Banana Pudding Poke Cake (+Video)
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.
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.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED: (SEE RECIPE CARD BELOW FOR THE FULL RECIPE)
- 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
HOW TO MAKE BANANA PUDDING POKE CAKE:
Prepare cake mix according to package directions for a 9×13 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.
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.
Pour pudding over cake. Taking care to get it 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 pudding into the fridge to set and cool. Once your cake has completely cooled, spread on whipped topping.
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.
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.
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 RECIPES?
Originally published: June 2012
Updated and republished: May 2019
Best Banana Pudding Poke Cake (+Video)
Ingredients
- 15.25 ounce box yellow cake mix
- ingredients needed to make cake: eggs, oil and water
- 2 (3.4 ounce) packages instant banana pudding
- 4 cups milk
- 8 ounce tub frozen whipped topping, thawed (Cool Whip)
- 20 vanilla wafers, crushed
Instructions
- Prepare 15.25 ounce box yellow cake mix with ingredients needed to make cake: eggs, oil and water according to package directions for a 9×13-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 2 (3.4 ounce) packages instant banana pudding with 4 cups milk. Stir quickly until all the lumps are gone but before the mixture starts getting 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 8 ounce tub frozen whipped topping, thawed.
- Spread 20 vanilla wafers, crushed 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.
Jeez I'm so loving this poke cake thing. Is their such a thing as "poke cupcakes"? I'm so making these soon.
This is a lovely cake. I enjoyed it and so did everyone else. Thank you! Love your recipes!!!
Try this….chocolate cake,pistachio pudding and the Cool Whip…garnish with chocolate slivers!
I'm going to experiment with maybe a pineapple cake or strawberry, or maybe add strawberry and drained crushed pineapple and chocolate syrup on top to make this a banana split poke cake. Any other suggestions?
I have a weird question. I have a family member who doesn't like whipped topping, but loves banana pudding. This sounds like an awesome cake to make for his birthday. What kind of modifications could I make to this… anything besides just leaving off the whipped topping and putting the nilla wafers on top of the pudding layer? And I wonder how that would taste anyway?
I use the cooked pudding as it's easier to pour into the holes. Sliced my bananas and put them on top of the pudding then topped with the cool whip and crushed vanilla wafers. It was a big hit at work.
As I'm typing this , I'm making a sugar free strawberry cheesecake version with cheesecake pudding & a cream cheese topping. My first time making this version, so hoping it turns out as yummy as I think it will.
I have used a can of crème de coconut.. and did the same with the poke cake.. Left in the frig all night. Put the whipped cream on top before serving and sprinkle with coconut.. TO DIE FOR!!!
*cries out in desperation*
WHY oh WHY don't they sell all those great cake mixes in our supermarkets????!!!!
Linda – Holland
The pumpkin spice poke cake with caramel and hot fudge is delicious too. I love poke cakes
I'm making this recipe BUT with a SPICE cake and the new Pumpkin Jello Pudding! I adore all things pumpkin! Putting crushed graham crackers on top. I'm shivering with excitement!
Thanks for the inspiration,
Dawn in Chicagoland
love this
You can make a lemon poke cake the same way. Use lemon jello instant pudding instead of banana. It is delicious.
This reminds me of my Mom's Lemon Lime Refrigerator sheet cake in the 70's. Poke holes in lemon cake and add lime jello. Everyone always loved it!
This cake is also good with nuts and caramel topping (instead of Graham Crackers)!!!!
I made this for my family and my 14 year old nephew ate his before his mom could even get hers' out of the pan, and he sais OMG this is the best think I ever ate and hit the counter with his fist and said "Hit me again". Needless to say the whole family was laughing till it hurt.
I have vanilla and banana cream could I mix those two?
I saved this for my mom who is a banana pudding fiend. She makes a poke cake that is out of this world. It's a Butterfinger cake. It's white cake mix with caramel syrup mixed with sweetened condensed milk poured through it and the topping is a mix of cream cheese and whipped cream with five king sized Butterfingers crushed up over the top. This has been my expected birthday cake every year since the one she made. I can get the official recipe if anyone is interested. I'll try to remember to check back.
I found this site just the other day. I was looking for a recipe for a cake for a church fellowship. I found so much more than just a cake recipe. Everything on this site looks so yummy and I am just making plans for how to fit in every recipe that I have looked at so far. Last night I made the banana pudding poke cake and this morning when I woke up, its almost gone! Thanks so much for having such a wonderful site.
Okay I am commenting on this after I have made this cake numerous times. It is now requested for every family birthday and special occasion! I asked my niece what she wanted for her birthday and she requested this cake! I do a couple of things different. I use 2 large boxes of banana pudding and add 1 cup more milk than it calls for otherwise the pudding is too thick for my tast. I use almost all of the pudding and have extra to eat while making the cake…yum! We like our cake with extra pudding! It's so good and you don't even need ice cream. After the pudding is poured in the holes I put the cake in the fridge over night and then right before the party I layer sliced bananas on top of the pudding and then layer with extra cool whip (don't go generic on the cool whip; it gets runny and don't forget to defrost the cool whip the night before) and then I add the crunched up nilla wafers (I have used generic wafers from the dollar store and it turned out fine) I never leave reviews but I felt so compelled because of how much I love this cake!!!! Mmmmm
cant wait to try this with a gluten free cake mix. My husband loves banana pudding but ever since I was diagnosed with Celiac, he only get it if we go out to eat. I make a gf cookie that is very similar to nilla wafers, going to go get the ingredients for this and surprise the hubby
I accidentally bought cook n' serve instead of instant… Can I use it or no?
You really need the instant for this. The problem with the cook n'serve is you would have to pour it in while warm (because it gets too thick as it cools) and it would just really break down the cake. So with the instant, you can still pour it and it is cool so it won't break down the cake at all. Sorry!
If you haven't tried yet, I have, & it turned out great!!! Once your custard is ready let it cool some so that it thickens up a little, & make sure that your cake is COMPLETELY COOLED before you start pouring the pudding. Happy cooking!
Don’t let your cake cool as it won’t absorb the pudding and it will just sit on top.
NO.
Thank you for wonderful blog
This sounds like it would be great with Lemon Pudding and lemon sugar cookies as the crunch topping. You know those ones that are sold near the vanilla wafers with the frosting on them.
Absolutely! So many combinations!!
OMG, that sounds AWESOME. I'm a lemon fanatic, so I'm totally gonna try it. Going to buy some lemon pudding, cookies, & cake mix right after work!
I love this cake!
I follow the directions EXCEPT I don't put the whipped cream on it until I'm ready to serve it. I don't like 'runny' whipped cream. (Of course the first time I made this it didn't last long enough to get runny!
I'm thinking about trying stabilized whipped cream on the one I'm going to make today and see how that works out for me.