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This Coconut Poke Cake is a creamy cake recipe made from scratch. Coconut cake is soaked with sweetened condensed milk and cream of coconut, then topped with coconut whipped cream! It’s a coconut lover’s dream!
Coconut Poke Cake
So if you’re a subscriber to my email list and get emails with each new post, then you may remember getting an email in December with a survey about what you’d like to see in 2017. I got such a great response and am SO thankful that so many of you took the time to respond. Yes, there was a giveaway involved, but still. 🙂 The feedback was awesome and there were quite a few things that many agreed on – videos, some flavor suggestions, etc.
One of those suggestions was more coconut flavored things. It’s funny because I totally felt like I had a fair amount of coconut on the blog. I LOVE coconut! Yet when I went and looked I realized there isn’t that much coconut. How could that be?!? I have a Toasted Coconut Chocolate Ice Cream Cake, a Coconut Blondie Cheesecake, a Chocolate Coconut Layer Cake and a few other things that have coconut but aren’t predominately coconut-y and like, that’s it. WHAT?! Although to be fair, there are some pina colada flavored desserts, and honestly isn’t that the best way to eat coconut? 😉
So yea, today I begin to fix the lack of coconut. And I started with this super simple and oh-so-easy poke cake. It’s pure coconut all the way. Lot’s of coconut, a bunch of flavor and ready in a flash! If you need a coconut fix, this is your cake.
How to Make Coconut Poke Cake
To begin, there’s the coconut cake. It’s totally from scratch, but you could use a box mix if you prefer. Truthfully though, there shouldn’t be any need to. This is basically the easiest cake to put together. Mix together the dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately, combine them, add some water, bake. Bam! You’ve got a super moist and fluffy, delicious cake!
Poke the cake with holes all over (hence the name “poke cake”). I use a big knife sharpener rod – it’s super old school and I don’t even know where I got it – but it’s the best poke cake tool ever. You could use a straw, the end of a spatula handle, whatever you have handy. Just get some holes in there.
Combine some sweetened condensed milk and cream of coconut and pour the mixture over the cake, spreading it all over to make sure some goes in all the holes. This gives the cake even more moisture and even more coconut flavor. I love it! It’s one of the best parts of a poke cake – so moist it’ll stay awesome for daaaayyyssss.
On top of the cake is the homemade coconut whipped cream. Again – super easy. Toss everything in a bowl and whip until you’ve got stiff peaks. You could go the easy route and use a ready made whipped topping and add some coconut flavor, but once you’ve made homemade whipped cream you probably won’t ever go back. Just sayin’.
The cake is topped off with some toasted coconut for extra flavor, texture and because it’s pretty. 🙂 The final cake is to die for! So much coconut, so little time. Grab a fork and dig in!
More Coconut Dessert Recipes
- Coconut Cheesecake
- Coconut Chocolate Cake
- Coconut Macaroon Cupcakes
- No Bake Salted Caramel Coconut Macaroons
- Coconut Custard Cake
Coconut Poke Cake
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 28 minutes
- Total Time: 48 minutes
- Yield: 12-14 Servings
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
This Coconut Poke Cake is a creamy cake recipe made from scratch. Coconut cake is soaked with sweetened condensed milk and cream of coconut, then topped with coconut whipped cream! It’s a coconut lover’s dream!
Ingredients
Coconut Cake
- 2 1/2 cups (325g) all purpose flour
- 2 cups (414g) sugar
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup (240ml) milk
- 1/2 cup (120ml) vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 tsp coconut extract
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 cup (180ml) water
- 3/4 cup (180ml) sweetened condensed milk
- 1/2 cup (120ml) cream of coconut
Whipped Cream and Coconut Topping
- 2 cups (480ml) heavy whipping cream
- 1 cup (115g) powdered sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp coconut extract
- 1 1/2 cups toasted coconut
Instructions
To Make the Coconut Cake
- Preheat oven to 350°F (176°C). Prepare a 9×13 inch cake pan with non-stick baking spray and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Sprinkle the shredded coconut on the baking sheet in a thin layer. Place the tray in the hot oven until the coconut is light golden brown and fragrant, approximately 8-10 minutes. Let cool.
- Add the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt to a large mixer bowl and combine. Set aside.
- Add the milk, vegetable oil, coconut extract and eggs to a medium sized bowl and combine.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and beat until well combined.
- Slowly add the water to the batter and mix on low speed until well combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to make sure everything is well combined.
- Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 28-30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs.
- Remove the cake from the oven and poke holes all over the top of the cake.
- In a small bowl, combine the sweetened condensed milk and cream of coconut.
- Pour sweetened milk mixture over the top of the warm cake, allowing it to soak into the holes. Let cake cool completely.
To Make the Whipped Cream and Finish the Cake
- Place the heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar and coconut extract into a large mixer bowl. Whip on high speed until stiff peaks form.
- Spread the whipped cream over the top of the cooled cake and cover with toasted coconut.
- Refrigerate the cake until ready to serve. Cake is best for 3-4 days.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Slice
- Calories: 564
- Sugar: 52.2 g
- Sodium: 258.9 mg
- Fat: 28.3 g
- Carbohydrates: 72.3 g
- Protein: 7.8 g
- Cholesterol: 73.2 mg
Categories
Enjoy!
I love the recipes that you offer a lot, but this recipe was disappointing, I followed the method as it is, but the cake was decreased 😢
I’m not sure what decreased is, but I’m sorry to hear you had trouble with it. This cake recipe is one that people sometimes have trouble with and I can’t figure out why. If you’d like to try a different vanilla cake base, my strawberry poke cake has a different vanilla cake recipe you could try.
Haven’t made it yet, but excited. Is there a reason butter wasn’t used? I would prefer butter to oil
Butter just works better in this particular cake recipe. I wouldn’t recommend swapping it out for butter.
Can I cut ingredients in half for a 8 x 8 pan?
That should be fine.
This sounds delicious and I’m making it today for my sister’s birthday. My question is, the ingredients call for water and in the description you refer to hot water. Should the water be heated?
It doesn’t need to be heated.
This cake is amazing!!! I followed the recipe exactly except I prefer untoasted coconut on top. Moist and delicious. My niece says she wants it every year for her birthday.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
What is cream of coconut I guess I’ve never used it! Where is it located in a store? Your cake sounds wonderful and would to try baking it once I find out about this cream of coconut! Thanks
What size is the cake pan?
9×13
Can you use a little less sugar (perhaps 1/2 cup less) and would you have to extra of anything else to make up for the loss of sugar ?
You could probably get by with less. Sugar does add moisture, so it can affect the texture of the cake, but it should be plenty moist from all the moisture that’s added after it’s baked.
Can it be made with gluten free flour?
I haven’t tried it, but I think it’d be ok.