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This Boston cream poke cake has layers of rich cake, creamy pudding and is topped off with a delicious, yet easy, chocolate ganache. So easy to make and it’s a perfect dessert!
I have to start out by saying I was never much of a fan of Boston cream pie when I was younger. I can’t even recall ever eating any past the age of 10 or so–and that’s a LOT of years now!
It’s something I never really thought about until I saw a Boston Cream Poke Cake that was made by my friend Danielle from Hugs & Cookies XOXO. Danielle makes the most SPECTACULAR desserts and cheesecakes you will ever see. Even though we both live in New York, I’m much farther north than she is. And that’s a good thing because if I still lived down in NYC, I’d be too close–close enough to visit regularly–and I’d end up not being able to get through doorways LOL.
Danielle’s version uses her from-scratch cake. I don’t bother too much making cakes from scratch anymore because I find the convenience of a mix to be a boon, especially since I got lazy in my old age. Plus cake mixes taste way better nowadays than they did years ago. In fact, they really taste very close to homemade.
What I did with the mix was used the pound cake formula so the cake that forms the base would have a bit more body to it. Other than that, I did pretty much the same that Danielle did with hers, but I think she used more vanilla pudding than I did. I used the larger box–the one that makes 6 or so servings.
I like the ganache topping nice and runny–like when it’s lukewarm, but I do suggest frosting with the ganache and letting the cake chill for a couple of hours otherwise you’d have to keep reheating the ganache. It’s totally delicious either way.
Boston Cream Poke Cake
Ingredients
CAKE
- 1 box 15.25 oz yellow cake mix (I used Duncan Hines)
- 1 box 4-serving size vanilla or French vanilla instant pudding mix
- 4 eggs
- 1/3 cup oil
- 1 cup water
FILLING
- 2 boxes 4-serving size -OR- 1 box (5.1 oz "Family Size") instant vanilla pudding mix
- Amount of milk called for on the box es for PIE
FROSTING
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 8 oz chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease or spray a 13 x 9 -inch baking pan.
- Place all cake ingredients in a large bowl and beat at medium speed with an electric mixer for 2 minutes.
- Pour into prepared pan and bake 35-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Remove from oven and cool for 5 minutes.
- Using the handle of a wooden spoon, poke holes ever 2-inches on top of the cake, then cool cake completely.
- When cake is cool, prepare pudding by placing the milk and pudding mix in a large bowl and beating at low speed for 1 minute; pour over top of cake, spreading across entire surface.
- Chill for at least 3 hours.
- To make ganache, heat the cream almost to the boiling point. Remove from heat and add the chocolate chips; let stand for 5 minutes.
- Whisk until smooth. Pour over top of cake and chill for about 1 hour.
Nutrition
Angela says
Sounds good to me,…. especially since I’m originally from New England, and grew up loving delicious “Boston Cream Pie”. The recipe which you posted must be pretty old, since we can’t find ANY cake mixes which come in a box of 15.25 oz. anymore! How can we adapt this recipe to the new and smaller cake mixes, if possible?
Judith Hanneman says
I used a Duncan Hines cake mix (that makes a 13 x 9-inch cake). Any 2-layer size will do. If you want to use the smaller (one layer) mixes–Jiffy makes them I think–then 1/2 of this recipe would be the way to go. You don’t have to make the “pound cake” hack, just make the cake as the box directs. Make 1/2 of the ganache and use 1 pkg (4-serving size) of the pudding.