Throwback of the House: Multi-Generational Poke Cake

By Robin Wheeler Mon., Oct. 26 2009 at 12:30 PM

Categories: In the Kitchen, Throwback of the House

Robin Wheeler

Even when I was a kid, I wasn't much of a fan of Jell-O. The only Jell-O-related food I really liked was poke cake. Make a white cake from a mix, poke holes in the top, pour ungelled Jell-O -- I preferred orange since I like that baby aspirin taste -- cover the cake and chill. The results were an extra, unjiggly burst of flavor in the cake, with a thin layer of Jell-O skin on top. All the flavor of Jell-O with none of the creepy, clammy jiggle.

I have lots of poke cake recipes in my collection, but I never think to make them for Throwback because I have fond memories of them.

Robin Wheeler

Recently, my parents returned from vacation in Colorado with a bunch of crappy cookbooks for me. They like to go to yard sales on vacation. Out-of-state junk's more interesting than Missouri junk.

Among the treasures was a set of books from Grand Junction's Antiquarian Cub, who hosted an annual dessert and salad luncheon and compiled the recipes into a rudimentary cookbook. The 1976 edition is mimeographed pages bound with red yarn. Irene Lear, who had twenty-four Jell-O-based recipes in the book, called poke cake "Lemon-Lime Refrigerator Sheet Cake."