Homemade Easter Poke Cake

A slice of Easter poke cake on a white plate. Some sprinkles sit in front of the cake.

This homemade Easter poke cake is a soft, moist, and colourful cake. Holes are poked into the baked cake, and are filled with a sweet homemade vanilla pudding. The cake is then topped with mounds of whipped cream and decorated with colourful sprinkles.

Course Dessert

Cuisine North American

Prep Time 40

Cook Time 33

Chilling Time 2

Servings servings

Calories 295kcal

Author Nina

Equipment

one 9x13" baking pan

Ingredients

Vanilla Pudding

1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 cup whole milk divided
1 egg yolk
¼ cup granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon unsalted butter
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Vanilla Cake

3¼ cups all purpose flour
1½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
1½ cups granulated sugar
⅓ cup sour cream room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 large eggs room temperature
1 cup whole milk room temperature
gel food colouring blue, pink, yellow, green

Whipped Topping

2 cups heavy whipping cream cold
¼ cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Vanilla Pudding

In a small bowl, whisk cornstarch and ¼ cup of the milk together until well combined. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk egg yolk and set aside.
Combine remaining milk, granulated salt and sugar in a medium saucepan. Heat over medium heat until mixture begins to steam. Do not let it get to boiling point. Remove from heat.
Remove ¼ cup of the hot milk mixture from the saucepan and slowly pour it into the egg yolk, whisking constantly. Add the egg yolk mixture and the cornstarch mixture to the saucepan.
Continue to heat over medium heat, whisking constantly, until mixture starts to simmer and has thickened.
Remove from the heat and use a fine mesh strainer to sieve it into a clean medium sized bowl. You can skip this step if you are not worried about having a super smooth pudding.
Whisk butter and vanilla into the pudding. Top pudding with a layer of plastic wrap touching the top of the pudding to prevent a skin from forming. Allow to come to room temperature, then chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. The pudding can easily be made a day in advance.

Vanilla Cake

Preheat oven to 350° (180°C). Generously grease a 9x13" baking dish.
In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together. Set aside.
Beat butter and sugar together in a large bowl until well creamed together, about 2 minutes of mixing.
Add sour cream and vanilla. Mix well until incorporated. Then mix in eggs, one at a time, until fully mixed in. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
Add dry ingredients to the batter in 3 parts, alternating with the milk, and starting and ending with the dry ingredients. Mix until just combined. Divide batter into 4 small bowls. Use gel food colouring to colour 3 of the divided batters.
Drop spoonfuls of the batter throughout the prepared baking pan, alternating the colours. I suggest dropping one coloured batter at a time, leaving a few inches between the drops, then make drops with the second colour, then the third, then the fourth batter, until you cover the bottom of the baking dish. Then drop another layer on top until you use up all the batter.
Drop the baking dish lightly on the counter to flatten the cake layers. Then use a toothpick to gently run through the colours twice. Don't over mix. Bake for 30-33 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out with a few moist crumbs on it. Let cool completely on a wire rack.

Whipped Topping

In a large bowl, whisk heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla together until you have stiff peaks.
Use the end of a wooden spatula, or something of equal size, to poke holes all over the top of the cooled cake. Make sure to poke holes about ½" into the cake.
Spoon vanilla pudding into each of the holes to make sure they are filled up. Then spread a layer of vanilla pudding on top of the cake.
Spread whipped topping on top of the cake, and decorate with sprinkles. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Notes

Make the vanilla pudding a day in advance to save time.

Make sure to chill the vanilla pudding for at least 2 hours.

Use a store bought vanilla pudding mix if you don't want to make it (but I assure you it's really easy and tastes amazing!)

Don't overmix the cake batter. Mix the food colouring in just until it is fully mixed in.

Make sure to poke holes in the cake at least ½" deep.

Instead of sprinkles, add chocolate eggs, marshmallow peeps, or any other kind of colourful decoration!

Nutrition