Strawberry Jello Cake

This delicious strawberry Jello cake is the perfect summer dessert! Made with a white cake mix and strawberry Jello, this dessert is sure to be a hit at your next gathering. It is quick and easy and a moist cake with a hint of strawberries and cream!

Years ago our friend Sarah gave us her family recipe for Lemon Jello Cake (I know you’re supposed to write, Jell-O, but no one actually follows that rule, right??) and it’s been one of the most popular recipes on our site year after year. We’ve experimented with Pineapple Crush Jello cake, orange Jello cake, strawberry lemonade jello cake, even a festive 4th of July Jello cake and now a strawberries and cream jello cake!

It’s important to use a white cake mix and strawberry jello for this recipe as it will tone down the strawberry flavor and allow you to taste that “strawberries n creme” thing.

What Does Adding Jello to Cake Do?

There are several reasons to add Jello to a cake. Jello enhances the flavor and color of a cake. It also helps the cake be more moist and dense in texture. I highly recommend it!

Ingredients for Strawberry Jello Cake

I hope you’re sitting down because you aren’t going to believe that you only need 7 ingredients to make this jello cake recipe! Keep in mind that when you make the glaze, you have a few different options. I’ll explain that more below. Here is what you will need:

CAKE

• White Cake Mix: A vanilla cake mix is our preferred flavor, but yellow works fine too. The color will just be a little more orange with a yellow cake mix. We use Duncan Hines brand.
  • NOTE: You will use just the box cake mix powder when making the batter for this cake. You will not follow the directions for making the cake on the box.
• Eggs: Gives the cake structure and richness.
• Water: Adds needed moisture to create a perfectly moist cake.
• Oil: Canola oil or vegetable oil both work great and don’t alter the flavor of the cake while still keeping it moist and fabulous.
• Strawberry Jello: You just need the small box (3 oz) and you will only be using the jello powder. Don’t use the sugar free jello. It doesn’t set up the same.

ICING

• Heavy Cream: Helps bind the icing together and adds richness to the flavor and texture. Save some extra cream to whip up and spread on top of the cake after cooling.
• Powdered Sugar: Acts as the base for the icing and provides all the sweetness.

The measurements needed for each ingredient can be found in the recipe card at the end

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

This strawberry rhubarb crisp is pure comfort with the perfect balance of sweetness and tartness and a buttery oat topping. I always eat it a la mode!

I grew up with a rhubarb obsessed father. Is it a generational thing? I’m going to bet most people these days have never even tried rhubarb yet everyone’s Mom and Dad seem to love it. I hated it. I mean, wouldn’t even touch the stuff! I’m still a bit weird about it depending on how it is used, but cook it down with sweet berries and sugar and I don’t even know how to explain it, it becomes a whole new creature! It’s so good!!

Recommended Equipment

• Sure Gel Ultra Gel
• Pastry Blender

Before You Begin…

Get about 3 cups of water boiling over high heat. You’ll use the boiling water to soften and prep the rhubarb for the crisp. Rhubarb can be quite bitter but letting in sit in boiling water for a couple of minutes will dull the bitterness.

Ingredients for Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

For the Filling

• Rhubarb: A vegetable that has edible stalks that are usually pink in color. It is quite sour like a lemon but it becomes sweeter as it cooks. It is a great source of antioxidants, fiber and vitamin K.
• Strawberries: You will want to wash and hull the strawberries before cutting them up.
• Sugar: Helps sweeten the filling.
• Brown Sugar: Adds richness and sweetness to the filling.
• Sure Gel Ultra Gel: Thickens the filling so that the filling isn’t water. You can also use flour or cornstarch.
• Lemon Zest: Adds an extra pop of flavor and brightness
• Cardamom: A spice commonly used in Indian food that has a complex flavor that is floral but also citrusy.

