Taste and See…

A Recipe For You!

Refreshing Jello Cake

1 white cake mix
2 6 oz boxes Jello Gelatin, any flavor 
2 cups boiling water 
1  16 oz carton Cool Whip, thawed

Preheat oven. Follow the instructions on the cake mix package using egg whites. Spread cake batter in a prepared 9×13 baking dish. Bake as directed. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes. Use a wooden spoon handle or similar to poke holes in the cake approximately 1 to 1 ½ inches apart.

While the cake is baking, boil water. Carefully measure 2 cups of boiling water and pour over 1 box of gelatin powder in a glass bowl, stirring well to completely dissolve gelatin. Ladle the hot jello evenly into the holes of the warm cake. Allow the cake to cool for a half hour to 45 minutes. Refrigerate for an hour, then cover the cake with plastic wrap and keep refrigerated until ready to frost and serve. 

To make the fluffy frosting, empty the carton of Cool Whip into a large bowl. Stir the powder from the second box of gelatin into the Cool Whip until thoroughly mixed. Immediately smooth a thick layer of the frosting onto the cake. Do not mix up the gelatin frosting until you are ready to frost the cake as it will set up quickly. I make the frosting and frost the cake shortly before serving. When taking the cake somewhere, I mix the frosting and spread it on the cake at the location where the cake is being served. Because the icing stands up over the edge of the baking dish, it is difficult to cover the frosted cake for traveling. Store any leftover cake in the refrigerator.

You can use any flavor of gelatin, I prefer strawberry gelatin and I sometimes top the frosted cake with a few fresh strawberries.

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I am so glad God designed us with wonderful senses! And there is nothing like following a favorite recipe and enjoying the finished product! It is a treat for our senses! One such recipe is a simple, deliciously refreshing cake. Jello cake has been a favorite in my family for many years. The pleasing appearance of the brightly colored, thick, fluffy layer of frosting is an inviting treat for the eyes! The fresh fruity smell of the gelatin that permeates the cake is so refreshing! And the taste… well you really must try this! Because the gelatin that is poured into the baked cake has been prepared with half of the water used when making actual jello, the fruit flavor is so intense throughout the cake! And the light, fluffy, fruity frosting is well… just the ‘icing on the cake’! (Sorry, I couldn’t resist!)

When it comes to preparing and trying recipes, many things come into play. The fewer steps involved in getting a dish from pantry to table, the more likely I will actually try the recipe. As the dish is coming together, the aroma is so important. Chances are if I don’t like the smell of it as it is being prepared, I am pretty certain I won’t care much for the taste of the finished product. I will admit there have been times I prepared a recipe that smelled so good as it was coming together, but the end result was very disappointing. Do you know that feeling? It makes you wonder what you did wrong… you just can’t quite put your finger on it, but there is just something missing.

May I share another recipe with you today? The best recipe I know! And it is so, so good! There is only one step in this recipe, it looks and smells wonderful, there is nothing left out or missing, and the taste… is so, so good!

Psalm 34:6-9 says: This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them. O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him. O fear the Lord, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him.

...He hears us when we cry unto him!
...He saves us when we believe in Him! 
...He delivers us!
...He is good, so very good! 
...He blesses us!
...He supplies our need!

By taste and sight we both make discoveries, and have enjoyment; Taste and see God’s goodness; take notice of it, and take the comfort of it. ~Matthew Henry

I love Matthew Henry’s commentary on this passage:

“This poor man, whom no man looked upon with any respect, or looked after with any concern, was yet welcome to the throne of grace; the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. The holy angels minister to the saints, and stand for them against the powers of darkness. All the glory be to the Lord of the angels. By taste and sight we both make discoveries, and have enjoyment; Taste and see God’s goodness; take notice of it, and take the comfort of it. He makes all truly blessed that trust in him. As to the things of the other world, they shall have grace sufficient for the support of spiritual life. And as to this life, they shall have what is necessary from the hand of God.” Commentary by Matthew Henry, 1710.

Oh, Friend, taste and see! The Lord is good indeed!