The BEST Chocolate Poke Cake
This chocolate poke cake is made with a moist chocolate cake, chocolate pudding filling, and stabilized chocolate whipped cream!
Ingredients
- 2 ⅓ cups Flour
- ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1 ⅔ cups Granulated sugar
- ⅔ cup Cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoon Baking powder
- ½ teaspoon Baking soda
- 3 Eggs
- ¾ cup Buttermilk
- ½ cup Vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- 1 cup Hot Coffee
Chocolate pudding filling
- 3.1 oz Chocolate instant pudding
- 2 cups Milk
Chocolate whipped cream
- 2 cups Heavy cream cold
- ⅓ cup Cocoa powder
- ½ cup Powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoon Instant chocolate pudding
Instructions
- Preheat an oven to 180c (350f) and prepare a 9 by 13 inch pan with parchment paper.
- Into a large mixing bowl, add the dry ingredients: flour, cocoa powder (don't forget to sift), kosher salt, baking powder, baking soda, and granulated sugar, and mix with a whisk until well combined.
- Add the eggs, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla extract, and mix until almost combined.
- Add the hot coffee and mix until just combined and there are no lumps of flour visible.
- Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and bake the cake in a 180c (350f) preheated oven for about 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.
- Let the cake cool in the pan for 20-30 minutes and poke holes using the back of a wooden spoon. Since the pudding is thicker, I recommend poking larger holes to ensure the filling gets into every hole.
- Make the easy two-ingredient pudding filling. Into a medium mixing bowl, add the chocolate instant pudding, and milk. Mix well with a whisk and let it sit for 20-30 minutes or until it thickens.
- If the pudding is too thick, add more milk until you get the right consistency.
- Pour the pudding mixture on top of the cake and spread it out all over the cake using a spoon or an offset spatula. Ensure the holes fill out with the filling.
Make the chocolate whipped cream
- In a cold large mixing bowl add the heavy whipping cream, and instant chocolate pudding, sift the cocoa powder, and add the sugar and vanilla.
- Whip with a hand mixer or in a stand mixer until stiff peaks form. Make sure that you don't overmix the whipped cream so it won't turn into butter.
- Top the cake with the cream and spread it evenly. Make swirls using an offset spatula and sprinkle chocolate shavings on top.
Notes
- Use room temperature ingredients. It is important that you use room-temperature ingredients like eggs and milk. This step ensures that your mixture mixes into a homogenous mixture and bakes perfectly. you don’t want to place cold batter into the oven.
- Since the pudding is thick, you will need to make bigger holes in the cake so the pudding will get in every hole and every bite. If you have a small handle,
- Don’t overmix the batter, you don’t want to develop the gluten in the flour. This step ensures you have moist cake and not dense and dry cake.
- Measure your flour correctly! When measuring your flour, avoid scooping it with a measuring cup. Instead, stir the flour with a spoon to create as many air pockets as possible, and spoon it into your measuring cup. Finally, level it with a back of a knife.
- Be patient! I know it’s extremely tempting to eat and frost this cake as it's pulled out of the oven, but let the cake cool for at least an hour so it will be firmer and won’t crumble up. This step ensures that the frosting won’t melt off the cake. You never want to frost warm cupcakes or cakes.
- Line your baking pan with parchment paper! This step helps the cake to bake evenly, and it makes sure that your cake will release easily from the pan.
Nutrition
Calories: 594kcalCarbohydrates: 87gProtein: 8gFat: 28gSaturated Fat: 13gPolyunsaturated Fat: 6gMonounsaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 0.1gCholesterol: 92mgSodium: 438mgPotassium: 305mgFiber: 4gSugar: 52gVitamin A: 733IUVitamin C: 0.2mgCalcium: 155mgIron: 3mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!