A new spin on a beloved classic, my gluten free strawberry cornbread poke cake is just a delight to look at as it is to eat. A little denser, but still as yum-delicious as the more 'cakey' poke cakes, this easy gluten free cake recipe makes a stunning first impression. Yep and yay...
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I've Been Thinking About This Gluten Free Strawberry Cornbread Poke Cake Since Thanksgiving, Yep...
In the early spring, local farmers near our home start to harvest fresh strawberries from their usually abundant patches. I often drive by, admiring the cute little green 'hats' on top of the juicy red berries. Sometimes I get a close glimpse of a bright red strawberry or two. But, most times I just get a shot of the tops of the berries which are days, or even hours, away from being picked.
As a strawberry lover, these late March to early April sightings generally put me into a strawberry-craving frenzy. And, I deal with it by going to my local produce stand and buying way more strawberries than I can eat. Yep.
Well, this spring was different, because my strawberry cravings actually started last fall. It was right before Thanksgiving, when I came out with my gluten free skillet cornbread, and I was literally making my gluten free Cajun crawfish dressing in the kitchen.
As I was pouring the dressing into the skillet, I had a random thought of making a strawberry cornbread poke cake. Since I had never had a thought like this before, I was intrigued immediately. And to tell y'all the truth, I haven't stopped thinking about it since.
I've even made a few classic gluten free strawberry poke cakes for our church fellowship over the last few months. But, I kept wondering how a gluten free cornbread poke cake would taste, so here I am sharing the results of my experiment with you.
This Gluten Free Strawberry Cornbread Poke Cake is in a Class By Itself, Y'all
The first thing I want to point out about this gluten free strawberry cornbread poke cake is that is a little different than the classic one we all know and love. First, it's denser cause there's self-rising corn meal in it. Second, it tastes its best about 2 hours after you make it, while the cakey poke cakes usually taste better the next day, in my opinion.
Finally, if you like your poke cakes super sweet, you might want to add more sugar to your cake batter than I did. Yep. I found this cake to be sweet enough. But, I did notice that the same amount of sugar in this cake just was not as sweet as it was in others.
This gluten free strawberry cornbread poke cake turned out to be exactly what I wanted. A little something old, a little something new, and a whole lot of everything that I love about being a Southerner. Enjoy with those who appreciate a little something-something different every now and then. And see y'all on the yum side...
Ingredients
- For the Cornbread Cake
- 2 tablespoons butter or oil
- 2 eggs
- 3 tablespoons melted butter or oil
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 5 ounces plain Greek yogurt
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ cup self-rising cornmeal
- 1½ cups cassava flour
- For the Strawberry Compote
- 1 ½ cups diced strawberries
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- zest and juice of 1 lime
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- For the Poke Cake Flavor
- 1 packet strawberry Jello
- 1 cup water
- For the Whipped Cream Topping
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Grease a 9-inch cast iron skillet with the 2 tablespoons butter or oil. Set aside.
- Combine all strawberry compote ingredients together in a medium sized bowl. Set aside.
- Pour the rest of the cornbread cake ingredients into the bowl of an electric stand mixer.
- Mix on low for about 45 seconds to combine, then mix on medium for about 1 minute. (The mixture will be thick.)
- Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until fork inserted into the center comes back clean.
- Cool for 15 minutes.
- Use the back of a wooden spoon or a fork to poke holes all around the gluten free cornbread cake.
- Pour the strawberry Jello mixture into the water, and stir until thoroughly combined.
- Pour mixture over the holes in the cake.
- Use a spatula to spread the strawberry compote over the top of the cake. (It will be wet, but that's okay, cause it's going to absorb into the cake.)
- Cover cake with aluminum foil, and refrigerate for 2 hours.
- Make the whipped cream topping by pouring the heavy whipping cream and powdered sugar into a chilled stand mixer bowl.
- Using the whisk attachment, set the stand mixer at low speed until the mixture combines. Then, turn the unit to high speed until your desired whipped cream consistency is achieved, usually between 7 and 10 minutes.
- Spread whipped cream over gluten free strawberry cornbread poke cake.
- Serve immediately.
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