Carrot Cake Poke Cake

If you are looking for new and fun Easter ideas to try this spring, this easy dessert recipe for Carrot Cake Poke Cake is the best Easter treat that you can make for your family. Filled with white chocolate pudding and topped with cream cheese frosting this super moist carrot cake is over the top!

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting is classic Easter dessert. But you can make a fun twist this year and turn it into amazing, perfectly moist, homemade poke cake filled with white chocolate pudding.

Almost every recipe I found on the internet uses box cake mix and caned cream cheese frosting for poke cakes.  They all sounds super simple to make, but I prefer real homemade cakes from scratch, with this magic custard cake as one of my favorites to make (and taste!). Especially when it comes to a holidays and family gatherings such as Easter dinner or brunch.

Although I baked dozens of cakes with many different flavors, I do not have too much experience with carrot cakes. To tell the truth, I’m not a huge fun of carrots so I refused to try any kind of carrot treats for years. I always imagined that carrot tastes much in the cake and it seems yuck to me.

What I fool I was! One day I decided to try carrot cake and realized that I been missing a lot. Baked goods with carrots actually taste so good. You can’t even tell there’s carrot in it.

However, when I tried first recipe, my Carrot Cake Banana Bread, I couldn’t stop myself. I made Carrot Cake Muffins with Cream Cheese Filling, Carrot Cake Cheesecake, Carrot Cake Cupcakes and even Carrot Cake Oatmeal Cookies.  In fact I made so many versions of carrot cakes, but never a classic one.

Looking for perfect base for my poke cake that doesn’t include a box cake mix I found this Crazy Good Carrot Cake from Happy Hooligans.  It seems extremely moist and delicious. That was my starting point for this Carrot Cake Poke Cake. I made some changes, replace some of white sugar with brown sugar, spiced it up with ginger, nutmeg and cloves, besides cinnamon, and stir in some chopped walnuts. I was afraid that I might mess things up with my add-ins, but it turned out great.

Finally this Carrot Cake Poke Cake with white chocolate pudding and cream cheese frosting is really easy recipe and so simple to make. When you try this super moist and flavorful homemade carrot cake you’ll never buy a box cake mix again.

Easy Easter Dessert Recipes

Homemade Reese’s Eggs

Strawberry Jello Cake

Old Fashioned Banana Cream Pie

Strawberry Shortcake Cake

Easter Krispie Treats

Carrot Cake Cheesecake

Carrot Cake Poke Cake

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• Author: Vera Zecevic
• Prep Time: 30 minutes
• Cook Time: 45 minutes
• Total Time: 2 hours

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Description

If you are looking for new and fun Easter ideas to try this spring, this easy dessert recipe for Carrot Cake Poke Cake is the best Easter treat that you can make for your family.

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Ingredients

For Carrot Cake:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 ¾ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground ginger
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 ¼ cup light brown sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 cups freshly grated carrots
• 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Filling:

• 2 x 3.4 oz. box white chocolate instant pudding mix
• 4 cups milk

For Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 6 oz. cream cheese- softened
• 1/3 cup unsalted butter-softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups powdered sugar (plus 2-3 tablespoons more if needed)
• Dash of salt

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Instructions

1. To make the cake preheat the oven to 350 F and grease 9 x 13 glass dish.
2. In medium bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves, set aside.
3. In a large bowl combine oil, eggs, vanilla, sugar and brown sugar. Mix just to combine.
4. Add flour mixture and mix just to combine.
5. Fold in grated carrots and pecans or walnuts.
6. Spread the cake batter into prepared dish and bake 40-50 minutes, or until the toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the cake for 10 minutes and using the handle of a wooden spoon poke the holes all over the cake less than 1 inch apart.
7. Meanwhile whisk together instant pudding mix and 4 cups of milk until no lumps remain. Pour the pudding over the cake trying to get as much you can to get the pudding down into the holes. Smooth the top and place the cake in the fridge until the pudding has set and the cake is cooled completely.
8. To make the frosting beat the butter, cream cheese, vanilla and dash of salt until smooth and creamy. Gradually add powdered sugar and beat on high speed for 2-3 minutes. Spread the frosting over the cooled cake and set back in the fridge for 30-45 minutes before serving.
9. Store the cake in the fridge up to 5 days.