Easter Poke Cake
This colorful Easter Poke Cake is sure to delight on your Easter table! This cake is so easy to prepare but looks like an absolute show stopper. All you need is a box of cake mix, food coloring, pudding mix and cool whip for the brightest dessert to WOW your guests.
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If you love beautiful and super easy desserts, you’ll love a poke cake! It seriously couldn’t be easier to make this colorful cake; perfect for Spring or your Easter table. This would be great to customize with different colors too! Maybe a rainbow cake, Halloween with black and orange, a July 4th cake, or for your kid’s birthday using their favorite colors.
What you’ll need
- 9×13 baking dish
- 1 box of white cake mix– or you could do a yellow cake. I like the white cake mix so the colors show up better.
- Unsalted butter– this replaces the oil called for on the cake mix box. It makes the cake tastier.
- Eggs– for the cake mix
- Water– for the cake mix
- Milk– for the pudding layer- you can use any percent milk, but don’t use plant based milk because the pudding won’t set up properly.
- Instant vanilla pudding– make sure it’s instant and not “cook and serve”. Double check the box, the “cook and serve” will be a disaster. Ask how I know 😉
- Assorted food coloring– I used pink, blue, yellow and green. Use any colors you want. I recommend gel food coloring.
- Cool whip– or if you are feeling motivated, make your whipped cream from scratch.
- Easter sprinkles
How to make Easter Poke Cake
Prepare the cake mix. Add the cake mix, melted butter, eggs and water to a large bowl and mix together. Divide the batter into four bowls (or more if you want to use more than 4 colors).
Add a couple drops of food coloring to each bowl and mix it together until your desired color is reached.
Take a spoon and drop each color into a greased 9×13 baking dish into different areas. I did each color completely before moving on to the next color. Don’t worry about getting it perfect, just try to get different colors next to each other.
Gently tap the dish on the counter to even out the batter. You don’t want to smooth it with a spatula because the colors will mix together. Bake according to the box directions.
Using the back of a wooden spoon, or something similar, poke about 50 holes in the cake. Set aside to cool completely.
Prepare the pudding mix.
Add the cold milk and instant pudding mix to a bowl and whisk for 2 minutes using an electric mixer. Before the pudding is completely set, pour it over the cake.
Spread the pudding mix over the cake using an offset spatula, getting it into the holes. Refrigerate 30 minutes to 1 hour for the pudding to set.
Top with the Cool Whip and garnish with sprinkles. Isn’t it so pretty! Makes me so excited for Spring!
Can I make homemade whipped cream?
Absolutely!
I like to use Cool Whip because its easy and convenient plus my family prefers it.
You can make the whipped cream topping by beating 2 cups of heavy whipping cream with 1/2 cup sugar with an electric mixer until peaks form.
How should this poke cake be stored?
Refrigerate the cake until ready to eat and refrigerate any leftovers.
Can I make this ahead?
This cake is perfect to make the day before. Prepare as directed and wrap with foil until ready to serve. Wait to garnish with the sprinkles until it’s being served, as sometimes the sprinkles melt into the whipped topping.
Love Poke Cakes?
Try these!
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Easter Poke Cake
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 box of white cake mix
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter melted
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup water
- 2 cups milk not plant based
- 3.4 ounce box instant vanilla pudding- make sure it’s instant and not “cook and serve”
- Assorted food coloring
- 2 containers cool whip
- Easter sprinkles
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- In a mixing bowl, combine the cake mix, melted butter, water and eggs. Mix together with an electric mixer or whisk.
- Divide batter into 4 bowls.
- Add a couple of drops of your desired colors of food coloring to each bowl and mix together. I used green, yellow, pink, and blue.
- Spray a 9×13 baking dish with nonstick spray.
- Using a large spoon drop each color across the bottom of the baking dish by spoonful’s. Do this with each color until the bottom is covered. Gently tap the dish to even out the batter.
- Bake according to the package instructions, 22-25 minutes.
- When the cake is finished baking let it cool a couple of minutes and then using the back of a wooden spoon, or similar, poke about 50 holes 1 inch apart, across the cake. Set aside to let the cake cool and prepare the vanilla pudding.
- Add the milk and pudding mix to a bowl and beat with an electric mixer for 2 minutes. Immediately spread the pudding over the cake evenly before it sets completely.
- Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes to 1 hour.
- Spread the cool whip over the cake and garnish with the sprinkles. Cut into squares and serve.
- Refrigerate leftovers.
