Banana Pudding Poke Cake

I don’t know about you, but I’m all about easy, make ahead dessert recipes. Especially when the weather gets warm!

Banana pudding is so creamy and delicious, so pairing it with cake is a match made in heaven.

Plus, it’s such a simple, easy to make recipe.  Although it does require a little forethought, since the cake does have to cool before you add the whipped cream topping.

However, that’s true for any cake right?  Frosting a warm cake will end up a gooey mess… trust me… been there before.

In fact, you can even make this cake completely ahead of time, and let it hang out in the refrigerator overnight.  The flavors get deeper and more meshed together, and all you have to do on the day of serving is sprinkle some crushed vanilla wafer cookies and add some sliced bananas on top!

How to make a banana poke cake?

This is just an overview; the full ingredients and directions are in the recipe card toward the bottom of this post.

1. Prepare cake according to package directions and bake.  Use your favorite brand of cake mix.  Our favorites are Duncan Hines and Betty Crocker.
2. Poke holes in warm cake.  It’s best to do this while the cake is still warm so it will absorb the pudding mixture we add next.
3. Combine milk and pudding mix.  We only have whole milk on hand, but I’m sure 2% would work too.
4. Pour pudding mix over cake and spread around, as you want to make sure the holes get filled up with the pudding.  Cover and refrigerate cake for 1-2 hours.
5. Spread whipped topping on top of cake.
6. Crush vanilla wafer cookies.  Alternately, you could chop them, or use your food processor.
7. Spread cookie pieces on top of the cake, with banana slices.  It’s best to do this before serving, so they don’t get soggy and discolored.

Variations of this recipe

• Sugar-free – I haven’t specifically tested this, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work.  Use sugar free cake mix, pudding mix and whipped topping for a sugar-free dessert!
• Other cake flavors – I like to use yellow cake mix because it has a great yellow color that pairs well with the banana. However, you can switch up the cake mix and use white, vanilla/french vanilla, or any other flavor you’d like.
• Poke Cupcakes – instead of following the package directions to make a 9×13 cake, make cupcakes.  Poke holes in the cupcakes and continue with the recipe.
• Banana slices – to bump up the banana flavor, after adding the pudding and letting it soak into the cake, before adding the whipped cream, add a layer of banana slices.
• Homemade – not into using cake mix and prepared whipped topping?  No worries, you can absolutely use your own from-scratch recipes to make those and use them here.  It’s a very versatile recipe!

Making a poke cake ahead of time

This cake is a bit of a natural make ahead dessert, as the cake needs to chill in the refrigerator for at least 1-2 hours. Not only to cool, but to allow for the pudding to really soak down into the cake.

However, this cake can be made completely, including the whipped cream topping, then covered and refrigerated a day or two.  Just make sure not to add the vanilla wafers and banana slices until right before you serve, so they don’t get soggy.

Storage

Leftovers should be refrigerated and eaten within 3 days.

Any nutritional information shared is an estimate, and is automatically calculated through a program.  If calorie count is important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer.  Calories can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.

The Chunky Chef is not a nutritionist and doesn’t provide full nutritional information for recipes as there is a potential for error and we wouldn’t want to potentially and/or unknowingly pass along incorrect information.