For the Topping

• Old Fashioned Rolled Oats: You can use quick oats too but I love the texture and chewiness the old fashioned oats add.
• Brown Sugar: Adds sweetness to the topping
• Flour: Adds structure to the topping
• Cinnamon: Adds warmth and flavor
• Salt: Enhances all the flavors of the topping
• Unsalted Butter: Adds flavor and binds all the ingredients together

The measurements for all the ingredients can be found in the recipe card down below. This is just meant to be an overview of the ingredients so keep on scrolling down for all the details.

What are Substitutes for Ultra Gel?

I prefer ultra gel over flour or cornstarch for thickening. I feel like there’s a flavor that accompanies both whereas the ultra gel is flavorless. But if you don’t have ultra gel or you don’t want to buy it, you can use flour or cornstarch.

Read more

Nutella Stuffed Strawberry Chocolate Cupcakes

If an 8 year old can make Nutella Stuffed Strawberry Chocolate Cupcakes, you certainly can do it! Moist chocolate cupcakes are a must for Valentine’s Day!

Are you familiar with how cooking happens in our house? It’s not just a mom thing, and it’s certainly not just an adult thing, the whole family is involved. I’ll tell you all about how our family created the tradition of kids cooking, plus a few tips for making it work in your home, but first, let’s chat about these Nutella Stuffed Strawberry Chocolate Cupcakes, very similar to our Milk Chocolate Cupcakes.

Nutella Stuffed Strawberry Chocolate Cupcakes

I love the look of chocolate and fluffy, pink anything, yes, even pink pancakes. I’m not really a pink girl, I think I have one or two pink shirts in my closet and that’s probably it. Now don’t panic, I have nothing against pink, I’m just not drawn to it like I am blue or white for example. I should move to Santorini, Greece. That seems like a good choice.

Ahhh but chocolate and pink, there’s something about that just makes me want to take a big ol’ bite. And these Nutella Stuffed Strawberry Chocolate Cupcakes are the perfect example.

A moist chocolate cupcake, stuffed with totally lickable Nutella and topped off with strawberry buttercream that is silky like those old school 90’s silk pajamas. Nothing short of a dream.

Why Coffee in Chocolate Cake

You all know us well enough by now to know that we don’t drink alcohol, coffee or tea and while yes, alcohol usually cooks out of things, we don’t keep it in the house so it just doesn’t happen.

When it comes to chocolate cake I’ve had to embrace that it does in fact make a difference. I bought this, Espresso Powder  used for baking and I merely add a little to any liquid in chocolate baking and it enhances the chocolate flavor without adding any coffee flavor. I honestly still skip it all the time, but really, it does make a difference and you’re probably eating it most of the time you buy a chocolate anything out and about.

Boiling Water in Chocolate Cake

Have you noticed how many chocolate recipes include boiling water? Especially a chocolate cake or cupcake. So what’s the deal with boiling water in chocolate cake?

It seems like it would be something with the hot water making the cake more moist or tender, but it’s actually about the cocoa. When making anything chocolate you should mix cocoa with hot water then let it sit for a few minutes. What you’re actually doing is blooming the chocolate, or in other words, the cocoa dissolves and the flavor particles are released leading to a more powerful chocolate flavor.

Chocolate brownies are a little different, you’ll want to bloom the chocolate in hot oil. Not like, fry you up some fried chicken oil, just warmed up so

Strawberry cookies made with real strawberries! These cookies are soft with slightly crispy edges and a thick, chewy middle. You can top them with a light glaze or roll them in sugar.

I was about to make our lemon drop cookies a few months ago when I got the brilliant idea that if a candy could be blended to flavor a cookie, surely freeze dried fruit could as well. Sure enough, a summer strawberry cookie was born! 

I thought strawberry was the absolute best flavor as a kid. Now I actually tend to go more raspberry out of the berry family (curious what you all would pick), but my kids are for sure on the childhood bandwagon of fresh, juicy red strawberries. They love that these cookies are dense and chewy but they have the pick of rolling in sugar or topping with a crackly glaze.

