Pumpkin Poke Cake Recipe

Try this super easy pumpkin poke cake recipe!

No one will ever guess that this pumpkin recipe is made with a cake mix! The cake is incredibly moist and dense – it is almost like a shortcut pumpkin Tres Leches and reminds me a little bit of a pumpkin cheesecake. Gotta love poke cakes! They can be so easy, delicious, and full of flavor.

How to make pumpkin poke cake

Hooray for super simple ingredients. The batter consists of only the dry cake mix from a box, pure pumpkin puree, and pumpkin pie spice. No eggs or oil needed!

It is definitely a thick batter, but the pumpkin puree naturally has enough moisture to make this work. Be sure to use the 100% pure pumpkin and not the pumpkin pie filling. 

A 3-ingredient cake with sweetened condensed milk poured over the top and frosted with whipped topping. Easy, right?! If you don’t have pumpkin pie spice around, you can make your own spice blend here – pumpkin pie spice recipe. That’s what I do!

I like to dress this cake up by turning it out onto a serving platter after it cools, but you can simply leave it in the pan if you want. Then poke holes all over the top – a round mixing spoon handle works well for this task.

Pour on the sweetness! Pour the sweetened condensed milk slowly so it has time to soak into the holes. Then let it soak in further while the cake refrigerates overnight, or at least for a few hours.

Pumpkin Poke Cake Topping

The light and fluffy whipped topping is a nice contrast to the dense cake. You can do just whipped topping or whipped cream, or mix some cream cheese and powdered sugar in there with it. Pumpkin and cream cheese are an awesome combo. Either way it is delicious though! If desired, you can add toffee bits and/or caramel sauce on top of that too.

A 9×9 pan works well for this cake and is also perfect for baking a standard size brownie mix!

More Pumpkin Recipes:

• Pumpkin Hot Chocolate
• Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Delicious Pumpkin Dinner Rolls
• Cinnamon Streusel Pumpkin Pancakes
• Soft Pumpkin Molasses Cookies
• Iced Pumpkin Sugar Cookies
• Pumpkin Buttermilk Biscuits
• Layered Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake

Pumpkin Poke Cake Recipe

I love a good pumpkin recipe! This is one of the easiest pumpkin cake recipes that I've ever made and it tastes delicious too.

4.67 / 5 ( 6 Reviews )

Print Rate

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes minutes

Total Time: 55 minutes minutes

Serves: 9

Adjust Servings: 9

US CustomaryMetric

Equipment

• 9x9 baking pan

Ingredients

Cake

• 1 box 15.25-ounce yellow cake mix
• 15 ounces canned 100% pure pumpkin puree about 1 1/2 cups
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 14 ounces sweetened condensed milk

Topping

• 8 ounces whipped topping thawed
• 4 ounces cream cheese softened (optional)
• ½ cup powdered sugar optional
• toffee bits and/or caramel sauce optional

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x9 baking pan well.
• In a large bowl, mix together the dry cake mix, pumpkin pie spice, and the pumpkin. The batter will be thick. Pour batter into prepared pan.
• Bake for 35-40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cake cool completely.
• Turn out onto a serving platter, if desired. Using the handle of a mixing spoon, poke holes all over the top of the cake. Pour sweetened condensed milk over the cake, aiming to fill the holes. Refrigerate for at least a few hours, but overnight is best.
• Spread an 8-ounce tub of whipped topping over the cake, or make the whipped cream cheese frosting by beating together the whipped topping, cream cheese, and powdered sugar until smooth. If desired, sprinkle toffee bits or caramel sauce, or both, over the top. Keep refrigerated.

Nutrition

Calories: 495kcal | Carbohydrates: 88g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 13g | Sodium: 535mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 63g