11 Poke Cakes You Need In Your Life

In search of an easy-to-assemble cake recipe that's also filled (literally) with rich flavor? Look no further than these poke cake recipes.

Grace Haynes

Updated on July 12, 2024

Chocolate Poke Cake — Photo:
Stacy Allen, Prop Stylist: Caleb Clarke, Food Stylist: Jen Riley

Poke cakes are an old-school dessert that first became popular in the 1970s as an attempt by Jell-O to up the sales of its products. They're easy to assemble and filled (literally) with rich flavor.

The process is simple: First, bake a sheet cake (the traditional cake color was white), poke holes in it, and pour the Jell-O flavor of choice over it to create a colorful, crowd-pleasing dessert. As shown by our overview of 50 years of Southern recipes, the 1970s inspired many unique but delicious culinary creations. Today, poke cakes are seeing a resurgence in popularity.

Choose Jell-O as your filling, or try sweetened condensed milk, pureed fruit, flavored syrup, and more. If you're short on time, you can swap the made-from-scratch cake with a box mix for an equally as delicious product. Poke cakes are ideal for serving a crowd, so try these different recipes for treating guests on occasions all year round.

01 of 11

Strawberry-Ginger Poke Cake With Toasted Vanilla Meringue

A homemade strawberry-ginger syrup sinks deep into a fluffy vanilla sheet cake. Topping the cake are clouds of browned vanilla meringue and slices of fresh strawberries. It's a crowd-pleasing dessert that can serve up to 18 people.

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02 of 11

Lemon-Lime Poke Cake

Citrus-spiked sweetened condensed milk and buttermilk add a double-dose of moisture and tang to plain white cake.

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03 of 11

Pumpkin Poke Cake

This cozy fall-inspired dessert calls for just six ingredients, and you can get creative with your toppings.

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04 of 11

Strawberry Poke Cake

This cake is a store-bought wonder. It uses cake mix, Jell-O, and frozen whipped topping for an extra effortless dessert.

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05 of 11

St. Patrick's Day Poke Cake

Lime Jell-O is the perfect color for a St. Patty's dessert and is quite tasty soaked into a white cake.

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06 of 11

Red, White, and Blue Poke Cake

Unlike most poke cakes, this one uses two homemade fillings made from fresh berries to add color and flavor to the sponge.

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07 of 11

Key Lime Sheet Cake

Lime juice and lime Jell-O are combined for a balanced dessert with tons of fruity flavors.

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08 of 11

Tres Leches Cake

While we wouldn't call this a traditional poke cake, it uses the same principle to infuse the sponge with the flavor of three different kinds of milk.

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09 of 11

Pineapple Sunshine Cake

This tropical-inspired poke cake has two layers of toppings poured over the yellow cake. First, crushed pineapple is added while the cake is warm. Then, a cream cheese-pudding mixture is added to make the cake extra velvety.

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Chocolate Poke Cake

Instant chocolate pudding turns this chocolate cake into a scoopable, intensely chocolatey dessert.

Chocolate Poke Cake

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Apple Dapple Cake

A caramel glaze is added to the bottom of this Bundt cake after holes are poked, which allows it to really saturate the dessert. This is one decadent dessert, we promise you that.

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11 Poke Cakes You Need In Your Life

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