored Jell-O Instant Pudding

1 cup cold milk

3 cups thawed Cool Whip Whipped Topping

Optional – thin lemon slices and fresh mint sprigs for decoration

How to make:

Using a large fork, pierce holes at 1/2 inch increments all over each cake layer.

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Add boiling water to gelatin mix.

Stir for 2 minutes, until the mix is completely dissolved.

Pour over cake layers.  (I found it worked best if I went slow – otherwise the hot water started to disintegrate parts of the cake.)

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Refrigerate cakes for 3 hours.

Before you pull the cakes out of the refrigerator you can make the frosting.

Beat the pudding mix and milk in a large bowl with a whisk for 2 minutes.

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Stir in Cool Whip.

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Remove cakes from refrigerator and dip the first cake pan in warm water for 10 seconds to unmold the cake.

Place first cake layer on a plate or cake stand.

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Spread about 1 cup of your pudding frosting on top of this bottom layer of cake.

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Unmold second cake layer and place it on top of the first layer.

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Frost the entire cake with remaining frosting.

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If desired, top with thinly sliced lemon slices and a sprig of fresh mint.  Refrigerate until it’s time to serve.

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