poke cake Archives - The Midnight Baker

Strawberry Shortcake Poke Cake

Judith Hannemann — Thu, 22 Jun 2017 23:00:37 +0000

Here’s a poke cake with all the great flavor of strawberry shortcake. It’s easy to make too!

Tis The Season For Strawberries

We are at the height of strawberry season so there’s been lots of sales.

I openly admit my favorite flavor and berry is strawberry, and I try to take advantage of all the sales. Strawberries freeze well therefore, I always have a bag or two on hand in my freezer.

Having so many strawberries on hand, I’ve been looking for things to do with them that are different. While this cake only uses them as a garnish, you still get a blast of fresh-berry taste!

A Taste Of Summer

Strawberry shortcake is a classic summer dessert–nothing spells summer like that does!

It’s got to be one of the easiest desserts too. Especially if you use bakery biscuits and whipped topping.

However, I love these desserts when they are translated into something a bit different, and I fell in love with this cake idea when I saw it on Pinterest.

For one, a cake will stay fresher longer than a biscuit, which has about a 24-hour life span. Whats more, each bite of this cake gives you a burst of strawberry flavor because of the strawberry gelatine that’s infused throughout the cake.

Whipped Topping Or Real Cream

For the sake of stability in desserts such as this, I usually opt for whipped topping. Whipped topping is a lot more stable than simple whipped cream.

Bur recently I discovered a great product that stabilizes whipped cream. It’s called Instant Clear Gel. The first time I tried it, I was impressed with the results. For one thing, it doesn’t impart any flavor–which was my basic problem with the cream cheese stabilization method.

I used real stabilized whipped cream to frost this strawberry shortcake poke cake and I was not disappointed. Real cream adds a lovely flavor that’s somehow missing in the whipped toppings.

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The Recipe

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Strawberry Shortcake Poke Cake

Here’s a poke cake with all the great flavor of strawberry shortcake. It’s easy to make too!

Prep Time20

Cook Time35

Total Time55

Course: cakes, desserts

Cuisine: American

Keyword: poke cake, strawberries, whipped cream

Servings: 12

Calories: 215kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

1 box 2-layer size white cake mix (plus ingredients called for on the box)
1/2 cup cold water
1 cup boiling water
1 pkg small pkg strawberry flavored gelatin mix

TOPPING

2 cups whipped topping -OR- 2 cups stabilized real whipped cream recipe in notes

Instructions

Make cake as directed on box, then let it cool completely.
Using a fork with large tunes (a meat serving fork is perfect), poke holes at 1-inch intervals over the top of the cake all the way to the bottom.
In a small bowl, mix the gelatin mix with the boiling water. Stir until sugar and gelatin are dissolved. Stir in the cold water.
Pour the gelatin mixture over the top of the cake and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.
Spread whipped topping or stabilized whipped cream over the top of the cake.
Garnish with fresh strawberries if desired. Chill until ready to serve.

Notes

To make stabilized whipped cream—chill a metal bowl and the beaters. Mix 1/4 cup confectioners sugar and 1 tbs Instant Cleargel, blending well. Pour 1 pint (2 cups) heavy cream into the chilled bowl. Beat at medium speed until soft peaks form.Gradually add the sugar/Cleargel mixture. Continue beating until medium-stiff peaks form.

Nutrition

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Chocolate Oreo Poke Cake

Judith Hannemann — Thu, 20 Apr 2017 23:00:56 +0000

Here is a chocolate poke cake just for Oreo lovers, and it’s easy too!

Do You Love Oreo Cookies?

So many people do!

This cake incorporates the cookies not only in the pudding, but for the topping as well. This cake is truly an Oreo-lover’s delight.

Two Pudding Choices

If you’re lucky enough to find Oreo Cookies and Cream instant pudding in your store, that’s the perfect thing to use. However, if you can’t find it, or don’t want to pay the price, there’s another choice.

That choice is plain vanilla instant pudding. What you need to do here is finely crush up some Oreos and fold them into the pudding. You want the consistency of the cookie crumbs to be like a coarse powder. Here’s where a Ninja or a food processor comes in handy. Out of the two appliances, I’d use the Ninja as it will produce the best end-product. But a food processor works OK too.

Poking The Holes

I’ve seen many recipes for poke cakes where they tell you to cool the cake slightly then poke the holes while the cake is still warm.

