Puddin’ Poke Cake
I mentioned this cake a few posts back and promised I’d bring it to you because its one of my favorites. One of these days y’all are going to get tired of me saying that everything is my favorite but if you haven’t figured out that I really like food by now then somethin’ is wrong with ya! Besides, why would I post something that isn’t one of my favorites? I think maybe that is what helps make Southern Plate tick, I only post stuff I really really love and we all kinda have the same tastebuds. That and the fact that I randomly mail out packets of green Kool Aid. Yeah, I’m on to ya now, you’re just here hoping I’ll send ya Kool Aid someday.
I have a thing for green Kool Aid. Nectar of the heavens, I tell ya! But hey, there really is something to being easily thrilled! Have I ever mentioned my affinity for green jello with pineapple bits in it?This is the cake we had pretty often as a child because it was so inexpensive and easy to throw together. Between three kids, sewing, babysitting and doing crafts for extra money, and cooking the kind of meals my mother served, Mama was BUSY! She still insisted on a dessert every night though so this was a good and faithful standby, just like her chocolate cobbler. She always let us help with the cooking and we loved to get to poke the holes for this cake. When we were done, it looked more like the victim of a random woodpecker attack but it tasted awesome!
Now on to POKE CAKE!
If you want the short list of ingredients, here it is: A box of cake mix and whatever it calls for and a box of pudding and whatever it calls for. Also some confectioner’s sugar.
For more the more detail oriented: I am using a box of jiffy cake mix which requires an egg and some water. I am using a small box of chocolate pudding (instant) and the milk that calls for. If you are making a larger cake (mine is an 8×8), use the large box of pudding. I totally leave out the confectioner’s sugar because I prefer desserts that aren’t too sweet but I am picturing it here and including instructions for it in case y’all wanna include it.
Note: This will work with any cake mix or any cake recipe.
Mix up your cake and bake it according to package directions.
Remember when we were little and they came out with those fancy schmancy “shakers” that allowed you to just put in your instant pudding mix and milk and shake it to make your pudding? Well, us Southerners being as advanced as we are, we’ve had those for quite some time down here. They’re called Mason jars.
I just put all of my ingredients in and give it a good shaking.
Now this is where most recipes call for confectioner’s sugar. If you are making an 8×8, you add 1/2 cup and if you are making a 9×13 you add a whole cup. Just stir it up with your pudding mix and then add it to the milk and give it a shake. I don’t add it though because I think this cake is just great without the added sweetness. Its totally up to you which way you wanna go!
When the cake comes out of the oven, while its still good and hot, poke holes all in the top of it. Mama says you need to use a wooden spoon handle to do this so the holes are nice and big.
We used a straw because Katy was poking the holes and she wanted to use a straw…
and that’s just the way the world works sometimes.
I know I get on my soap boxes but if you have children, it really would thrill them to be able to help with this part. Kids get so much out of helping you cook. Confidence in themselves, praise from you for a job well done, pride in the finished dish and most importantly, wonderful memories of cooking with you. Don’t ever underestimate how much of an impact something as simple as cooking with your kids can have on their life. Confidence over making a poke cake today just could lead to having the confidence needed to get up in front of congress someday.
While its hot, pour half of the pudding over the cake.
In between Katy and the telephone, my cake wasn’t exactly hot when I got to this part but, sometimes the world just works that way, too. It’s all good.
Spread that over and let it sink in a bit. Once your cake cools, cover it with the rest of the pudding.
Put in the fridge and get good and cold before serving, preferably with a big glass of sweet milk. 
No matter how I cut this cake, I couldn’t see to get a good edge that showed the pudding dripping down inside it! I promise its there, though!
The options for this are limitless. Here are some I thought of and I hope you’ll chime in with your ideas, too!
- Chocolate cake with butterscotch pudding
- White or lemon cake with lemon pudding (mama’s fave)
- Strawberry cake with Cheesecake flavored pudding
Puddin’ Poke Cake
- Cake Mix, prepared according to package directions
- box of instant pudding mix (small box for 8×8 cake, large box for 9×13 cake)
- confectioner’s sugar (1/2 cup for small cake, 1 cup for large) – I omit this
Prepare cake according to package directions. While still hot, poke holes all over top with end of wooden spoon. Mix pudding mix and confectioners sugar, add milk and shake or beat with mixer until thickened. Pour half over hot cake. Allow cake to cool. Spread remaining pudding over top and refrigerate until ready to serve.
