I can’t think of any other dessert I’d rather share today than this chocolate lover’s cake that is full of flavor. If you love chocolate, you’ll want to have this recipe for yourself or to share with others. I love poke cakes and have grew up with my grandmother making them for birthdays and summer holidays. Poke cakes are a lot of fun to make and are easily adapted to fit any taste.
Baking a homemade poke cakes give me a lot of creative ideas. Sometimes, I wonder “What can I fit into those holes that will take this cake to a whole new level”? I’ll use melted ice cream, dessert syrups and jellies, pudding and jello and fresh fruit made into a simple fruit syrup. With this cake, however, I knew right away what I wanted to use in the cake.
The cake is a classic chocolate recipe with the addition of chocolate pudding. I find that adding the pudding to the cake really makes it rise more and have a moist, dense cake. This is important for two reasons. One, the condensed milk and syrup mixture will blend well with the cake. The cake will soak up all the extra liquid, making for a extra moist cake. Two, the cake should rise more than a traditional cake and the top should not have drastic slopes on the corner that need to be leveled.
And just because the cake is already luscious and dreamy, I have to make the topping extra special, too. The frosting on the cake is made of whipped cream with cocoa, but if can most certainly be made with just sweetened whipped cream.
To make this recipe, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Combine boxed cake mix, pudding, cocoa powder, milk, oil, eggs, vanilla extract and syrup in a large bowl and beat until well combined. Pour into a prepared 9 x 13 baking dish and bake for 20-25 minutes.
Allow cake to cool completely (about 1 hour) before poking holes all over the cake. I used the end of a wooden cooking spoon and pushed down about 3/5th into the cake with each hole.
To make the filling, combine sweetened condensed milk and chocolate chips in a microwave safe dish and heat for about 1 minute then stir mixture until chips are completely melted. Add a little chocolate syrup, if desired. Using a measuring cup, carefuly pour mixture into each hole of the cake until it’s gone. Place in the refrigorate to cool for about 30 minutes or longer.
To make the frosting, beat the cream until soft peaks form with powdered sugar, extract and cocoa powder. Spread evenly across cake. Garnish the cake with dusted cocoa powder, crushed Oreo’s, chopped nuts, Reese’s candy and chocolate syrup.
Chocolate Poke Cake
Ingredients
- [b]For the Cake
- [/b]1 Box Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix (Betty Crocker)
- 1 Box chocolate pudding (3.4 oz)
- 1 1/2 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 1 cup milk
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 3 large eggs
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 3 tablespoons chocolate syrup - optional
- 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
- [b]For the Filling
- [/b]1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
- 1 cup milk chocolate chips
- 3 tablespoons chocolate syrup
- [b]Chocolate Frosting
- [/b]2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp cocoa
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- Garnish Cake with
- Dust cocoa powder
- crushed Oreo crumbs
- Reese's Peanut Butter Cups , sliced
- Peanuts , chopped
- chocolate syrup , drizzled
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine boxed cake mix, cocoa powder, pudding, milk, oil, eggs, sour cream, chocolate syrup and vanilla extract. Stir until mixed well. Pour into a greased 9 x 13 baking pan for about 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick into the center comes out clean. Allow to cool completely then using a wooden stir spoon, poke holes all over the cake; lots of them.
- Combine sweetened condensed milk and chocolate chips in a microwave safe dish. Heat up for about 1 minute then remove and stir until chocolate chips are dissolved. This can be done on the stove top as well but heat up the sweetened condensed milk really well first, then remove from the heat and stir in chips. Stir in chocolate syrup, if desired. Gently pour mixture into hole using a measuring cup, this should take a few minutes. Refrigerate for an hour or more.
- To make the frosting, add heavy cream, powdered sugar, cocoa and vanilla extract in a bowl then whip until stiff peaks form. Spread whipped topping evenly over cooled cake and allow frosting.
- Dust cake with cocoa powder, crushed Oreos, sliced Reese's Peanut Butter cup candies, chopped nuts then drizzle with chocolate syrup.
Nutritional information is only an estimate and it's accuracy is not guaranteed to be exact.
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5 Responses
My husband is a chocolate maniac and requests this every year for his birthday. My whole family loves it and affectionately nickname it “Diabetes Cake”.
10/10
Looking very very delicious
What can I use instead of pudding mix as I might have trouble finding it in the UK
Many thanks
You can try subbing with 3 tablespoons cornstarch and 1 tablespoon cocoa powder.
Hello Jessica,
This birthday cake looks so yummy! I don’t think that I would trust myself to make a cake like this. I’m saying this because I know I need so much time to make this.
Happy Birthday Cake