My experience with doing it that way didn’t produce good results. The cake stuck to the wooden spoon handle and seemed to tear the cake apart around each hole. I’ve found cooling the cake completely avoids these problems and produces clean, well-formed holes for the pudding to sink into.

The Recipe

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Chocolate Oreo Poke Cake

Here is a chocolate poke cake just for Oreo lovers, and it’s easy too!

Prep Time5

Cook Time35

Total Time40

Course: cakes, desserts

Cuisine: American

Keyword: chocolate, chocolate oreo, oreo cookies, poke cake

Servings: 12

Calories: 284kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

1 box regular 2-layer size chocolate cake mix plus ingredients to make the cake
1 package Oreo cookies & cream instant pudding mix -OR- 1 package instant vanilla pudding mix
6-8 Oreo cookies finely ground (if using the vanilla pudding ONLY)
8 oz whipped topping
10 Oreo cookies coarsely broken for topping.

Instructions

Make up cake as per box directions. Let cool completely once baked.
Poke holes about 1-inch apart on the top of the cake using the handle of a wooden spoon. Avoid making the hole all the way through the cake--about 3/4 way down is good.
Make up the pudding per package directions. If using vanilla pudding, fold in the Oreo crumbs after beating in the milk. Pour across the top of the cake; refrigerate till pudding is set--about 30 minutes.
Spread whipped topping on top of the cake.
Decorate with the coarsely broken cookies.

Notes

I always use Duncan Hines cake mix.

Nutrition

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Lemonade Cream Poke Cake

Judith Hannemann — Fri, 10 Feb 2017 00:00:01 +0000

Here’s a poke cake for lemon lovers! Delicious lemon cake infused with a bright and tart lemonade cream pudding.

Poke Cake For Lemon Lovers

Do you love lemon? This one’s for you!

It’s the “filling” that makes this poke cake special and so intensely lemony.

Lemon Pudding Intensified

With a few simple additions, instant lemon pudding can become fabulous!

Cream cheese and half-and-half cream make it creamy and frozen lemonade concentrate brings it all together.

After it sits chilling for an hour or two, the flavor infuses throughout the entire cake.

A Freezer Staple

Ever since I made these delicious Lemonade Squares that I found on Terri’s site, Great Grub Delicious Treats, I make sure to keep at least one can of frozen lemonade concentrate in my freezer.

I do this not only so I can make that delicious dessert I mentioned, but also if want a pitcher of refreshing lemonade (when I don’t have real lemons in the fridge). I’ve also discovered that lemonade concentrate has other uses.

I’ve marinated chicken in it and have even made salad dressing using it.

The concentrate is relatively inexpensive and it doesn’t take up too much room in the freezer either.

The Recipe

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Lemonade Cream Poke Cake

Here’s a poke cake for lemon lovers! Delicious lemon cake infused with a bright and tart lemonade cream pudding.

Prep Time20

Total Time20

Course: cakes, desserts

Cuisine: American

Keyword: lemonade, lemonade cream poke cake, poke cake

Servings: 12

Calories: 340kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

1 box lemon cake mix plus ingredients listed on the box
3/4 cup frozen lemonade mix undiluted
4 oz softened cream cheese
1 cup half-and-half cream -OR- whole milk
1 package lemon instant pudding mix 4-serving size
8 oz tub of whipped topping

Instructions

Prepare cake as per box instructions using a 13 x 9-inch pan.
Cool cake on a rack. Once cool, poke holes about 1-inch apart in the cake.
Beat softened cream cheese until smooth. Slowly beat in the half-and-half.
Blend in the lemonade mix. Add the pudding mix and beat for 1 minute.
Pour pudding mixture on top of cake. Refrigerate until well chilled and pudding is set.
Frost with whipped topping.

Nutrition

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Chocolate Butterfinger Poke Cake

Judith Hannemann — Sun, 27 Nov 2016 00:00:57 +0000

A poke cake especially for chocolate and Butterfinger lovers! Easy to make and even easier to eat!

Easy Dessert

This is an easy dessert to make.

First it starts out with a chocolate cake mix. Then you poke some holes in the cooled cake and pour on some butterscotch instant pudding. It’s all topped off with whipped topping and crushed Butterfinger candy bars.

What could be easier?

Some Recommendations

Most poke cake recipes call for a 13 x 9 sized cake. I do things a bit differently.

