Description
Rich, creamy Pumpkin Poke Cake delivers autumn’s warmest embrace with spiced layers soaked in caramel-like sweetness. Comfort meets indulgence in this irresistible dessert you’ll savor down to the last delectable crumb.
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 box yellow cake mix (432 g / 15.25 oz)
- 3 large eggs
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil
- 1 can (425 g / 15 oz) pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
- 1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 box (96 g / 3.4 oz) instant vanilla pudding mix
- 2 cups cold milk
- 1 container (250 g / 8 oz) whipped topping (Cool Whip or homemade whipped cream)
- ½ cup caramel sauce (optional)
- ½ cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon (for dusting)
Instructions
- Preparation: Ignite the oven to 350°F and lavishly coat a 9×13-inch baking vessel with culinary spray, ensuring comprehensive coverage.
- Cake Composition: Craft the cake foundation by blending cake mix with luscious pumpkin puree, warm autumnal spices, transforming the ordinary into an extraordinary confection.
- Baking Transformation: Dispatch the cake into the preheated oven, allowing it to metamorphose for approximately 25-30 minutes until a slender wooden probe emerges pristine when pierced through its core.
- Textural Engineering: After extracting the golden-hued creation, permit minimal cooling, then strategically perforate the surface using a wooden utensil’s handle, creating channels for delectable infiltration.
- Moisture Infusion: Generously cascade sweetened condensed milk or amber caramel sauce throughout the perforated landscape, enabling each crevice to absorb the rich, decadent liquid.
- Creamy Culmination: Drape the cake with billowy whipped topping, smoothing it into an elegant, cloud-like blanket that embraces the pumpkin-spiced foundation.
- Finishing Flourish: Elegantly crown the dessert with a cascade of chopped pecans, shimmering toffee fragments, or a delicate dusting of warming cinnamon, adding textural intrigue and visual allure.
- Flavor Maturation: Refrigerate the masterpiece for a minimum of 60 minutes, allowing flavors to harmonize and develop a sublime, cohesive character before serving.
Notes
- Use room temperature ingredients to ensure a smooth, even cake batter that absorbs liquid perfectly.
- Create deep, consistent holes while the cake is still warm to maximize sauce absorption and prevent cake crumbling.
- Consider adding extra warm spices like nutmeg or ginger to amplify the pumpkin’s natural richness and complexity.
- Swap regular cake mix for gluten-free or low-sugar alternatives to make this dessert suitable for different dietary needs without compromising taste.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Desserts
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 13
- Calories: 250
- Sugar: 22 g
- Sodium: 300 mg
- Fat: 10 g
- Saturated Fat: 3 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 7 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 37 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 3 g
- Cholesterol: 20 mg