Decorative Strawberries -- Jell-O Cake

(I meant to post this months ago, when strawberries were at the beginning of their season -- not at the end. My apologies!)

I love to make jello cake -- recipe below -- in the summertime. It is cool and refreshing on a hot summer day. When I make a strawberry jello cake, I like to make the strawberries decorative....

Wash the strawberries. Take your knife and make cuts every couple of millimeters, starting at the end, and stopping about 1/8 inch from the stem (you just don't want to cut all the way through). Then fan out the cuts before setting the strawberry down. Viola!

Double Orange Refrigerator Cake*

*Substitute cake & Jell-O flavors/fruits as desired... other flavors that are equally as good include strawberry and raspberry. Yum!

Cake:

1 orange (or white) cake mix

1 sm pkg orange Jell-O (4 oz)

¾ C. boiling water

2/3 C. cold water

Topping:

1 sm can mandarin orange slices

1 8-oz tub thawed Cool Whip

1 sm pkg vanilla instant pudding (4 oz)

2/3 C. water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare 9x13 baking pan by spraying with non-stick spray. Prepare cake as instructed on box, let cool about ½ hour. While cooling, dissolve Jell-O in ¾ cup boiling water, stir in 2/3 C. cold water, set aside until room temperature, stir. Poke holes into cake with a fork or straw. Slowly pour Jell-O over cake to allow liquid to penetrate holes; refrigerate. Combine topping ingredients until well blended, spread over cake. Decorate with more orange slices if desired.