Pudding Poke Cake

I've tried three variations of this recipe...chocolate/chocolate, white/vanilla and yellow with vanilla and chocolate. (Make the puddings separately, each with half the powdered sugar and milk. Use the vanilla to pour in the holes of the warm cake. Use the chocolate to frost.) Very much like an extremely easy Boston Creme Pie. Definately on my "keeper" list!

Very nice recipe! I used French Vanilla cake with choc pudding. Put one small box instant choc with 1c milk over the top of the cake. Then added another sm box choc pudding with 1c milk and 8oz of cool whip for the frosting. It is great! Thank you!

What a fantastic treat! Unlike some of the skeptics (who may just have too much time on their hands), I truly appreciate a recipe like this one - it's simple, quick, yet very delicious. I used white cake mix with pistachio pudding...didn't change a thing otherwise. My entire family LOVED it and it dissapeared in less than two days. Thank you so much Karin!

Everyone loves this cake. Although I usually leave out the sugar - I just use chocolate pudding down the holes and "frost" the cake with a chocolate pudding/cool whip combo.

It doesn't get much easier than this! Although I do prefer the non-instant type pudding, which works just as well, but takes a little more time. There are many combo possibilities with this recipe - banana cake w/banana cream pudding, chocolate/chocolate, white cake/coconut pudding, etc. Top w/whipped cream and you've got a super dessert!

This cake was very tasty and easy to make. I used white cake with banana creme pudding which makes a very good combination. I have only one problem with this cake. The cup of confectioner's sugar makes it way too sweet. I like sweet stuff as much as the next gal, but next time I'll either half the sugar or leave it out completely. Otherwise, this is a very nice, cool, refreshing dessert. And my cake wasn't gloopy either. It was at first, but I put it back in the fridge for about another hour and it was fine.

Fantastic! I tried this recipe using vanilla cake mix and pistachio pudding. It was fantastic and I liked the idea of topping the cake with pudding instead of thick, heavy frosting. This cake comes highly recommended. My family and I loved it.

This was such an easy recipe and sooo yummy. And light tasting. I hate, hate, hate frosting and icing and never use it because I like my cakes lighter. This is a gooey, almost wet-cake that is kind of difficult to serve to guests because it tends to fall apart as you are putting it in the serving dish, but my sister and i basically put the pan in front of us with two spoons and ate ab out a quarter of it. It's best if it's refrigerated for several hours (if you can wait). Also, I did not use any of the recommended sugar and it was sweet enough; I mixed each pudding package separately, first the one pack with the 2 cups of milk and poured the thin pudding into the holes and allowed the cake to sit for about 10 minutes and then mixed the second pudding package with the milk and whipped until firmer...Also, I used only one egg and two egg-whitess and only 1/4 cup of oil (instead of the 1/2) for the cake mix as it said on the box. I used Devil's food cake mix and vanilla pudding for the holes and banana pudding for the top...

So many options with this recipe! Here is what I did: boxed pillsbury sugar free cake mix (made for diabetic) sugar free cheesecake pudding, I omitted confect. sugar and just added a little more milk. Sugar free chocolate pudding with cool whip for frosting. I served with fresh strawberries/blueberries on top. Huge hit! Thanks for the start. :)

SHHHH!!! Don't tell my husband how easy this cake is to make! He thinks I slaved away making a fancy cake for him from scratch. I made it with a boxed butter cake mix and banana pudding for filling the holes and a chocolate pudding for the "frosting." Very much like banana Boston Cream pie. Yummer-ific!

Made a vanilla cake mix with a chocolate pudding combination in a bundt pan. Used a 14oz can (approx 1 cup) of condensed milk plus one cup of whole milk to prepare the pudding mixture, instead of mixing in the confectioner's sugar. Turned out great!

Great cake! I used white cake, 2 pkgs of sugar-free instant chocolate fudge pudding & 1/2 c. powdered sugar. (Next time I am not going to use any powdered sugar.) I poured 1/2 the pudding on the warm cake. I added 1 - 8oz. chocolate cool whip to remaining pudding & put on the cake when it was cooled. Next time I am going to slice bananas on top of the cake before I pour the remaining pudding mixture on top of it. Very Light & yummy.

