Pig Pickin' Poke Cake

One of our favorite summer desserts is poke cake.   MMMM....light, cool cake topped with whipped cream and Mandarin Oranges.   A while back, I was looking through various food blogs, cook books, and websites (you know, getting my fix) and I kept seeing the same cake, though it had a lot of different names.  Pig Pickin' Cake, Summer Lovin' Cake, Summer Pickin' Cake, Pig Lovin' Cake...haha, just making sure you were paying attention ;)  I thought I would try this cake and see how the family ranked it against the poke cake.  The cake was good and everyone enjoyed it, though we all loved the refreahsing lightness of the poke cake more.  Later that week, my Hubby Love and I were watching some old episodes of Southpark.  In this particular episode, the boys were trying to cross elephant and pig DNA, think above mentioned Pig Lovin' reference.  Then inspiration came...yet again proving inspiration came come from anywhere!  While the boys were not able to get the pig and elephant DNA to splice, we were able to take our favorite parts from both cakes and splice them together marvelously!  In honor of Cartman's pig "Fluffy", we named it Pig Pickin' Poke Cake because you know I would probably get some nasty emails if I named it Pig Lovin' Poke Cake.

Ingredients:

• 1 stick butter, melted
• 1/4 cup vegetable or canola oil
• 1 box white cake mix (18.25 ounce)
• 3 eggs
• 3 cans mandarin oranges (11 ounces)
• 1 tsp lemon extract
• 1 box orange jello (3.4 ounces)
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1 container Cool Whip (8 ounces)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare a 9"x13" cake pan with non-stick cooking spray.
To make the cake, combine butter, oil, cake mix, eggs, lemon extract, and 1 can mandarin oranges WITH juice.  Mix on medium speed for 2 minutes.  Pour into prepared pan and bake for 24-27 minutes.  Remove from oven and immediately poke holes all over cake with the end of a wooden spoon or skewer.  Set aside.
Stir together 1 cup BOILING water and orange jello, stirring until completely dissolved.  Pour slowly and evenly over cake, allowing it to soak in the holes.
Place cake in refrigerator for 2-3 hours before serving.  When ready to serve, drain remaining 2 cans of Mandarin Oranges.  Spread Cool Whip evenly over cake and top with oranges.  Slice and ENJOY!



This recipe is being linked to:
Tidy Mom's I'm Lovin' It
Simply Sweet Home Friday Favorites
Mommy's Kitchen Sunday Potluck