Candy Corn Poke Cake is the perfect Halloween dessert. It is super easy to make but has a big wow factor!!
I love the Halloween season so much. It is so much fun to decorate the house, enjoy the changing of the leaves, and get some relief from that summer heat. And of course the treats. I love the treats.
This Candy Corn Poke Cake makes for a great Halloween treat. It is easy to throw together, and it is perfect to make with the kiddos.
I made this poke cake this morning, and we enjoyed it tonight. Very simple and delicious! Thank you for sharing!
How to Make Candy Corn Poke Cake
This is a brief overview of how to make this easy dessert. For the full recipe with all of the instructions, see the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
- Make the cake mix. We are keeping this simple with a box cake mix. Make it as instructed and stop before pouring it in to the pan to bake.
- Color the batter. To get that great candy corn color affect, we are going to add food coloring to the batter. Divide the batter into thirds. Keep one white, dye one yellow, and dye one orange. You can see my recommendation for food dye below.
- Put together the cake. The key to keep the colors separate is to freeze the batter between adding layers. After first adding the yellow, freeze the batter for 20 minutes. Then add the orange layer and freeze it again. Finally add the white layer.
- Bake the cake. Let the unbaked cake sit on top of your preheating oven for 30 minutes before baking so that it is closer to room temperature.
- Make the holes. After the cake finishes baking, poke holes in it. Then add the sweetened condensed milk. Allow the cake to cool.
- Decorate the cake. Add Cool Whip or Stabilized Whipped Cream to the poke cake and top it with candy corn before serving.
Stabilized Whipped Cream
If you would rather not use Cool Whip in this recipe, you can replace it with Stabilized Whipped Cream. Just using whipped cream for the top will prevent you from being able to leave the cake out. However, if you make my stabilized whipped cream, it will behave just like Cool Whip
Stabilized Whipped Cream
Food Coloring
Food Coloring is an essential piece to this cake. It is what leaves it with that candy corn look. You can use any food coloring to make this, but the food coloring linked below is perfect because you need a lot less of it to achieve the color you are going for.
Gel Food Coloring
Other Halloween Treats
If you are hosting a Halloween party, here are a few other great choices.
If you make this Candy Corn Poke Cake or any of my other recipes, please leave me a comment and let me know what you think!
Candy Corn Poke Cake
Ingredients
- one box of white cake mix plus the fixn’s needed to make it
- food coloring
- 14 oz sweetened condensed milk
- whipped topping
- candy corn
Instructions
- Make the cake batter as directed. Then divide it into three equal parts. Color one yellow, one orange, and leave one alone. Make sure you add enough to make it really vibrant.
- Spray the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan . Spread the yellow layer evenly across the bottom, and then stick it in the freezer (make sure it is sitting flat). Leave it in there for 20 minutes.
- As soon as you pull it out, very carefully add the orange layer, pouring it as evenly as possible around the pan, and gently spreading it out to cover the yellow. Put it back in the freezer for 20 more minutes.
- Preheat your oven to the temperature specified on the cake mix.
- Taking out the cake batter pan, again, carefully spread the white layer. Let it sit on top of the preheating oven for at least 30 minutes.
- Bake according to package directions. As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, poke holes throughout the cake with the end of a wooden spoon. Pour the sweetened condensed milk evenly over the cake, making sure to fill each hole.
- Refrigerate overnight. Right before serving, top with whipped topping, candy corn, and enjoy!
- **Note, the candy corn tends to bleed into the whip cream, so if you aren’t going to be serving it right away, you might want to wait to top it.
Grace Matherne says
Hi I was wandering how many days before party can I make this poke cake Thanks Gracie
Hi Grace, I’m so sorry, I’m so late responding to this! I would make this cake no more than two days ahead. And I would wait to do the last two steps of the cool whip and the candy corn right before serving.
Kerry k. roche says
hi! I made this Saturday night for a birthday yesterday and it was delicious :-) I was wondering if you think it would make it to Tuesday and how you think it should be stored I’ve never worked with condensed milk before… I have it in the fridge right now wrapped under foil but I’m not sure
I’m so glad you liked it! If you are thinking Tuesday, like tomorrow, I definitely think it will be okay. If you are talking much longer than that, I would throw it in the freezer. You might need to put on new frosting after freezing it, but I think it will freeze beautifully.
Kerry k. roche says
I should mention that I used regular canned whipped frosting for this not whipped cream. If that changes how I should store it
Lyn says
Hi Lisa :)
This cake looks yummy 😋 I have a dumb question-in the directions it stars to let cake sit on preheated oven. My oven is built in and so I’m wondering if it was supposed to sit on counter for at least 30 minutes (before going in the oven).
Oh also-do you think the cake would taste like a regular cake if you don’t do the poke method/step?
Thanks:)
Tara Abbott says
Hello,
My name is Tara Abbott and I work at Aldersgate United Methodist Church in Wichita, KS. I am currently working on a fall activity kit to push out to our congregation online. I was wondering if you would be okay with us using your recipe for candy corn poke cake in our kit with a link to your website. I would like to use the picture you provided as well as the recipe giving you full credit on the page in which the recipe is used on.
Please let me know if you would allow us permission to use this!
Hi Tara, could you email me about this? [email protected]