I personally prefer to make a lemon glaze to brighten up these sweet cookies, but you can do whatever makes you happy!

Ingredients for Strawberry Cookies

Most of the strawberry cookie recipes out there use strawberry cake mix or strawberry pudding to get the strawberry flavor (in fact we have our own strawberry pudding cookie recipe here on the blog), but I love using real strawberries in this recipe to get that true strawberry flavor. Here is what you will need to make these cookies:

For the Cookies

• Freeze Dried Strawberries: Don’t use fresh strawberries. They will add too much moisture to the dough and make the cookies cakey.
• Sugar: regular granulated white sugar
• Butter Flavored Shortening: You can also use regular shortening (you’ll lose a little richness in flavor) or just regular butter but they end up more dry with just butter.
• Unsalted Butter: softened, combined with the shortening, the cookies are tender and still rich in flavor
• Eggs: add structure to the cookies
• Vanilla: adds flavor
• Strawberry Extract: just for a little boost in flavor
• Flour: use all-purpose flour
• Baking Soda: leavening agent to give the cookies rise and fluffiness
• Baking Powder: leavening agent that works with the baking soda to help the cookies rise
• Salt: enhances all the flavors

For the Glaze

• Powdered Sugar: adds sweetness and structure to the glaze
• Milk or Water: milk will be a little more rich in flavor
• Lemon Juice: I love to add a little lemon juice to give a nice flavor burst to the cookie, but it is totally optional.
  • BONUS: You could also add a little strawberry extract to the glaze if you want even more strawberry flavor.

Sugar

• Sugar: Roll the cookie dough balls in sugar before baking if you prefer that instead of the glaze.

The measurements for all the ingredients and the instructions for making these cookies can all be found in the recipe card at the

Strawberry Fluff Fruit Dip [+ Video]

This strawberry fluff fruit dip is one of the first recipes I fell in love with as a kid and I still can’t get enough of it. All you need is two simple ingredients!

When I was a teenager, I had this marshmallow fluff dip for the first time and while I think it’s from Shannon Mattson —one of the sweetest, spunkiest and most tender hearted people I know — I could also be totally wrong. Either way, this easy fruit dip is pure heaven and I’ve got three kiddos over here licking their bowls clean in order to not miss out on a single bit.

And the very best part? It uses just two ingredients. Boo-yah. There’s literally nothing easier than buying two things at the store, whipping them together and serving with a platter of fruit. 

I’ve actually mentioned this a few times, but in case you are new on this blog, fruit and I are the best of friends. I’d actually take it over chocolate most of the time. Most of the time. (I mean, who could ever turn down a hot, homemade chocolate chip cookie?).

Strawberry Fluff Fruit Dip Ingredients

Like I said already, this is such an easy fruity dip recipe! To make this strawberry dip, you’ll need: 

• Marshmallow Fluff – the jarred stuff you can buy at the store, Jet Puffed makes one called marshmallow creme. I’ve also heard you can buy strawberry flavored marshmallow cream, so if you can find that, go for it!!
• Strawberry Cream Cheese – Philadelphia is my preferred brand, it’s a 7.5oz container

Seriously, that’s all it takes to make this incredible cream cheese dip! The exact measurements for each ingredient and instructions for the making the dip can be found in the recipe card at the end of the post.

How to Make Fruit Dip 

This strawberry marshmallow dip is so simple to make I think it takes less than 5 minutes to prepare! Here’s how to make fruit dip: 

1. Beat the marshmallow fluff and cream cheese together until smooth. 
2. Spoon into a serving dish and serve alongside your choice of fruit. 

Couldn’t be easier, right?! My kind of appetizer! It would be so cute at a baby shower for a little baby girl! Or a bridal shower! It is always a hit!

What to Serve with Fruit Dip

This is one of those fruity dip recipes that works best with strawberries and bananas, but really any fruit will work. Think: apples, pineapple, or even peaches and pears.Read more