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.
Karen says
Have you ever made this without the sweetened condensed milk? I can’t have milk….
Karen, I have made a couple poke cakes without the sweetened condensed milk (I actually just posted one today). However, for this one, I’m not sure what else you could fill the holes with besides sweetened condescend milk that wouldn’t change the orange and yellow colors that make this cake so fun. You could try googling non-dairy sweetened condensed milk.
Sarah says
I made this poke cake this morning, and we enjoyed it tonight. Very simple and delicious! Thank you for sharing! Next time I make it, the only thing I will do different is I will sprinkle the candy corn on the individual pieces when I serve it. The color from the candy has bled onto the whipped cream topping, so it doesn’t look as beautiful anymore. Still tastes awesome though! I can’t help but think of the endless possibilities of colorful poke cakes you could make for different occasions. Fun fun fun!
Such a great point Sarah! I will have to add that to the instructions
Bethany says
Nooooo!! Seconds into this blog I found myself Crying!!! I thought I was clicking on a recipe now I’m all depressed lol ugh!
Lol! Sorry Bethany!! It’s a curse! I tend to make people cry when I’m trying to make them laugh!
Pete@10bigreviews says
Hi omg I read this website a lot and today posts is so hard to read because I’m on a very strict diet lol but this post is awesome and I love the pictures :)
Lol! Thanks Pete
Hina says
hey Lisa…! love your cake and its is really amazing and looks delicious and more colorful. thanks for sharing post and beautiful story and keep shared your new recipe with story….!
Thank you Hina!