Easter Poke Cake

My mom makes poke cake every year over the warmer months because it is so light and refreshing! I'm giving it a little Easter magic to make it the perfect easy dessert for your holiday! Brightly colored, fruity and light, your whole family will fall in love with this simple recipe! So hop into the kitchen with your kids and let them help you bake your own Easter poke cake. There's nothing healthy about this dessert, but it's delicious and it's a major crowd pleaser!

What is a poke cake?

Just like it sounds, a poke cake is a cake you poke holes in after it is baked. You pour liquid jello or pudding into the holes and let the magic happen. The cake absorbs the extra liquid for added flavor, and if you're using jello, gorgeous color! The cake is then frosted with a combination of pudding and cool whip for a light and creamy icing you'll want to dig into right out of the bowl.

For Easter, I'm using 5 different flavors (and colors) of Jello so that my cake is a rainbow of Spring colors. And everyone gets their own unique colored slice! Feel free to make your own cake from scratch, but I have no shame in using a box mix for this recipe!

Easter Poke Cake

Below you will find the basic poke cake recipe. You can also download it at the bottom of the page. For my Easter cake I used:

• 1 box lemon cake mix

• strawberry, orange, lime, grape, and raspberry jello

• vanilla pudding

Note - because I used 5 different jello flavors, I only poured about a fifth of each one over my cake.

Easy Poke Cake

Ingredients

• 1 box cake mix, prepared and baked using the instructions on the box

• 1 - 3 oz box jello gelatin in desired flavor (you can use multiple flavors, but then you will only use a little bit from each box)

• 1 - 3.4 oz box instant pudding in your choice of flavor

• 2 cups milk

• 1 container cool whip, thawed

Directions

Once your cake is baked and cooled, poke holes all over. I use a chop stick or straw – you want your holes to be about the size of a pencil eraser

Prepare jello by adding 1 Cup boiling water to your jello mix and stir until powder is dissolved. Add in 1 cup cold water.

If using 1 box mix of jello, pour all of the liquid over your cake, making sure to cover the entire top. If using multiple colors, pour a little of each one over the cake, making sure to pour different colors on different sections of the cake. The liquid will absorb all over the cake, but mostly collect in the holes you poked.

Place your cake in the refrigerator for 3-4 hours to allow the jello to set. Mix your pudding with 2 cups cold milk. Stir in cool whip and spread all over the top of your cake.

Feel free to decorate with sprinkles or fresh fruit. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve. Cake will keep in the refrigerator 2-3 days.

Variations

Feel free to customize this recipe to your own tastes and color choices! You can adjust the colors to match any holiday! Here are a few of my family's favorite combinations for inspiration!

Lemon Lime / Solly's Cake

lemon cake mix

lime jello

lemon pudding

Pina Colada

pineapple cake mix

mango or pineapple jello

coconut cream pudding

America Cake

vanilla cake mix

strawberry and blueberry jello

vanilla pudding

Strawberry Cheesecake

strawberry cake mix

cheesecake pudding

vanilla pudding and topped with fresh strawberries

I hope you find some inspiration here! Have you made a jello poke cake before? Do you have a favorite flavor combination? Let me know in the comments!

xoxo, L

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