This is a really good cake! The only thing I did different was half the sugar in the pudding. I am a pudding lover so I didnt want to take away from my favorite part. So easy!!

White cake, pumpkin spice pudding. No added sugar, except colored sugar sprinkled on top. My husband and my dad LOVED it. I'm taking it to my life group tonight. :) Thanks!! Picture uploaded.

On of my husbands favorites...really easy!!

just okay. I didn't add sugar as the pudding mix is already sweet.

best cake i ever had!!

Husband loved it. Just a little too rich. Will try again with vanilla pudding next time.

This was quite a tasty cake and a hit when we took it to a dinner party! I was a little nervous about pouring the pudding over the warm cake (and then refrigerating it), but I didn't need to worry! I used a yellow cake, 1 package of vanilla pudding, and frosted with chocolate frosting (melted/softened in the microwave, so it pours smoothly out of the can). It reminded us of Boston Creme Pie. I didn't use a wooden spoon handle because I thought the holes would be too big, but next time I will so the pudding is nice and concentrated!

Family loved this cake..Will definately make agian and will expirement with different cake mixes and puddings...

Pretty good cake. A little too sweet with the powdered sugar, next time I would leave it out.

This is Ok if you're just looking for something quick to keep around the house for your family. Tastes like box cake and instant chocolate pudding. Definitely not a recipe to serve to guests.

Wow! This cake was fantastic! I served it at my husband's birthday party, and got rave reviews from his family. It's gone now, and I'm missing it!!! I'm glad I need to make another cake this week! Thanks for the recipe.

very good, i used half pwd. sugar and half splenda

This was a big hit for Christmas dessert! And very easy to make!!!

This cake is fantastic and has so many variations. I use lemon cake with lemon pudding, topped with cool whip. The best is yellow cake and cheesecake flavored pudding topped with cool whip. Best if served really cold from the fridge. Awesome!

My daughters and I made this together and they had so much fun! I only added a touch of the 10X sugar and it came out just right. I am not much of a frosting fan, so the pudding was a great way for me to enjoy cake. Thanks for the recipe!

Nice change and fun to make with my 3 y/o. After reading that you have to 'move fast' or the pudding concept doesn't work well, I decided to try and pipe the pudding into the holes, using metal decorating tip. Worked REALLY well and I made the Boston Cream version with fudge frosting on the top. Everyone was happy, frosting lovers and pudding lovers alike...looked lovely, too.

I made this cake and was very skeptical. I have never had a poke cake before. Some of the reviews said to not add the confectioner's sugar to the pudding because it was to sweet but I found it to be the perfect combination. I made the cake exactly how they say to make it except for the pudding. I used one package of pistachio and put chocolate pudding over that. I will make this cake again.

Very yummy! I also make a cake similar to this one except you pour strawberry jello into the holes, chill, and top with cool whip and sliced fresh strawberries. A great treat on a hot day.

Easy and fun to make. My grandchildren and I enjoyed it. Very important not to overmix the pudding mix.

Easy and tasted great! I made the yellow with chocolate pudding as our first trial and the kids and my husband both like it! Next time I will try the other variations...

This was okay. Maybe making with regular rather than instant pudding would be better.

This was a great thought. I still prefer the gelatin poke cake hands down. I probably wouldn't make this again.

Really good! My husband hates frosting so he loved this cake. I used yellow cake, poured chocolate pudding(small box with 2 cups of milk) over it and frosted with a small box of vanilla pudding mix with one cup of milk, a teaspoon of vanilla extract and then folded into cool whip. Thanks for sharing!

This is a great dessert for a warm day. I used the recommendations by others by not using the confectioners sugar. It turned out great, it would've been way too sweet with the sugar! I'm interested in trying different pudding & cake flavors. Thanks Karin!

I made this cake last night with choclate cake, banana pudding filler and choclate pudding for the top. It turned out pretty good. The kids loved it. I think I'll try it again and bring it to work. I work in a restaurant so plenty of critics there. Thanks for the recipe.

