Once during early time together, my husband asked if I’d ever made a cake with pudding on top instead of frosting. I had not but was game to try it. So I did, I made a cake with prepared pudding on top. And it wasn’t bad, I mean, it was cake with pudding but I still felt I had missed the mark somehow. Regardless, he asked me to make it again so it wasn’t a total fail.
A short time later, Pinterest would come along and I would discover the cake he was looking for was a “poke cake”. The concept is that you bake a cake, poke holes in it and then pour something in the holes. Top off with a pudding/Cool Whip mixture or just Cool Whip depending on your fancy. There are dozens, maybe hundreds of poke cake variations. One of my most popular recipes on this blog, Paul Newman Cake, is a poke cake.
I made this Orange Poke Cake for Father’s Day because my husband likes orange flavored desserts. I looked at several recipes online, and cobbled this together based on what I thought would work best. It turned out great! He loved it although I think a bit of orange extract in the Jello layer would set it off better.
Orange Poke Cake
You’ll need:
1 box of white cake mix of your choice plus the necessary ingredients for it (oil, eggs, water, etc.)
1 3oz box of Orange Jello
1 3.4 oz box of instant vanilla pudding
1 cup milk
1 8oz container of Cool Whip, thawed
First, prepare the white cake according to package directions in a 13×9 pan. Let it cool for at least an hour.
When your cake has cooled, poke holes in it. You can use a fork or a skewer. My preferred poking tool is a round handled mixing spoon that I have kept on hand exclusively for poking cakes. You want the holes pretty evenly spaced across the cake but perfection isn’t necessary.
In a small bowl, mix the Jello with a cup of boiling water until the powder is dissolved. Add 1/2 cup of cold water to cool the Jello down and then pour it over the cake. It will disappear into all the little holes you poked. Refrigerate cake for 3 hours.
After your cake has chilled for 3 hours, mix up the pudding mix and milk together until the mix is dissolved. I like to use a whisk for this. Add in your thawed Cool Whip. Mix it all up and then spread it over your cake. Cover and pop it back in the fridge for at least an hour. This cake gets the better the longer it idles in the fridge.
You could lighten this cake up easily but using the healthier modifications on your cake mix and swapping in sugar free jello, sugar free pudding and Lite Cool Whip.
Keep refrigerated when you’re not eating it. Enjoy!