WE INTERRUPT THIS POST FOR A VERY SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT. WE WOULD LIKE TO WISH A VERY SPECIAL BELATED BIRTHDAY TO BILL GENT, ONE OF SOUTHERNPLATE’S MOST BELOVED READERS! PLEASE USE THE COMMENT’S SECTION BELOW TO OFFER YOUR BIRTHDAY WISHES TO BILL
(or spank him, like he really deserves)!
Bill has been reading Southern Plate since they started making dirt. His comments leave us laughing, sometimes hurting, and often times feeling downright sorry for his poor old daddy because he has to eat Bill’s cooking! He’s become family to us all and if you don’t know him now, you will soon! We love you Bill, we really do!
I saw the FUNNIEST quote the other day in a store and it had me laughing all the way out the door!!
Organized people are just too lazy to look for things.
~Falls out of her chair laughing again~
Have a great Friday!
Gratefully,
Christy
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Posted by Christy Jordan
on May 15 2009. Filed under Cake.
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Looks like another great recipe Christy! I will have to make it with my 5 year old. He loves cooking with me and I love it too.
Happy Birthday Bill!!
Oh, I’ve got to stop reading your blog when I’m hungry! That cake looks so good and easy. I am going to do the frozen cranberry things tonight. I finally got all the ingredients. The pineapple even had Splenda-sweetened juice!
Love the quote! I could probably have extra hours if I were more organized, but what would I do with them? Watch more TV probably!
Happy late birthday to Bill! A fellow Taurean!
Oh goodness – I have to use that quote on my FB page – too funny!! And Happy Birthday Bill! That’s my daddy’s name so you have to be great!
I remember back in the early 80′s when I was in 6th grade, my Mama and I made this a lot, and we had dessert for a few days. Thanks for bringing back all the good “old” recipes. This weekend at the beach we are forecast for rain on Sunday, so I plan to introduce my 12 year old daughter to this cake.
The cake looks so good. I used a jiffy cake mix myself last night and made Jiffy Gooey Bars. They were so good and so easy. Thanks for posting this.
Happy late Birthday Bill !!!!!
Looks yummy and quick, my two favorite things! I will have to try this soon. Happy Birthday, Bill!
Thanks Christy! I have trying to think of something for dessert tonight and I don’t have a bunch of time today. Thanks it sounds wonderful.
Julie
Happy Birthday Bill!
Dear Bill!
Happy, Happy, Happy Birthday! You are a true delight! I enjoy and relish every word you write! It’s obvious you bring sunshine, joy and humor with you everywhere!
May this year bring you special blessings and the truest desire of your heart as an extra special gift!
Enjoy your special day and best wishes for at least… 50 more!
All my best,
Maralee Mckee
Hello Christy!
Yummy! I’ll whip one up Saturday afternoon for the boys (and me too)! Thank you for sharing another delicious receipe! My only concern, am I going to have enough self control to not eat 1/2 the cake myself!
Blessings,
Maralee
I remember this!I used to make with my boys when they were little. I guess it’s time for my grandkids to sample it. Happy Birthday, Bill. Hope you have many more.
It is hilarious that you mention poke cake. I just pulled a cake mix and jello out to make one at my house. Here in Florida we make them with jello. You freeze the cake after it is baked and pour regular jello into the wholes. Super delicious with strawberry jello, cream cheese frosting and fresh strawberries! Ok…I am hungry now. Off to make my poke cake!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BILL! HOPE IT WAS SUPER-FANTASTIC!
best wishes to Bill for a special day and a wonderful year to follow. I do not know you , but I have noticed you are regular at posting and I generally do read through all the posts. I love this site!
Happy Birthday Bill!!!
That quote is so funny, I am going to use it on my husband tonight… perfect for me
As for letting your children help, my 3 year old son loved getting to help me make the corn casserole last night. It gives us some quality time together and I can teach him technical terms like dump
I just have to watch carefully because he felt it should have been watered down. He is also mad because he wanted to throw eggs in the mix (Literally he threw a whole egg in it while I was cracking one) But in the end he got over it…
I think this would be a really nice treat to share with Maw-Maw. (G’s grandma) She LOVED your banana nut bread recipe and actually replaced the version she had been making for years with it. (And caused my mother-in-law to have a small vendetta against my father in law when he ate the 8 muffins that were sent over to the house, but that’s a whole nother story)
BILL!! What was all the fuss about…oh, you got older….but are you any wiser?? Guess that would depend on how old you are, huh. I’ll bet you’re getting there! LOL
A very happy birthday to you.
Christy,
I want you to know I am headed for Idaho on Wednesday with quite a few recipes tucked into my suitcase for Grandma to make for the kids (and Mikey too). I am hoping they love the dishpan cookies as much as I do.
