I think that the topping was great but I think the 2 cups of liquid (one hot and one cold) added to the gelatin is too much and makes the cake "wet". I think this recipe would be much better if the gelatin was only mixed with one cup of hot water.
It's not often I say this but... This cake was absolutely vile. I have no idea how it got a five-star rating. I heeded the "too sweet" comments and used home-whipped cream instead of the topping and I still couldn't choke it down. In the words of my six-year-old son "This tastes like medicine!" The problem here is that we're not used to such obviously artificial flavors so I think next time I'll stick to making a nice traditional orange syrup cake and serve it with thick or clotted cream.
Very good and cool on a hot summer day. Would be great for a carry-in.
We really loved this cake. I read the recipe wrong and only bought 1 box of Jell-O instead of two but I think it might've been too sweet with it. I used about 1 1/2 C water total then reserved about 1/4 C of the Jell-O mix to add to the frosting to give it a slight orange color. I've made a lot of poke cakes in my time and find a wooden skewer or toothpick work best for poking holes the cake won't stick on wood. Of course the orange flavor is artifical but so is it in dreamsicles so if you like more natural flavors this cake is not for you. Two thumbs up!
I was worried about the "too sweet" comments so did the following... - Couldn't get orange cake mix so used lemon plus 1 T. orange extract and 1 t. grated orange rind. - Instead of using Cool Whip (which is sweetened) I just whipped my own cream (no-added sugar or flavoring) then folded together with the pudding/Jello mix. My husband thought it was great and he hates things that are "too sweet"!
I did not have orange cake mix so I added one package of orange Kool-Aid into the batter before following with the cake instructions. I did not use all the water called for in this recipe I only use a half cup each of hot/cold water. After "frosting" the cooled cake I studded the top of the cake with drained mandarin oranges. Just like a Dreamsicle/Creamsicle. This was great because it uses on hand ingredients it's cheap and easy to assemble and it's absolutely delicious! NOTE: I did use sugar-free cake mix sugar free orange gelatin sugar free pudding mix and "lite" topping just to some how make this a little less....threatening to us older folks who are watching our weight/sugars.
I was excited to find this recipe as my Aunt used to make a version of this when I was a child. However upon making it I've found that I had to improvise a bit to get it the way I had hoped it would be. I used a vanilla cake mix as suggested by other reviewers & agree that the presentation of the jello stripes looked very nice! As for the topping I wish I had omitted the jello packet or maybe just used half of it because it was way too overpowering sweet & artificial. I ended up mixing an extra box of pudding an extra envelope of dream whip (which I had already substituted one envelope for the whipped topping) & when it was still too sweet I mixed in an 8 oz block of cream cheese which seemed to do the trick in making it "dreamsicle" like. It went over well and I would make it again but next time I would go easy on the jello in the topping or omit it all together and add some orange extract.
This is a great summer dessert very refreshing and delicious. People always rave about it and ask for the recipe. I made no changes to the original recipe.
I really wanted to like this but its too sweet just too much of something. It does taste like a orange push-up but I could only eat 2-3 bites and that was enough. Would not make again.
