Tag Archive | Blueberry

4th of July Poke Cake

Jun29

Final Cake

With 4th of July just around the corner, I thought it would be fun to take a spin on the traditional poke cake and make it a little more patriotic. Poke cake’s are very easy and great for hot summer days. They involve baking a cake from a box, poking holes all over the cake, pouring jell-o all over the cake, and chilling it in the fridge for a few hours. You can use pretty much any kind of cake mix and jell-o flavor so it’s easy to mix it up and have fun with it. The result is so yummy and since the cake is nice and chilly it is so refreshing after a long day in the heat.

NOTE: This cake is super simple but does take several hours for the jell-o to chill so plan to make in the morning or a day ahead of time.

Ingredients:

  • 1 white cake mix (And ingredients to prepare the boxed cake, which is typically egg whites, vegetable oil, and water)
  • 1 pint blueberries
  • 1 small box strawberry jell-o
  • 1 cup boiling water
  • 1/2 cup cold water
  • 1 8 oz. tub Cool Whip
  • 1 16 ounce container strawberries

Directions: 

1. Prepare cake mix according to the directions and pour batter into pan. Sprinkle with blueberries, reserving a handful for the “stars” in the the flag. Bake cake according to directions on box.

Blueberry Batter

2.  After cake has cooled for 15 minutes, take the end of a round spatula and poke holes all over the cake. (I don’t suggest using a fork. That’s what I did the first time and the jello didn’t spread evenly).

Poked Cake

3. In a small bowl, mix jell-o with hot water. Add cold water and stir. Pour all over cake. Chill for 3 hours.

Jello on cake

4. Set aside several strawberries for your flag (about 1 cup). In a food processor or blender,   purée remaining strawberries. Spread evenly over the cake.

Strawberry over cake

5. Slice remaining strawberries thinly. Frost cake with Cool Whip and using remaining blueberries and strawberry slices, decorate cake as an American flag, using blueberries for the “stars” and strawberry slices as the “stripes”.

Final Cake

Happy 4th of July!

Final Slice

Baby Blueberry Key Lime Pies

May31

I came up with this recipe when I couldn’t decide between making a blueberry pie and a key lime pie. I tend to be more partial to blueberry but my boyfriend is smitten by all things key lime. So I resolved that inner conflict by inventing one that marries the two favorites. The result was amazing and I was delighted by the beautiful color (purple is my favorite!).

This recipe is about the easiest and quickest dessert recipes in my inventory but it looks and tastes a lot more involved. I love sneaky recipes like this one! 🙂

While you can certainly use this recipe to fill a large pie shell, there’s really fun about presenting each of your guests with their own baby pie. This is also a great recipe for baby showers or other parties; it’s a cinch to double and they hold up really well.

Baby Blueberry Key Lime Pies

Baby Blueberry Key Lime Pies
Makes 12 baby pies or 1 large pie

Ingredients

  • 1 pint fresh blueberries
  • 1 cup key lime juice
  • 1 tablespoon grated lime zest
  • 2 (14 ounce) cans sweetened condensed milk
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 12 miniature graham cracker crusts

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a small pan over medium high heat, combine blueberries and lime juice and bring to a boil. Reduce and simmer for 2-3 minutes until the blueberries start to soften.

Blueberry & Lime Juice

Remove from heat and cool in the refrigerator.

In a medium bowl, mix together the lime zest, sweetened condensed milk, and sour cream.

milk and lime

Add the cooled blueberry mixture and mix until smooth. Check out that gorgeous color!

blueberry lime mixture

Pour the mixture into the prepared graham cracker crust. Be sure to fill as closely to the top as possible. They will settle down a bit during baking.

Filled pies

Bake baby pies in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool. Be sure to chill in the refrigerator before you serve as they taste best chilled. Garnish with lime slices and/or whipped cream and serve.

Plated Pies