Name: Best Banana Pudding Poke Cake (+Video)
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 45 min
Ingredients: 15.25 ounce box yellow cake mix; ingredients needed to make cake: eggs, oil & water; 2 (3.4 ounce) packages instant banana pudding; 4 cups milk; 8 ounce tub frozen whipped topping (COOL WHIP) (thawed); 20 vanilla wafers (crushed)

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Banana Pudding Poke Cake is an easy recipe made with cake mix poked with banana pudding, topped with Cool Whip and crushed Nilla Wafers!

AN EASY BANANA PUDDING INSPIRED CAKE

The inspiration for this Banana Pudding Poke Cake actually started out at work. My co-worker, Heather, loves Banana Pudding. But my other co-worker, Amanda does not like bananas - at all. She likes the flavor of bananas but not the texture. So the idea of the banana pudding poke cake was born. All the banana pudding flavors you love - in cake form.

slice, Banana Pudding Poke Cake topped with a banana slice and Nilla Wafer on a plate.

CAN YOU ADD SLICED BANANAS TO THIS CAKE?

This is made without slices of bananas, however, you could certainly add those on there if you like. My husband and I decided we would just add some freshly sliced bananas right on top of our individual pieces of cake which turned out to be a delicious idea. If I had put them on the cake while I was making it, they would have turned brown within a day. It also makes the cake really pretty if you serve the individual slices with a bit of sliced banana and a Nilla Wafer on top.

CAN YOU USE OTHER FLAVORS OF CAKE AND PUDDING?

Absolutely! Since creating this recipe, I have added about twenty other poke cake combinations. Some of the most popular ones are: BOSTON CREAM POKE CAKE, RED VELVET POKE CAKE, OREO PUDDING POKE CAKE and LEMON BLUEBERRY POKE CAKE.

Banana Pudding Poke Cake recipe from The Country Cook. Close up photo of a slice on a small white round plate.

INGREDIENTS NEEDED: (FULL RECIPE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POST)

yellow cake mix
ingredients needed to make cake (eggs, oil & water)
instant banana pudding (DO NOT GET COOK & SERVE PUDDING OR IT WON'T SET UP)
milk
whipped topping (Cool Whip)
Nilla wafers

ingredients needed to make cake: yellow cake mix, Nilla wafers, instant vanilla pudding, cool whip, bananas.

HOW TO MAKE BANANA PUDDING POKE CAKE:

Prepare cake mix according to package directions for a 9x13 cake. Once cake comes out of the oven, allow it to cool for just a couple of minutes. Then, with a wooden spoon handle or some other similarly-sized object, begin poking holes in the cake.

You want the holes to be fairly big so that the pudding has plenty of room to get down in there. Be sure to poke right down to the bottom of the cake.

Banana Pudding Poke Cake recipe from The Country Cook - holes poked into vanilla cake.

In a bowl, whisk together instant pudding with 4 cups milk. Stir until all the lumps are gone. Let pudding sit for about 1-2 minutes so it has just slightly begun to thicken but not fully set, it should still be easily pourable.

mix instant pudding with cold milk in a bowl.

Pour pudding over cake. Taking care to get it into the holes as much as possible.

pouring liquid pudding into holes in cake.

Spread it all out and using the back of the spoon gently push pudding down into the holes.

using the back of a spoon, push pudding down into holes in baked yellow cake.

Put the pudding into the fridge to set and cool. Once your cake has completely cooled, spread on whipped topping.

spread whipped topping (Cool Whip) on top of cooled cake.

If you haven't done so already, crush your vanilla wafers. I just place mine in a ziploc bag and crush them with a rolling pin. Leave some of the pieces big. It's nice to have a bit of a crunch when you eat the cake.

crushing vanilla (Nilla) wafers in a Ziploc bag with a wooden rolling pin.

Spread crushed wafers onto the top of the cake. You can do this part immediately before serving the cake if you like. This will ensure the wafers are crunchy when you serve it.

sprinkled crushed Nilla wafers on top of Cool Whip.

I think this cake gets more delicious over time. To me, it's even better the next day so it's a great dessert to make ahead of time. Serve with freshly sliced bananas. Keep refrigerated.

CRAVING MORE POKE CAKE/BANANA RECIPES? CHECK THESE OUT!

Best Banana Pudding Poke Cake (+Video)

Banana Pudding Poke Cake is an easy dessert recipe made with cake mix poked with banana pudding, topped with Cool Whip and crushed Nilla Wafers!

4.93 from 103 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Banana Pudding Poke Cake

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Servings:

Calories: 270kcal

Author: Brandie @ The Country Cook

Ingredients

▢ 15.25 ounce box yellow cake mix
▢ ingredients needed to make cake: eggs, oil & water
▢ 2 (3.4 ounce) packages instant banana pudding
▢ 4 cups milk
▢ 8 ounce tub frozen whipped topping (COOL WHIP) thawed
▢ 20 vanilla wafers crushed

Instructions

Prepare cake mix according to package directions for a 9x13-inch cake.
Once cake comes out of the oven, allow it to cool for just a couple of minutes.
Then, with a wooden spoon handle, begin poking holes in the cake. You want the holes to be big enough so that the pudding has plenty of room to get down in there. Be sure to poke right down to the bottom of the cake.
In a bowl, whisk together instant pudding mix with 4 cups milk. Stir quickly until all the lumps are gone. but before the mixture starts eating too thick to pour.
Pour pudding over cake. Taking care to pour it right into the holes as much as possible.
Spread it all out and using the back of the spoon, gently push pudding down into the holes.
Put the cake into the fridge to set and cool (about 2 hours.)
Once the cake has completely cooled, spread on whipped topping.
Crush the vanilla wafers. Spread crushed wafers onto the top of the cake before serving. Keep refrigerated.

Video

Notes

You can spread the crushed wafers immediately before serving the cake if you like. This will ensure the wafers are crunchy when you serve it.
A layer of freshly sliced bananas can be put on in between the pudding and the whipped topping layers. Note: when you slice the cake, the bananas will start turning brown so try to serve it all the same day it is made. Alternatively, you could add freshly sliced bananas to each individual serving to avoid the bananas turning brown if you are not serving this all up on the same day.

Nutrition

Nutritional Disclaimer

“The Country Cook” is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are 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.

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Originally published: June 2012
Updated and republished: May 2019