Red Velvet Poke Cake (+Video)
This Red Velvet Poke Cake is the original poke cake recipe! Red velvet cake poked with pudding, topped with Cool Whip and Oreos!
A SIMPLY DELICIOUS RED VELVET CAKE
Red Velvet Poke Cake is made with red velvet cake mix with a creamy cheesecake filling and topped with whipped topping and crushed Oreos. The idea for this Red Velvet Poke Cake came when I was at Wal-Mart. The Banana Pudding Poke Cake recipe was such a hit when I first introduced it here that I really wanted to create something special for Valentine’s Day. That is where this Red Velvet Poke Cake was born! It turned out so good!
CAN I USE HOMEMADE WHIPPED CREAM?
Of course! If you prefer homemade whipped cream, then by all means, make your own whipped cream. Homemade whipped cream often doesn’t stay stabilized for long though so it won’t hold up as well as Cool Whip.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED: (FULL RECIPE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POST)
- red velvet cake mix
- ingredients needed to make cake (eggs, oil & water)
- instant cheesecake pudding
- milk
- whipped topping (COOL WHIP),
- Oreo cookies
HOW TO MAKE RED VELVET POKE CAKE:
Prepare cake 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 or some other similarly-sized object, begin poking holes in the warm 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 medium bowl, whisk together dry pudding mix with 4 cups of milk. Whisk until all the lumps are gone. Pour pudding over cake. Taking care to get 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). If you have anything hanging out in your fridge that is stinky, be sure to cover your cake. Once your cake has completely cooled, spread on whipped topping. Spread it out evenly over the pudding layer. If you haven’t done so already, crush your Oreo cookies. 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 Oreos onto the top of the cake. You can do this part immediately before serving the cake if you like. This will ensure the cookie bits are crunchy when you serve it.
Then dig in!
CRAVING MORE RECIPES?
Red Velvet Poke Cake (+Video)
Ingredients
- 15.25 ounce box red velvet cake mix
- (ingredients needed to make cake – eggs, oil & water)
- 2 (3.4 ounce) boxes instant Cheesecake-flavored pudding
- 4 cups milk
- 8 ounce tub frozen whipped topping (COOL WHIP) thawed
- 10 Oreo cookies, crushed (optional)
Instructions
- 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, a spatula handle, or some other similarly-sized object, begin poking holes in the warm cake. You want the holes to be 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 medium bowl, whisk together pudding mix with 4 cups of milk. Whisk until all the lumps are gone.
- 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 your cake has completely cooled, spread on whipped topping. Spread it out evenly over the pudding layer.
- Spread crushed Oreos onto the top of the cake.
Video
Notes
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 and other nutritional values can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
Originally published: July 2012
Updated and republished: May 2019
Love this cake. All my coworkers and family love when I make it.
I am making this tomorrow for a family gathering. While at Walmart, I came across red velvet flavored pudding! So I will use it instead of the vanilla pudding and see how it turns out. Will let you know. 🙂
Ooooohhhhh – that’s new! I hope you’ll get a chance to come back and let me know how it turned out!!
I’m making this cake tomorrow. It says to make the cake in a 9 x 13 pan but the picture looks like a 9″ square pan?
We just made this poke cake, however, must have done something wrong. We couldn’t find the 3.4 oz boxes of pudding, so use 6 of the 1 oz pudding mix. The pudding was so thick that we couldn’t pour it onto the cake, so we tried to push this thick pudding into the holes. Consequently, not much pudding got into the cake.
Are the pudding ingredients correct? or did we over mix the pudding that made it so thick?
Taste good, but not what we had expected for the results.
Hi Darlene – glad you still enjoyed it! Sounded like it might’ve been a little too much pudding, Also, it might have gotten too thick while you were stirring. That instant pudding sets up quick! So the best thing to do is stir just until combined then pour. Don’t stir for more than a minute. Hope that helps 🙂
On my way to the store! Red Velvet Poke Cake?! OMG! BUT, Oreo has made a Red Velvet Oreo recently and it would be perfect for this cake. I am on a quest now to find them again. This cake sounds sinfully delicious. Another winner!
Sounds Amazing!!!
Will be making this very soon!! Thanx a million
Mike
Thank you making this for my husbands birthday in a few days. Time to hit the store ????
This was perfect! Do you know SO many other bloggers copycat your poke cake recipes?! I see them on pinterest all the time. But some of us know that your blog was the first to share it!
I have been asked to make this cake for Thanksgiving (made it a while back and everyone loved it). I know it's not really a Thanksgiving dessert but oh well, haha. Anyway, I was going to make it at my house and take it to my grandma's, however, her house is about two hours from me. She won't have room for me to bake the cake her oven, so I will have to at least do that part here. If I make the cake here but wait until I get to her house to put the pudding and whipped cream on it, will that be okay? Or will it turn out wrong?
Thanks
Hello,
Thanks for the cake recipe! I made it tonight and unfortunately, I didn't love it.. Sad, I know! Maybe I'm not a fan of red velvet… but due to how rich and sweet it was, I had to stop eating after a few bites. I almost think the pudding adds way too much of a sugary taste.. Maybe I can find ways to modify!
This poke cake was absolutely delicious!!!!!! My husband and I ate it everyday for a whole week! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
These look amazing!! Thanks for sharing!
I'm making this one tonight for my hubby's 10-year high school reunion picnic tomorrow (mascot was the Red Raiders, so had to have Red Velvet cake!)…I just LOVE the taste and simplicity of so many of your poke cakes…my hubby is a butterscotch fan so I experimented and made him a butterscotch pudding poke cake topped with Heath toffee crumbles that turned out delish! Thank you!
What a wonderful idea – I absolutely LOVE it! Can't wait to give it a whirl. Thank you for sharing
Made this today for my daughter's Birthday cake! Insanely good!
So, this recipe inspired me to make a lemon cake (I use coconut oil and milk in place of oil and water) with blueberries, lemon pudding, and then whipped topping with blueberries folded in. It was ridiculous. Can you make a lemon poke cake next?
Can you use regular jello brand cheesecake filling? I couldn't find the actual cheesecake pudding 🙁
Awesome! Two of my favorite things easily put together. Thanks for the recipe, will be surprising my valentine with this today 😉
do u think white choc pudding would taste ok instead of cheese cake pudding
I'm in the UK and am using the vanilla pudding mix we can get here and then making a cream cheese topping so you still get the cream cheese flavour, hopefully it works out! I'm also doing the chocolate curls. We can get oreos here but my 4 year old would be very upset if I crushed them for a cake!
First time to check your post. I have only used jello in poke cakes. I am going to try this. In re: to the posts from Canada. Could you use Vanilla or French vanilla pudding and add about 3 oz. of cream cheese and a little extra milk? Any pics I would post of any remarks I send, will give you the credit. Thanks again. Look forward to checking more of this site out.
I have made this cake (it's wonderful) but instead of crushed oreos, I put chocolate curls on top. Yum!
have a question my oven is not big enough to fix a 9×13 cake. can I use to 8×8 square pans instead u think it would be ok.or give suggestion. thanks
wow love banana pudding was raised on it. got to try this one as a cake. thanks so much