Raspberry Zinger Poke Cake

Posted on April 16, 2013 by Veronica

So I’ve turned into a food blogger rebel. I don’t cook or bake, and when I do its favorites I’ve already posted recipes for. Also, I’ve been eating a lot of Taco Bell. Bad food blogger!

Speaking of Taco Bell, I can’t believe I’ve managed to keep it under wraps for so long, but I think I might have ITBES. I may or may not drink the sauce packets to get me through to my next Taco Bell fix. I even put the sauce on my hard boiled eggs and I can almost pretend I’m eating real Taco Bell when I’m snacking at work. I feel a Taco Bell intervention coming my way, so I’m packing my bags, ready to flee to the nearest Taco Bell to set up permanent residence. Pretty sure the employees will protect me from you crazy non-ITBES people. YOU CAN’T MAKE ME QUIT TACO BELL!

So while I’m totally out of control when it comes to doing all the things a good food blogger should do, I at least have a few photos saved from the days when I was a good girl and taking photos of things I’d baked and cooked. Such as this Raspberry Zinger Poke Cake.

I made this for Den’s birthday last December, right about the time the last Raspberry Zingers were disappearing off store shelves. Sad times for Raspberry Zinger lovers. Well cry no more, for you can still get your fix with an easy poke cake! It’s not exactly the same, but it’s good stuff, nonetheless.

I created this with help from Suzie’s recipe and Renee’s recipe, and it couldn’t be easier. Poke cakes are especially good for warmer weather (if you are fortunate enough to be enjoying some right now) because they are served cold, and are really refreshing on a warm day! Or, let’s be honest, it’s also quite nice on a cold December day as well. At least we thought so. :)

Raspberry Zinger Poke Cake

Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture

1 white or yellow cake mix* (also water, vegetable oil and eggs/eggs whites as instructed on box)
1 box (3 oz.) raspberry-flavored gelatin
1 c. boiling water
1/2 c. cold water
1 container (8 oz.) Cool Whip, thawed
¾ cup shredded sweetened coconut

Bake cake according to package directions and cool completely. Pierce cooled cake all over with a fork. In a small bowl, stir gelatin and boiling water until sugar is dissolved. Stir in cold water. Pour over cake, cover, and refrigerate 2 or more hours (overnight is fine). Frost with whipped cream and sprinkle coconut over the top. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve. Serve cold and refrigerate any leftovers.

*Pillsbury brand not recommended.

Recipe source: adapted from Two Dogs In The Kitchen, with inspiration from My Kitchen Adventures.

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Posted in Cake & Frosting and tagged baking, cake, easy, Hostess, poke cake, raspberry zinger, recipe, summer. Bookmark the permalink.

Thankful Thursdays #95: Toot & Twinkies Game Night

Posted on December 13, 2012 by Veronica

This holiday season I seem to be getting things right. I’m not blogging very much, and sadly not reading blogs hardly at all, but I’m spending more time on Facebook with friends (at least the night owl ones-lol) and *gasp* have even managed to spend time with friends face to face. Like, I could actually reach out and touch them. I forgot there was more to friendship than “liking” their statuses and pictures. LOL! And I’m very thankful for the time spent with them…

I mentioned Margo on Monday and I pretty much mention her any time Moroccan cuisine comes up (like here), and you can check out my all-time favorite picture of her and Danielle in their glorious hippy high school days here. Anyway, Margo and Ali held a game night at their house and I brought some fun to the party in the form of toot and Twinkies.

Toot is a Persian confection made with marzipan that is fashioned to look like mulberries, or toot, with little pistachio pieces for stems. Yes, toot means mulberries! Why, what did you think it meant? ;) (You can read more about it and get the recipe here.)

My sister won the toot from the bake sale fundraiser for Suzie* and I ended up paying for it, so Azita shipped it to me. And of course I just had to have a toot party because, hello, who in the world as ever had a toot party? Come on now, it had to happen.

A friend says Dennis looks like Alton Brown with his glasses. I can see it!

*Quick Suzie update for those who’ve been asking: We raised $1669 in total which has helped her pay down her outlandish medical bills from her initial hospital stay. She is doing much better and is putting off her gallbladder surgery as long as possible since she already owes so much to the hospital, and is taking photography jobs in the meantime. Thankfully she’s able to eat real food again and not just grass and cardboard-lol. Thanks to all who helped!*

We also brought Twinkies because after Hostess went out of business and all their products were quickly bought up by panicked consumers, we were lucky enough to find some at a Walmart Marketplace recently. So we said a fond farewell to this bastion of American snacking during our game night with this final box. RIP Twinkies.

Ali told us that back home in Morocco they called mulberries “toota” and if a girl was pretty, you could say she was toota. How cute! I guess that’s the Moroccan equivalent to us calling a girl a “peach.” :)

There were board games but as we often do, we fell back on our favorite game-charades. We even had a little foodie action going on when Jimmy took his turn (fun fact: Jimmy used to be a professional chef himself!):