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.
Jocelyn @BruCrew Life says
What a fun twist to the poke cake! I’m loving those layers and all the candy corn on top!
Thanks Jocelyn!! It has been in my head since like March, I was SO EXCITED to finally make it and post it :)
Kate | Food Babbles says
This is genius!! Love this! I want to make this in the worst way. My girls are going to love it.
Thanks Kate!!
Jen Nikolaus says
This is such a sweet post, Lisa. What a tender-hearted, sweet boy you are raising! I’m so sorry to hear about Gavin’s little brother. I can’t even imagine what that must have been like. We just never know how long we’ll have on this earth and it’s best to try and enjoy every single second – while not being too hard on ourselves for mistakes we make. Gavin will learn to love school and you will too! It’s so much fun for him to have some time away with friends! :)
Anyway, love this poke cake so much! Halloween is the best holiday! I want to make this for my boys, they would love it! Big hugs to you!!! xo!
Rachel @ I Love My Disorganized Life says
Aw, so sweet that he wants to stay home with you and Quinn! It’ll get better, he’ll make tons of friends and love school! But I bet this cake will make things better in the meantime. Looks delish, totally pinned. Here from your new link party!
Melanie (Reasons to Skip The Housework) says
Who doesn’t love Poke Cakes of all kinds!?!?!? We’d love for you to come over to our newest link party over at The Inspiration Network: DELISH- a desserts only link party. Bring your desserts and let’s party!!
http://theinspiration-network.com/delish-dessert-link-party/
Smiles,
Melanie and Diana
The Inspiration Network
Thanks Melanie!!
Joan@Chocolate and More says
hehe, poopn, love it! I think my kids purposely try to screw up their school photos and I keep trying to tell them “one day, you’ll be famous and the press will find that old horrible school photo and you’ll be sorry then” LOL. They do grow up so fast, it’s why I have to keep their baby photos on my desk, just so I can remember when they were young and cute! I love your poke cake and I’m so glad to see the Halloween treat appearing, my favorite time of year! Thanks for sharing at Thursday’s Treasures, I’m featuring you this week on the blog and FB!
Joan, when I was a senior in hs, we had professional pictures done that we then sent in for the year book, but the school still wanted pictures done for our IDs, so my friends and I thought it would be funny to take REALLY crazy ones for those, since they would barely see the light of day . . . sigh. The stupid things you do when you are 17. :) Thanks for sharing this!!!! You made my week!
Carrie @ Frugal Foodie Mama says
First, this cake? OMGEE. I love it and it just might be making an appearance at my parents’ annual Halloween costume party this year.
Second, sending you love. <3 I don't make it over here enough. :( I need to stop over here more often. I forgot how much I love your posts.
So funny to get this comment this morning! Your song came on my Pandora station this morning when I was working out and I thought of you. Lots of love to you too Carrie!
Shannon Schmid says
Your son sounds adorable and sweet- hope he is settling in at school now!
Also- I just wanted to let you know that I found your recipe via Pinterest, while I was looking to see if the candy corn cupcake recipe I do was already pinned somewhere. Anyway – I noticed that your recipe is being pinned so that when people click it, it takes them to someone elses website, not yours. You can click the flag under the pin to report it as your intellectual property. I found you via your watermark, and had to tell you because I hate when people steal others stuff! So just letting you know. One of the pins of it is here: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/491033165592835799/ Its a beautiful pin- I hope you get credit for it:)
Thank you so much for letting me know Shannon! I really appreciate it!
Liz says
My stove and oven are separate. (Built in oven and counter drop-in stove.). How long do you think the cake should sit out of the freezer? 45 minutes?
45 minutes might be a bit long, but certainly it wouldn’t hurt anything to have it sit out on the counter that long. Treat it like any other cake, it will be done when a tooth pick stuck in the middle comes out with just a few crumbs.