What I do is make the cake in a 11 x 7-inch pan. Not only is the cake higher, but because it is higher you get more of the creamy pudding filling. One small box of instant pudding will suffice to fill the holes, but if you want to make sure they are over filled, then use two boxes. If you use two boxes, you’ll have pudding left over, but that’s no tragedy!

Some recipes tell you to poke the holes in the cake about 10 minutes after removing it from the oven. I never do this because quite frankly, it’s messy. I wait until the cake has completely cooled. Make sure you use a wooden spoon with a round handle. Nothing will stick and you’ll get nicely shaped holes.

Crushing Butterfinger Bars

This is not as easy as you may think!

I don’t mean that it’s hard work, but I used a meat mallet and got bigger chunks than I wanted along with a lot of powder. Also they don’t break easily if you try to do it by hand. Trust me, I tried that first. So I just stuck with the big chunks and the powder.

On a recent shopping trip, I noticed they now sell Butterfinger pieces. You can find them where the chocolate chips are. That way, you don’t have to crush the candybars. Another good thing about buying this in the baking aisle as opposed to the candy aisle is there is no tax (at least in New York) on the “baking” ingredient where we pay tax on it if it’s sold as “candy.” The same thing applies to M&Ms. Taxable products vary from state to state, so it’s best you find out what your laws are. I can only speak for New York.

The Recipe

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Chocolate Butterfinger Poke Cake

A poke cake especially for chocolate and Butterfinger lovers! Easy to make and even easier to eat!

Prep Time20

Cook Time35

Total Time55

Course: cakes, desserts

Cuisine: American

Keyword: butterfinger, chocolate, poke cake

Servings: 12

Calories: 289kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

1 box 2 layer size chocolate or devils food cake mix (plus all the ingredients to make the basic cake)
1 each 4-serving size package instant butterscotch pudding mix the small box
4-5 fun-size Butterfinger candy bars broken up
8 oz whipped topping 1 container

Instructions

Preheat oven to temp directed on cake mix box. Spray or grease a 13 x 9 or 11 x 7-inch baking dish. See NOTES if using 11 x 7 pan.
Make cake according to box directions. Remove from oven and let the cake cool.
Using the handle of a wooden spoon, poke holes in cooled cake about 1-inch apart.
Make pudding mix according to package directions for pie filling. Pour pudding over top of cake making sure the holes are filled.
Refrigerate cake until pudding is set--about 2 hours.
Frost cake with the tub of whipped topping and top with broken candy bars.
Chill until ready to serve.

Notes

You will need to add about 10 minutes to the baking time for the 13 x 9 that's on the box if you use the smaller pan.

Nutrition

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Toasted Almond Coconut Cream Poke Cake

Judith Hannemann — Tue, 09 Aug 2016 23:00:06 +0000

A poke cake with tons of coconut and almond flavor!

Two Great Flavors

Toasted almonds and toasted coconut are two of my favorite flavors.

Any time I’ve had guests, these flavors were the most popular, and I’ve made a lot of desserts because in years past, I’ve had lots of “company.” When I ran my dog rescue, I’d often have 15-20 people staying for dinner the day we had adoption day. I love cooking for a crowd so I’d look forward to these weekends.

Not only did we place great dogs with great families, but breaking bread with people I loved who worked with us was an added bonus. Everyone looked forward to the dessert, and anything with coconut or almonds was always enjoyed.

Add More Flavor

I generally doctor any cake mix I use. This recipe is no exception, but the only doctoring I did here was add almond extract.

Another one of my cake mix hacks is replacing any water that is called for with evaporated milk and water. I didn’t use this trick in this cake, but I used it in my Tropic Isle Coconut Cake. I’m sure this substitution would work in this cake. It will give the cake more body.

Proof Of The Pudding

Coconut cream instant pudding mix is used in this poke cake. I can find this easily in all my stores, but understand some people cannot find it in theirs. No worries! You can substitute vanilla instant pudding and add either flaked coconut or coconut extract to it. Another great substitution would be chocolate pudding mix–with nothing added to it. YUM!

The Recipe

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Toasted Almond Coconut Cream Poke Cake

A poke cake with tons of coconut and almond flavor!

