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Chocolate Poke Cake From Scratch is one of the most amazing and moist cakes you’ll ever have!
A secret ingredient brings out the chocolatey goodness in the cake while adding a rich layer of homemade pudding keeps it extra moist! It’s all topped off with a simple one minute chocolate frosting!
A Tip For Enhanced Chocolate Flavor
This is one of the most amazing chocolate cakes of all time! My son calls this his favorite cake hands down!
Making a chocolate poke cake from scratch is easier than you think and it’s so worth the extra time!
If you love a great chocolatey flavor, I have a little secret to share with you! Adding just a little bit of coffee to the batter brings out the rich chocolate flavor (but don’t worry, you don’t taste a coffee flavor). This even works in place of water if you’re making a boxed mix!
Originally I made this cake for my son’s 18th birthday…but of course when you have a house full of teenage boys and a chocolate cake, getting photos is kind of challenging. *Sigh* … so I had to make the cake AGAIN, oh the hardships, more chocolate cake! And it was just as amazing!
Pourable Poke Cake Topping
The cake itself is decadent and moist with an amazing rich chocolate flavor…even without the pudding on top, it is excellent!!
The homemade pudding is super easy and quick and takes this cake to the next level! The whole thing is topped with my absolute favorite one minute easy chocolate frosting. This “poured frosting” is quick to make and requires not spreading, just pour over the cake and tilt to spread!
Items you’ll need for this recipe:
- 9 x 13 pan
- chocolate chips
- cocoa powder
After trying this Chocolate Poke Cake From Scratch, you may never want to use a boxed recipe again!
Chocolate Poke Cake From Scratch
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ¾ cups granulated sugar
- ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup brewed coffee cooled
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 cup milk
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Chocolate Pudding Layer
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 pinch salt
- 2 ¼ cups milk
- 1 tablespoon butter
Frosting
- ⅓ cup milk
- ⅓ cup butter softened
- 1 ¼ cups granulated sugar
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease & flour a 9x13 inch pan.
- Combine milk & lemon juice and set aside. (The mixture will thicken slightly)
- Combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda & baking powder in a large bowl.
- Add eggs, coffee, soured milk, oil and vanilla. Beat medium speed for 2 minutes. Pour into prepared pans. (Your batter may seem runny at this point but it will bake up beautifully.)
- Bake 30 to 40 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean. Be sure to check the cake at 30 minutes so it doesn't over cook.
Chocolate Pudding
- In a saucepan, combine sugar, cocoa powder, cornstarch and salt, mix well. Add in cold milk, stir until combined.
- Turn heat to medium high stirring constantly until mixture comes to a boil.
- Allow to boil for 1 minute while stirring, remove from heat and stir in butter.
- Allow to cool for 5 minutes stirring occasionally. Poke the cake all over with the end of a wooden spoon. Pour warm pudding over warm cake. Tap the pan allowing the pudding to seep into the cake.
- Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight. (Frost after slightly cooled, about 30 minutes)
Poured Frosting
- In a saucepan, combine milk, butter, & sugar over medium high heat.
- Bring to a rolling boil and allow to boil 45 seconds.
- Remove from heat and add chocolate chips.
- Whisk until smooth and shiny and immediately pour over the cake. Refrigerate until set.
Video
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Dessert
Cuisine American© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
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Cake adapted from allrecipes.com
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Looks delicious
Excellent cake! Moist and wonderful flavor. I think the next time I will let the cool longer than 30 minutes before pouring frosting on it. My frosting set as soon as I poured it. Tasted great but not attractive.
I made this for my sisters birthday and it was a huge hit! Every bit of it! It will be my go to for any chocolate cake I make in the future. Thank you!
Hi… i only use instant coffee.. how many teaspoons/tablespoons of coffee should i add in 1 cup of water without it changing the taste of the cake?
It can vary slightly by brand, I would add the recommended amount on the package for an 8oz cup of coffee. Enjoy the cake!
Made this cake several times over the last few years and it’s always a treat! However, the last two times the dough came out like a gooey brownie. Could it be that I didn’t wait for the pudding to cool down 5 minutes and put it on the cake straight away? Or what else could cause this, please?
I can’t say for sure why it was more brownie like, did you use a toothpick to ensure the cake was fully cooked?
Yes, I even left it in longer. I think I will wait for the pudding to cool down a bit before pouring it over the cake
Let us know how it goes!
I’m getting ready try your Chocolate Mayo Cake. And maybe somehow work some caramel and nuts into it like I saw in your Chocolate Poke Cake. I’ll let you know how it comes out.
I would make a cup of coffee according to package directions and then measure out a cup. As opposed to measuring it in dry.
Hi looks delicious but I have a question Can you make the cake and sauce ,pour it on and put back in the fridge overnight ,and frost the next day?
Hi Judy, I think it would be best to poke the cake and then add the pudding and the frosting when ready to serve.
Such an amazing cake and frosting!!! Thank you for such FLAVORFUL cake!
I have made this 3 times! My family LOVES it!
I am not a baker, and it is widely known across the land.
This cake however made me look really good. I brought it to a school luncheon and people were scraping the bottom of the pan! Yummy and easy to make. A definite winner. :)
Yummmmy bravo
The cake was a hit with family. It was very moist! Not at all too much sugar. Thank you. I’ll be looking closely at your other recipes!,
If I wanted to make this into cupcakes, how long do I bake them for? My daughter loves this cake and I thought the cupcakes would be easy for her to manage in her teacher life.
I have only tried the recipe as written, but other readers have made cupcakes so I think it should work. I would begin checking early and bake until a toothpick comes out clean. Let us know if you try making them into cupcakes!
No offense, but I am not going to put the coffee in the cake. So do I need to add more liquid of any kind to replace it?
And after all is done and cake is frosted, does it need to be refridgerated all the time, or can it be left at room temperature.
You can use water in place of coffee, I generally store it in the fridge. You can remove it from the fridge about 30-60 minutes before serving if you’d like.
we love chocolate cake thank you both.
this cake absolutely saved my bacon. I was working on another recipe (on another site) for black forest cake but the cake part sadly did not turn out, so instead of scrapping the whole thing I just used this cake recipe. It was super quick, very forgiving, and tasted exactly as advertised. Gonna keep it for my go-to base cake recipes for sure.
I have tried this cake two times and each time I have same problem. When I pour pudding over cake it does not soak into cake at all, put in frig to cool like you instructed for 30 minutes and then make frosting and tried to pour over cake and it would not pour at all! Hope a miracle happens while it sets in frig overnight or it will be terrible mess! And I plan to take to funeral dinner. Not sure I will put my name on it. I have to say it is chocolaty!
Hi Peggy! I hope it set up in the fridge well for you. You want to make sure to poke holes all over the cake before pouring on the pudding, this helps it soak into all of the little holes and in turn the cake itself. If you are finding the frosting too thick you can add a little more milk to the mixture but keep in mind that will prevent it from setting up as firmly. Good luck!
Have not made yet. Wondering in cake ingred. list it says milk. In the directions later it says add soured milk. Which is it please?
In step 2. you combine milk & lemon juice which sours the milk. The soured milk is used in step 4.