Well goodness…
That was too funny. Lemme tell yall a little sumpin.. Christy has become the sister I never had. Ok well I have a sister but she’s not near as nice.
Christy puts up with me and takes my constant harassment with stride. Cause harassment is what a brother is supposed to do to his sister if he’s worth anything. Believe me.. she’s gets in some pretty good zingers too.
I wish she was my real life blood sister but God put us together as quick as he saw fit.
Thank yall very much. This has been nice to see and made my day. Southern Plate has indeed got the best readers around. May God Bless and keep you in the small of his hand.
HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY BILL. MINE WAS MAY 12, AND MY HUSBAND(BILL’S) IS THE 22ND. GREAT MAY!
GOD BLESS
Happy Birthday Bill!
I think my kids will wonder what’s wrong with me if I let them poke holes in a cake, but we’ll definitely give it’s a try!
It looks really good to me Christy! Thanks for posting this one. I’ll have to try it out!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BILL!!! <3
That looks so good. You know they have a pumpkin spice pudding around Thanksgiving time. That would be awesome with the vanilla cake!
And have a great birthday Bill!
Hey Christy! Thanks for the simple recipe, we’ll be getting the rest of the ingredients tonight! My son is 2.5 years now, and has been wanting to do a lot of pouring this week, so I’ll have him help me in the kitchen. He can help pour and poke the holes. He also likes getting the milk out of the fridge. I can’t wait, his first project in the kitchen!!
It always thrills me when I see one of your tutorials, and you have your children helping. YOU are the type of woman I want to be!
That looks so good! Now I’m craving cake but I’m at work…guess I’ll have to wait until I get home =(
Hi Christy, that cake looks so good. My Mother use to make a coconut cake similar to this that was so delicious and very easy to make. I could send you the recipe if you want it. I enjoy your website so much.
This Is similar to something we had growing up.
Mom would sometimes make a yellow cake, poke holes In It and pour a can of crushed pineapple over the holes. Then she take a bowl of cool-whip and put that on top of the entire cake. Let It chill and It was yummy! Vanilla pudding was used Instead of cool-whip at times and It was good as well!
Every so often she would switch It up a bit and make a chocolate cake and use jello(Let It chill until It’s a wee bit firm, but not jiggly firm.) and pour that Into the holes. Cover It with a bowl of cool-whip and let It chill. It was delish! Especially on a hot summer day.
I’m definitely going to use this method as well! You can ask for anything easy to make and that tastes good to boot!
Thanks Christy!
By the way, Happy Birthday Bill! Hope you have a wonderful day and have many, many more to come!
Happy Birthday Bill..
You are in good company we had two birthdays this week.
Christy, The kids used to love to help in the kitchen, now all the help they want to give is to eat what is produced..haha. That is what happens when they are boys and they get too old. I love recipes that make smaller quantities of cakes so they don’t linger too long. Always want to try something new and different.
Love the site and all the great recipes and talk.
Happy belated birthday Bill!!!!
Christy,
I told Mama about this cake and she told me about a version she used to make that if you can believe in my almost 29 years on this planet she has never made for me. She used jello instead of the pudding that you pour on while the cake is warm and pudding on top. I am making one in the next couple of weeks and it will be posted on my blog. (which I managed to almost kill last night but that is another story)
Happy birthday, Bill. Hope it was the greatest ever for you.
Christy,
I also just looooove green koolaid! I even searched for it long and hard a few years ago and bought 20 packs of it when I found it. It is great mixed with condensed milk and frozen whipped topping. Tastest like so much more than the ingredients.
The poke cake looks terrific, but nothing can compare with green koolaid!
I forgot…the koolaid mixture is put in a pie shell and chilled. Super tasting, and very inexpensive. Yum.
Not so much on the green jello, but love, love, love green snow cones when I can find one!
Happy Birthday Bill!
Happy Birthday, Bill! You are so funny and smart! I’m really glad that you and Christy found each other … to torment.
It’s been a real pleasure for the rest of us!
Christy, congrats on your spankin-new house. You and your lovely family must be sooo happy!
I had forgotten all about this cake… cause I am old.. but it is great and I love the suggestion of using a Jiffy cake so its not a huge big cake like I used to have to make… I love “little” cake recipes so I am not stuck with too many left overs tempting me.. as I live alone,, but people do come on Sundays to eat, haha and after a big meal they only want a little bite of something sweet.. this will be perfect.
