This dessert is a wonderful and refreshing summer treat: strawberry refrigerator cake. Exactly the same in the winter. Before serving, give it at least 4 hours to chill.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 30 mins |
| Additional Time: | 4 hrs 30 mins |
| Total Time: | 5 hrs 20 mins |
| Servings: | 12 |
| Yield: | 1 (9×13-inch) cake |
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon flour, for coating
- 1 10 ounce box strawberry cake mix
- 1 ⅓ cups water
- 3 large eggs
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil
- 2 (10 ounce) packages frozen strawberries, thawed with juice
- 1 (3.5 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
- 1 cup milk
- 2 cups frozen whipped topping, thawed
- 1 pint fresh strawberries (Optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9×13-inch baking dish.
- Make cake: Prepare cake mix as directed on the package, using 1 1/3 cups water, 3 eggs, and 1/3 cup oil. Pour batter into the prepared dish.
- Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Allow cake to cool on a wire rack.
- Poke holes on top of cooled cake using a fork. Purée thawed strawberries with juice in a blender or food processor until smooth. Spoon over top of cake.
- Make topping: Prepare pudding mix as directed on the package, using 1 cup milk. Fold whipped topping into pudding until combined, then spread over cake. Arrange strawberries on top.
- Refrigerate cake for at least 4 hours before serving.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 248 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 28 g |
| Cholesterol | 62 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 4 g |
| Saturated Fat | 5 g |
| Sodium | 196 mg |
| Sugars | 23 g |
| Fat | 14 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Great cake. I had to come up with something do there were no real strawberries in the cake. My mom can’t have them. I substituted the frozen strawberries with strawberry jelly that I melted in the microwave mixed with a little sweetened condensed milk. Worked great. She just took the strawberries on the top off of her piece. I used the cheesecake pudding too and it all just turned out great.
This is not that impressive though I did swap the frosting for a strawberry cream cheese. It is just a box cake with pudding filling.
I used whipped buttercream to hold the strawberries in place. It was delicious ??!
I made this for a hot weather dinner party and it turned out great. I definitely plan to make it again.
This was simple to make & very good. I subbed half of the water for strawberry puree and added it into the cake mix. I also used “Strawberry Cupcake” flavored pudding with 1 cup of milk for a thicker, strawberry flavored frosting. I topped the cake with whole, fresh, strawberries & refrigerated it overnight. Everyone loved it!
Excellent Receipe!!
I like to cook from scratch so was a little wary of using a cake mix, but this was really good. Very easy and simple to make with great strawberry flavor. Love the cool whip-pudding topping. I followed the advice of a reviewer and used a squirt bottle to fill the holes with the puree. Worked great. Made this for a dinner party and it was loved by all. A keeper!
This was a hit at Xmas dinner!! Not too sweet and easy to make! I will definitely make this for years to come!!
This was made for my birthday when I was working, and I loved it! I have made it since, but now… I am using orange marmalade and orange juice instead of the strawberry puree! I have done it once with a yellow cake, added some orange peel zest to the mix (2 T). This time, I am using an orange cake mix, still added the orange peel zest. Mixing some OJ with a jar of orange marmalade to make the puree, then the topping is the same!
I’ve been making this for years. My family absolutely loves it and so do my coworkers. I personally love strawberries but don’t like fake strawberry flavoring so I use yellow cake instead. The first time I brought it to our holiday gathering we were all too stuffed for desert so my sister who’s not a big fan of cakes took a small piece for her husband & herself. Before I even got home she called to tell me that I have to make that again.
This is super moist & very strawberry. I made one slight tweak to the recipe though – I added one package of strawberry Jello to the cake mix.
Very easy to make and very delicious to eat!
i made this for my moms birthday and just made another one for my brothers. its not too sweet. everyone loves it!
I changed it to 4 stars after I rated it 2 after it sat overnight it was good. Four hours is not enough time. I did substitute applesauce for the oil and added cornstarch to the milk like another reviewer suggested. I also added vanilla extract but it still was missing something. It was only 95 calories a slice and since I always have frozen strawberries, this recipe is a keeper! Sweetened condensed milk and/or cream cheese to the topping or rum in the strawberries?? I was expecting something like a tres leches, so I expected a very moist cake so that was not the issue. I also poked lots of holes in the cake and then went around the edges with a spatula, and pressed down on the cake so it would soak up purée.
Okay, so I started making this cake and realized I didn’t have any strawberries, frozen or otherwise. Oops. Well, I did have frozen blueberries. Oh, and I also didn’t have enough milk so I used buttermilk. Again, oops. Back to the blueberries. I put 2 pints in a saucepan, added a heap of sugar and a tablespoon or so of vanilla extract. Boiled until gelatinous and then pureed. Hey, why not improvise. Let me tell you, it worked out quite nicely. Who doesn’t like blueberries and strawberries mixed together in a delicious cake of goodness. POW! Double POW!!!! I say throw in the kitchen sink of berries. Yummmmmmmm. It pleased a whole family. Good luck and enjoy.
I’ve made one similar, but instead of using milk with the pudding, try one small carton of heavy whipping cream with the box of pudding and whip it with a hand mixer until it holds firm . Delicious!
I originally made this for my family for valentine’s day, but hubby brought home cupcakes on his way home from work, so I ended up serving this to my elementary class the next day. They all loved it. I, too, had the same problem with the strawberry puree layer. After putting them on, I just spread the remaining evenly across the top and let it refrigerate over night. The next day I put the “icing” on carefully spreading, so not to mix the strawberry layer with the icing layer. I did have the same problem with the icing being a tad runny. If you aren’t gentle enough in mixing, it will definitely get runny. I thought the strawberry layer part did leave the cake a bit soggy on the top, but for the kids, they all thought it was great. I can’t say it was a bad recipe, but it needs a bit of tweaking to be a five star.
Delicious!! I brought this cake to a BBQ today and everyone loved it! My only change was I didn’t use frozen and then thawed strawberries. I put 1 pint of fresh strawberries, 1/2 cup sugar, and 1/8 of a cup water into my food processor and then pureed it. Super easy recipe and a huge hit. I will definitely make this again.
Everyone loves this one! It’s so light and refreshing in the middle of summer. I chill my cake in the fridge while I’m preparing the strawberries and also used the handle of a wooden spoon to make big holes for the berries. I make this (and other poke cakes) often in the summer so I bought a clear plastic, ketsup type squeeze bottle and cut the end down so it has a very large opening. This makes it so much easier to fill the holes. It works great for cupcakes and layer cakes also. I store the cake in the fridge while I make the frosting. When making the frosting, I make the pudding first and allow it to thicken a bit before gently folding in an 8 oz container of cool whip. In the summer “Cool Whip” does sell a strawberry flavor, but if that isn’t available, I add a bit of strawberry extract and a drop of red food coloring to the frosting because if you use the vanilla instant pudding without it, it’s sort of yellow looking and not very pretty looking on a pink cake. Before frosting the cake I go back and refill the holes as the cake will absorb some of the berries. Try this one you will love it!
We wanted to make a simple strawberry cake and this was a great recipe. Didn’t make the topping becuz I needed white buttercream. But cake was yummy!
i just made this cake for my grandmothers birthday and boy was it a HIT!! I used 2boxes of Pillsbury Moist Stawberry Cake mix (to make a 1/2sheet, fed 40) and it was all gone in one night!!!!! I also used unsweetened frozen strawberry to control the amount of sugar i wanted in the dish! This is definitely a receipe that i will keep and use over again!!!