Mixed reviews at our house-DD and I didn't care for it but hubby loved it-he's the household chocoholic. Big props for being quick and easy.

Wonderfully easy and tastes like Boston cream pie! I used 1 package of white chocolate and one of milk chocolate.

This is so awesome, Ive made this cake for years like this:Cake, Pudding, and Cool Whip) But I never thought to poke the holes in the cake, Its Great! When I would make it the old way the cake was so tall it would just fall over when you tried to eat it, Now the kids love the strips and no mess for me!...I use straws to make the holes, the toothpics arent big enough and when you use a fork the puddin just blobs together...Thanx

This was a good recipe but it did seem a little goopy. My kids loved it. What was good about it was that you didn't have to use a yellow cake. I used a devil's food cake and vanilla pudding.

I made this for my family and they loved it!! But I did make some changes, NO sugar, I used 1 cup milk 1 box coconut, poured into the holes and top of cake, then another small bx coconut pudding with 1 cup milk and small whip topping blend and frost cake, chill and enjoy

Yes I used pecans (chopped finely) in the cake mix. Used Pistachio pudding and vanilla butter cream icing. Has to be in fridge to set before serving.

Amazing! Moist!

yum. ridiculously easy and the kids always love this. nothing i would make to serve to anyone special, but easy to do on the weekends with the kids. thanks!

Great idea! Definitely use a wooden spoon (or similar) to poke the holes because the cake will soak up some of the pudding. The "frosting" was fine but I think next time I will try vanilla pudding in the holes and use a chocolate ganache frosting for the top - easy/pseudo Boston cream "pie!"

Delicious. Very refreshing.

I made this using chocolate cake & wanilla pudding. The only change I made was to add a splash of almond extract to the pudding mixture. My husband loved it! Quick and easy.

Used non-instant chocolate pudding mix, and 2 cups of milk. And who needs to wait an hour until it chills? Not us!

A family favorite for years.I generally add a layer of prepared vanilla instant pudding before adding the chocolate pudding. Skip the additional sugar. This baby doesn't need it!

I wanted to make this for my children as I have such fond memories of my mother making it as we were children. Nobody ate this in my house, and it didn't taste as good as I remember. I think my kids are used to the sweet taste of frosting.

Made it for my boyfriend's Bday, he loved it! He's a chocolate lover, so I used an organic devil's food cake mix from the health food store, then used Jello chocolate pudding. It was super-soupy (maybe I used the wrong size pudding mix, or maybe it was the skim milk?), and the 'stripes' weren't so obvious, but it was so moist and delicious!

Favorite Dessert. We love the yellow cake with banana pudding. Before serving we top with fresh banana and kiwi slices and then cool whip. yummy!

I used sugar free pudding, no fat milk and about half of the powdered sugar. I also topped it off with Heath Bar Bites. Had 8 over for luncheon and everyoe love it. I will make this again and again. Very easy and DELICIOUS!!

I made this with white cake mix (all I had on hand) and chocolate pudding mix. Took it to a potluck and it was devoured! Keeper.

I loved it. It was refreshing. I used a chocolate cake mix and banana pudding and on top I mixed white chocolate pudding with 8oz whip cream, and it was yummy, but I used only 1/2 cup powder sugar and for the cake mix I used apple sauce instead the oil, the cake was moist. Thank you for sharing your recipe!

I made this for my birthday today :) wanting something different and thats exactly what I got. Something good for once. I was very nervous the whole time making this cake. "What!? Poke holes in the warm cake?! Pour pudding over it?!?! Put it in the fridge?!?! yikes!! But no worries, it all worked out fine! A new experience for me. It was very moist and good. Not messy at all.

I loved it. Moist, healthier than frosting, festive. My husband didn't care for it but he doesn't like things that are "too sweet" (is there any such thing?) I made the cake with egg whites instead of eggs and never missed the fat due to the pudding.