And Bill…. surely you can’t be a year older… time sure flys doesn’t it? I don’t age at all any more, although there seems to be something wrong with the mirrors in my house… I know that woman in there is not me.. some kind of conspiracy…
Have a great Birthday and we will all bake you one of these cakes.
hugs Jo in Oklahoma
I’m liking the sound of the lemon one!
not only is letting your kids cook with you good for the sentimental reasons but also good so that they learn how to cook! that’s how I learned and developed a love of cooking and baking.
and Happy Belated Birthday Bill!
Thanks again to everyone. My 15 year old niece got me a card that had a fairy god mother on the front. It said..
“I’m the Birthday Fairy, When I touch people with my wand I make them look another year older”.
When you open it up it says…
“I must have beaten the tar out of you..”
She is soooo out of the trust fund..
Anyway, thanks guys and gals!
Happy Birthday Bill, I hope you have manymore and each one better than the last.
Hi: Christy, congratulations on your new kitchen with a house added on. The cake recipe looks like something I may be able to build.
Looks delicious and like a good project for the grand daughters!
BOL girl I made lime jello and pineapple on Mother’s Day because I really wanted it and hey it was Mother’s Day and I am the Mom. I love the stuff!
I made a “pouncake” yesterday using vanilla pudding. The recipe was on the side of the Duncan Hines yellow cake mix. Since I was craving something with lemon I added lemon zest and then made a lemon glaze and boy oh boy was it YUM.
This looks great! I love to have desserts available to us on the weekends and I do believe this one will be center stage this weekend.
I was also thinking white cake mix with pistachio pudding would be fantastic. Oh ya that’s it! Oh my…… I have to leave now and head to the store.
A lady I use to babysit for a long time ago made this cake a little different she used a yellow cake poke holes then strawberry jello liquid pour it in the holes then vanilla pudding the kind you have to cook on the stove not the instant one then whip cream.Love this in the summer time. I still think of her every time I make this for my kids, :*)
my grandmother still makes that jello poke cake for me
[...] Baby Boston Cream Pies [...]
I too love green things lol
I love green jell-o, green popsicles, green koolaid..and my personal favorite..green lollipops!!! You can’t forget the lollipops..oh and yes pistachio pudding is food of the gods..but don’t forget the green iced cream part of my favorite spumoni ice cream.
I bought a box of Jiffy cake mix today so I can make this cake soon. You won’t believe it, but the box cost 89 cents!! The Betty Crocker cake mixes (that make twice as much) are only 99 cents. Jiffy cornbread mix is often on sale for 50 cents a box. I bought the Jiffy cake mix anyway because I wanted to make it just like your recipe says, but I’ll most likely use half a box of Betty Crocker mix in the future unless the Jiffy one tastes twice as good! Living in Alaska is great, but food costs so much
(
We had a Southern Plate supper! Your recipe for pinto beans, hoe cake, and this for dessert. I used the golden cake mix and a box of sugar free pistachio pudding. I went ahead and added in the powdered sugar since I was concerned the sugar free pudding might taste odd (I’ve never used it before). Well, it turned out great! I’d imagine it will get even tastier as it sits in the fridge. Next time I’ll go on and leave out the powdered sugar. Love that it makes a little cake too
Thanks, Christy!
Pudding poke cake is one of my favorites that my mom makes. She always makes it as a 9X13 chocolate cake with vanilla pudding (2 boxes)…So yummy!
this sounds great…as do most of your recipes…I love your site! When I was younger my mother got one of those fancy pudding mixers that you could shake…I believed she ordered it…it was yellow with a white lid. I still remember using it for the first time to make chocolate pudding and how exciting it was, not sure if the excitement was for the chocolate pudding, which was a treat or just the excitement of shaking that thing until the jello was thickened. Never thought about doing that now with a mason jar…you are SO smart =)
Could I substitute ingredients for this cake and make a sugar free version? I am diabetic. Growing up I loved lemon lime Kool Aid! I haven’t had any in years. do they even make sugar free kool aid versions? I wish I knew!
I usually use sugar free pudding and I make lemon lime kool aid with splenda! Some kinda yum!!!!
They make sf kool aid but not in lemon lime
When my son Ed was growing up this was his very favorite cake. Maybe I will make him one the next time he comes to visit.
I think Ed musta had a wonderful mother growing up
this is very good.my husband showed me how to do this many years ago. one day i went shopping and him home to watch the boys. he decided to bake a cake. the cake turned out fine. onto the frosting……. not knowing what confectioners sugar was he used granulated sugar. i came home to the best cake i had had in quite awhile. i asked him why he put pudding on the cake and he said he had read it somewhere. oh really, i said to him. oh by the way he said what is confectioners sugar? i used regular sugar ,iused the whole bag and it would not thicken up so i threw it out. the only thing left was pudding. give him credit he tried!!!!! but it worked…….