Prep Time20

Cook Time30

Total Time50

Course: cakes, desserts

Cuisine: American

Keyword: almonds, coconut cream, poke cake

Servings: 12

Calories: 269kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

1 box 2-layer size white cake mix (plus all ingredients listed on the box to make the cake) PLUS 1 tsp almond extract
1 pkg coconut cream instant pudding mix use directions for pie filling
8 oz 1 tub of whipped topping
1/2 cup toasted coconut
1/4 cup toasted sliced almonds

Instructions

Prepare cake as per package directions but add the 1 tsp of almond extract with the wet ingredients. Use a 13 x 9-inch pan and bake per package directions for that size.
Remove cake from oven and cool for 15 minutes.
With the handle end of a wooden spoon, poke hoes on the top of the cake, maybe 6 holes across, 10 holes down. I try to make mine look like a peg board with holes about 1-inch apart.
Beat pudding mix and milk in a small bowl for 1 minute; pour over top of the cake.
Cover and refrigerate for about 4 hours--the longer the better.
Ice cake with the whipped topping before serving and cover the topping with the toasted coconut and toasted almonds.

Nutrition

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Lemon-Lime Luscious Cake

Judith Hannemann — Sat, 17 May 2014 23:00:00 +0000

Lemon-Lime Luscious Cake

A different kind of poke cake! This one is flavored with refreshing lemon and lime and doesn’t use instant pudding!

I have to admit that I don’t much care for the idea of the standard “poke cakes” that are making the rounds now. Mostly they appear to be too “wet” for my taste and might go bad very soon because of all the moisture.

I wondered if I could do the same with gelatin in place of the instant pudding, so I looked and found that you certainly can–according to Kraft.

Refreshing and light dessert

One of my favorite flavors is lime so I decided to use lime gelatin in this, but any flavor would probably do, just as long as you will like the taste of that flavor with the lemon-flavored frosting. The frosting is VERY lemony and delicious, so bear that in mind when choosing your flavor of gelatin!

Since I didn’t want to frost this with whipped topping as most poke cakes are, I made a buttercream. However, I didn’t want to use that much unsalted butter–simply because I don’t have much in reserve, not for economy. So I experimented with using cream cheese along with 1/2 the butter. I had half a package of cream cheese handy from using it on top of my cinnamon raisin bread. Sometimes I end up throwing out portions like that because the bread is long gone, but the cream cheese remained.

I have to say, the frosting turned out to be the bomb!!! Sure it’s sweet, but it’s pretty tangy from the fresh lemon!

Delicious citrus frosting

I used white cake mix here just for the stark effect with the jello, but a yellow cake would do you just fine here and a lemon cake mix would be even better!

The Recipe

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Lemon-Lime Luscious Cake

A different kind of poke cake! This one is flavored with refreshing lemon and lime and doesn’t use instant pudding!

Prep Time15

Cook Time30

Total Time45

Course: cakes, desserts

Cuisine: American

Keyword: cake recipe, lemon lime

Servings: 12

Calories: 308kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

1 15 oz white cake mix approx 15-18 oz white cake mix
3 egg whites
2/3 cup undiluted evaporated milk
1/3 cup water
1/4 cup oil
1 3 oz lime flavored gelatin mix
1 cup boiling water
1/2 cup cold water

FROSTING

1/2 cup 1 stick very soft unsalted butter
4 oz cream cheese softened
3 cups sifted confectioners sugar
zest of 1 small lemon
juice of 1 small lemon

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray or grease a 13x9-inch oblong baking pan.
Combine cake mix, egg whites, evaporated milk, water and oil in a large bowl. Beat for 2 minutes at medium speed.
Turn batter into pan and bake as for 13x9 instructions on the box. (varies, I used Duncan Hines and it was 25-30 minutes, but check the box for the brand you are using).
Remove cake from oven and cool for 30 minutes. Using a large-tyned fork (I used a meat serving fork), prick holes in the cake about 1/2-inch apart.
Mix the gelatin in a small bowl with the boiling water, mixing until sugar and gelatin is dissolved. Add the 1/2 cup cold water and stir well. Pour gelatin over top of cake. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.
For frosting, beat the softened butter and the softened cream cheese until very well combined. Beat in the lemon zest.
Add the confectioners sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating until a thick paste texture is reached. Thin down to a spreadable consistency with the reserved lemon juice (I used about 2 tbs of lemon juice).
Frost chilled cake with the icing and garnish with lemon and lime slices if desired.
Makes 12 servings. Store leftover cake in the refrigerator.

Nutrition

Lemon-Lime Luscious Cake

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