Yum, what fun. reminds of the cake my aunt Leslie would always make when I was little. I made this today for the group home I work for. Yea, snow day!!!! Anyway, my guys loved it. I blended in about 1/4 c natural peanutbutter into the last half of pudding then spread it on top. Serouisly yummy. Thanks

Good and super easy cake! Used white cake, banana pudding for the "pokes" and chocolate pudding for the "Icing". Omitted the powdered sugar and found that it was perfect without it. Per others suggestions, make sure that you refridgerate the cake before serving to allow it to set up! Will definitely try it again with a different cake/pudding combo.

I did not enjoy this cake. It tasted just okay and I would not serve it to guests. There are too many other wonderful recipes on this site.

Easy to make...kids love it...very versatile! I added a layerof cool whip to the top! You can use fat free milk & whipped topping for fewer calories.

I love this type of cake! My famliy is allergic to many things so I used this with homeade cake and pudding.

A treat! Easy to make and taste wonderful! Thanks

This recipe is easy as can be and well received by all ages. The pudding as a "frosting" is a refreshing alternative. I used skim milk for the pudding and it was wonderful.

My best friend's mom gave me this recipe over 20 years ago and I've made it with rave reviews ever since. Super easy to make, and I always have the stuff on hand. Thanks!

I have no idea what I did wrong, but this came out as a yellow cake, soggy with chocolate pudding.. I even re read the directions, double checked the box sizes and what I measured. I'm stubborn enough to try again though.

Perfect for people who are not big frosting fans, but also wonderful for the rest of us. I tried chocolate cake with cheescake flavored pudding. It was delicious.

Excellent easy quick dessert! I did yellow cake with chocolate pudding. My only change was to leave out the sugar. It is sweet enough. Serve with whipped cream.

Made this recipe for a work carry in. Very easy and delicious. This has become a new favorite. I used a chocolate cake and chocolate pudding.

Made this to take over for a potluck lunch with a few friends, and it was a hit. It was a good, simple recipe to make and uses what you probably already have in your pantry. I didn't have two packs of chocolate pudding so I filled the poke holes with chocolate pudding and then "frosted" with a box of vanilla pudding and 2 cups of milk.

I made some simple substitutions and made this for a low cal dessert for my family. I used reduced sugar yellow cake mix, made with egg whites, applesauce and water. I also used sugar free chocolate pudding for the topping. Then I topped it with a dollop of sugar free cool whip. My family had no idea that it was pretty healthy treat. YUM!

I made this with the "Butter Cake" recipe from this site, and it was perfect! I didn't want the cake to be too heavy, and the pudding was a great way to balance out the texture. Thanks.

Used white cake mix with banana pudding, therefore it did not look striped when cut, however cake was moist and tasty. Used 8 x 11 cake pan so sides were a little dry (recommend 9 x 13) also had extra pudding left over after frosting. For variety adding chopped nuts to the top. Will make again in proper pan using chocolate and vanilla flavors.

I was making a different recipe that needed egg yolks, so I had these egg whites? Light bulb 'white cake'. This is a nice dessert. Two of my sons favorites. Cake & pudding. I new this would be a hit. Made it just the way the recipe said.

This is an old pudding recipe that I have loved for years. I use the white cake mix and my family just LOVES it!

yum!

I didn't change a thing. My husband loves it! It's a nice, cool dessert after a good dinner.

An excellent, easy to make cake! I made mine with yellow cake and vanilla pudding. I put chocolate icing on top, since I was going for a boston cream pie effect. I would only recommend doing that if you are not flooding the top of the cake with pudding... it turned in to a mess. A very delicious mess, but it didn't look pretty.

My mom made this when I was a kid so I've been looking for the recipe. This is so easy and so yummy. A huge hit with everyone at Bible study.

Although I am older than 10, I am glad for this recipe. This is one I did when I was younger, but needed to "remember" the finer points, such as poke the holes when the cake was warm, pour pudding when thin, etc. YES this is simple, but it is SOOO good. Thanks again for posting it!! Oh, and the "boston creme" variation? WOW! yummy :)

I made this recipes recently & it was very simple & good! I will most likely leave the sugar out next time as the pudding & cake together were delicious together. It was nice fixing a desert for a unplanned family dinner that was good & everyone loved!

