Gluten-Free Strawberry Poke Cake Recipe

This gluten-free strawberry poke cake recipe cool whip on top is so refreshing. We make it every July 4th & decorate it like a flag with strawberries and blueberries. Summer cake was a favorite of my family when I was growing up. It super-easy, light and summery and easy to customize. For example, you could change the flavors of the Jello, pudding or cake mix or use sugar-free Jello and pudding.

You could also do red, white and blue for the 4th of July. Sometimes my mom decorates the top with strawberries and blueberries in the shape of an American flag. My mom makes this for almost every party we have in the summer. I grew up in a family of eight kids, so if my mom makes it, you know it's easy. She hates cooking, which I find ironic because her mom absolutely loved it and many of her children are good cooks too.

To make this strawberry poke cake recipe cool whip, all you do is make a box of yellow cake mix, poke holes in it and pour jello over the whole cake, put instant pudding on top and top with Cool Whip. Everything is from a box, which isn't the healthiest thing in the world, but it's easy and especially good for a crowd. We love to have it at barbecues when everyone is hot from sitting outside in the heat and eating hot food. It's light and refreshing and the perfect BBQ dessert.

Hint: My mom likes to make this strawberry poke cake recipe cool whip using sugar-free jello, sugar-free pudding mix and low-fat cool whip. It tastes just the same and she thinks it is a little bit more healthy.

Speaking of summer BBQs - where our family lives in Orem, UT there is a HUGE 4th of July celebration every year. In the park near our house, there is always a Colonial Days celebration. Thousands of people come and see demonstrations from the Colonial Days.

You can see things like candle making, get locked up in stocks, make wool from a sheep, see real animal skins, watch someone make pottery, reenact a Civil War battle, go to an old-time school. You get the idea. Well, last year somehow they got The 94-year-old Candy Bomber, Gail Halverson to come and do his last airdrop in an actual World War II airplane over the park.

They estimate that something like 40,000 people showed up. It was absolutely crazy because he only dropped 1,000 candy parachutes and not all of them landed in the park. My husband and son volunteered to help make the parachutes ahead of time. In exchange, they got to personally meet The Candy Bomber. For my son, who is absolutely obsessed with World War II airplanes, this was an awesome and unique experience I hope he will never forget.

I hope when he gets older he will better understand how important The Candy Bomber was in helping the end of World War II come. Just a side note: Mr. Halvorsen's son was my dad's roommate in college and the best man when my mom and dad got married. Another interesting fact. Mr. Halvorsen's son married my mom's college roommate.

After we heard The Candy Bomber speak, we went to my parent's house and had a big barbecue and had a summer cake for dessert. I don't personally eat dessert and didn't have any, but everyone loved it because we were all really hot from being out in the hot sun all day. To the left is a picture of my son with The Candy Bomber.

Please let me know if you try this recipe and what you like and don't like about it. Do you know the story of The Candy Bomber? If you don't know the story of the Candy Bomber and would like to, you may do so by going to this article on Wikipedia. Gail Halvorsen: The Candy Bomber

What's your favorite summer dessert? Please comment below.

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