Chocolate Poke Cake Recipe
Over the years, I’ve made my fair share of poke cakes, meaning a cake that has holes poked into it after baking. If poking holes in a freshly baked cake has you wondering, why? The answer is because a sweet chocolaty syrup mixture gets poured into those holes before topping the whole cake with a light and fluffy chocolate frosting. Like most poke cakes, this one begins with a box of chocolate cake mix that I then doctored up.
Ingredients in Chocolate Poke Cake
This easy chocolate pudding poke cake is made with common fridge and pantry ingredients. I have broken the recipe into three components — cake, filing, and frosting. You’ll need to have on hand the following ingredients: Cake
Chocolate cake mix Chocolate fudge instant pudding mix Greek yogurt or sour cream Vegetable or canola oil Milk Eggs Vanilla extract Salt
Filling:
Sweetened condensed milk Chocolate syrup
Frosting:
Heavy cream Confectioners’ sugar Chocolate fudge instant pudding mix
How to Make Chocolate Poke Cake
The batter for this chocolate cake is so easy to whip up! Simply combine all the ingredients, mix, pour into a 9×13-inch pan, and bake until done, about 30 minutes. The batter will be thick so make sure to use a spatula to spread it out in the pan.
After baking and cooling the cake, poke holes in the cake using the tines of a fork, mix together the sweetened condensed milk and chocolate syrup, and evenly drizzle it over the top of the cake. It may take a few minutes for all of the chocolate mixture to soak in, so have patience.
In a large mixing bowl, add the frosting ingredients and beat with a handheld electric mixer or do it in your stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Evenly spread the frosting over the cake, cover, and refrigerate until you’re ready to serve the poke cake.
Do I Have to Use Cake Mix?
I have only made this poke cake with boxed cake mix but if you’re determined to make a scratch chocolate cake, I recommend this chocolate cake, double the recipe and bake in a 9×13-inch pan.
Can the Sweetened Condensed Milk Be Substituted?
No, you must make this poke cake with sweetened condensed milk, no substitutes will work. Do NOT try substituting evaporated milk for sweetened condensed milk because they’re not the same consistency.
Is Pudding Mix Required?
Dry instant pudding mix is used in both the cake batter and the frosting in this chocolate poke cake recipe. You aren’t actually making pudding, you’re simply adding in the dry mix in both stages in the recipe that the pudding mix is called for. Make sure to select dry instant pudding mix and not cook-and-serve. I have never tried this recipe with sugar free pudding mix and can’t say how the results will be. While you could probably omit it from the cake batter, in order to achieve this exact type of frosting consistency and mouthfeel, it’s necessary. However, you can make a favorite scratch frosting if desired.
Frosting Options to Try
For this chocolate pudding poke cake, I was really going for a full-out chocaholics dream and therefore the frosting is also chocolate. Although, if you wanted to use a vanilla or white frosting, that would be just fine. Additionally, whipped topping like Cool Whip is also great on poke cakes and so easy. Just spread one tub over the top and voila, your cake is frosting. Another option is to use store bought shelf-stable frosting in a tub in whatever flavor tickles your fancy including white, chocolate, or buttercream.
Storing and Serving Chocolate Poke Cake
This cake should be refrigerated within 2 hours after frosting the cake, or the frosting can get really dark and dense. Most poke cakes keep for up to 5 days airtight in the fridge, noting they do become moister (a little bit soggier) as time goes by so take that into account. I like to serve this cake chilled. It tastes even more decadent but if you’d like, you can allow it to come to room temp before serving. Adding some fresh fruit, especially berries like strawberries, raspberries, or blueberries is a nice touch, but optional.
Tips For the Best Chocolate Poke Cake
For this chocolate poke cake, I poked the holes using a fork. For other poke cakes I’ve made over the years, I have also used the blunt end of a wooden spoon which makes much bigger holes. The only caveat with this is that at times when you slice into the cake and are looking at a cross-section of an individual piece, it can appear that there are a few chunks here and there that are “missing” but it’s simply just the result of the wooden spoon. If you don’t have as much patience, use a wooden spoon as simply just poking holes with the tines of a fork means that it will take longer for the chocolaty sweetened condensed milk mixture to soak in.
Favorite Chocolate Cake Recipes:
Chocolate Turtle Poke Cake — This decadent poke cake is topped with whipped topping, salted caramel sauce, mini chocolate chips, and chopped pecans. It’s so easy to make, and a huge hit at parties! Tried this recipe? Leave a review! Consider leaving a 5 star rating if you’ve made and loved one of my recipes!
Better-Than-Anything Chocolate Cake — Worthy of its name and one of the BEST cakes you will ever eat! Doesn’t get any better than chocolate, caramel, whipped topping, and candy in an easy, no-mixer cake!
S’mores Cake — Chocolate cake gets poked all over and soaked in a marshmallow creme mixture before being topped with crushed graham crackers, toasted marshmallows, and hot fudge sauce.
The Best Homemade Chocolate Ganache Cake — This truly is the best homemade chocolate cake EVER. It’s topped with a smooth chocolate ganache frosting, and it requires just 10 minutes of hands on prep!
Cabernet Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Ganache – Now you don’t have to choose between dessert or wine since this is BOTH!! Rich chocolate cake spiked with Cabernet and topped with a silky ganache that also has Cabernet in it!
Triple Chocolate Cherry Cake — This cake is loaded with juicy cherries and topped with an easy homemade chocolate frosting. I used a few shortcuts in this recipe to save time, but this cake tastes completely homemade!
The Best Triple Chocolate Layer Cake — This is the chocolate layer cake to beat all and the best. It’s rich, decadent, and everything you want in a chocolate cake.
Slow Cooker Hot Fudge Chocolate Cake — This is an easy, no-mixer cake that’s super soft, gooey, moist, rich, and fudgy. As the cake cooks, it creates its own hot fudge sauce! For the full experience, serve with ice cream or whipped cream.
The Best and Easiest Molten Chocolate Lava Cakes — One bowl, no mixer, so easy! The warm, gooey, fudgy chocolate lava cake center is heavenly! Better than any restaurant versions! Best chocolate cake EVER!!