Ok. This is part 1 of 2 reviews....I absolutely HATE cake with sweeter than sweet frosting!!! So this cake sounded good, as did the Dump cake from another recipe on here. Since I couldn't decide which sounded better I'm combining the 2. Using Butter cake mix, mixing as directed on the box. I have dropped and "knifed in" cherry pie filling into it. When it's finished I'm using Chocolate pudding (same way as in this poke cake), and then will use the 2nd pudding to mix with cool whip to top the cake. Sounds yummy to me!!! Will post to tell you how it turns out!!!

While this is good, it can be a very overpowering dessert. We prefer the gelatin/cake combination.

I like this cake - it's easier than frosting and I think it's a little healthier; I don't get that sugar-rush sick feeling that I usally get from eating frosted cake. I've made this recipe a few times with white cake and pistachio pudding (I call it "Shrek Cake"), and I once forgot to add the confectioner's sugar to the pudding, and the cake was still great. Thanks for the recipe, Karin, we love it!

I made a diabetic version of this cake, using a sugar free cake mix (I used yellow) and sugar free chocolate pudding. I eliminated the confectioner's sugar and made the puddings in two batches. For the filling, I made the pudding as directed on the package but added about 1/3 more milk. I poured it over the cake while it was warm. Then I made the other box of pudding exactly as directed on the package, let it set for 5 minutes, then "frosted" the cake with it. My family loved it, diabetics and non-diabetics alike! Very light, cool, summery type of cake. Thanks!

I followed this recipe EXACTLY as written and the pudding was like brown school paste. Is there an error in the size pudding box? 3.9 ounce box is the large box and uses 4 cups of milk each, right? The small boxes use 2 cups of milk. The pudding had an unpleasant taste and could not be poured over the cake using 4 cups of milk and 2 boexs of pudding (3.9 oz. each) I hate wasting all that milk, eggs and oil. Will try again with 2 small boxes of pudding only because my daughter wants this cake for her birthday

Great recipe! I tried it with lemon cake and lemon pudding......oh so good!! Thanks for sharing!

my kids loved this.

Made this for something different and easy. It is delicious

I love this cake. it's so refreshing in the summer time. I just made it with yellow cake mix and pudding and instead of just whip cream I put vannilla pudding in with 1 cup of milk and 1 tsp of vannilla extract. let it chill in the fridge. thanks.

Very easy & delicious!

This was a very easy cake to make and so moist. I might cut down on the milk just a little next time by no more that 1/4 cup less.

My husband requested this for his birthday and said it was exactly what he wanted. I think it's fine, but he was happy.

I made cupcakes instead...good concept, but if you're not prepared to pour the pudding and you wait too long- the pudding just sits on top of the cupcakes...so there's need to frost...I didn't use the powdered sugar so it's not too sweet at all.

not sure what happened. the pudding never thickened. fortunately, i realized it pretty quickly and didn't uses the remainder of the pudding;the cake survived and wasn't soggy, thankfully! but it was a waste of milk!

I probably wouldn't make this cake for company, but for an easy weeknight dessert for the family, this was great. I used a white cake mix that I made with a package of vanilla pudding, 3 eggs, and 1 3/4 cup water - no oil. Baked and then poked pretty large holes all over the top. Poured chocolate pudding mixture over - made with sugar free pudding mix and let sit. I actually preferred the taste and consistency of this before it went in the refrigerator. It was just gooier and melted in your mouth. Overall, this is an easy, tasty dessert.

I was looking for something quick on a hot day, so I made this since I had all the ingredients. It came out great, I followed other reviews and used half the sugar. However, I made it again yesterday and all it did was absorb the pudding and become a watery mess. Stubborn, and thinking I had made a mistake, I tried again today. SAME RESULTS! But, I figured out the problem is with the brand of instant pudding. The first time when it was awesome, I had Hershey's Instant pudding on hand. This time, I had Royal and it didn't come out. Definitely, check the pudding you are going to use if it doesn't start thickening at all while mixing don't try it! Let it thicken in the fridge a bit first.

great to take to a picnic or wherever!