Chocolate Orange Poke Cake

You may be asking yourself what a poke cake is. If you haven’t had a poke cake yet, you’re missing out!

Poke cake is a homemade or semi homemade cake (with cake mix) that is baked and then cooled. After that holes are poked into the top of the cake using a fork or a wooden spoon, pudding or Jell-O is poured onto the cake, the cake is popped into the fridge and then topped with a whipped cream type frosting.

There are two types of poke cakes, that I’ve heard of so far. Once is make with pudding filling and one is make with a Jell-O filling. The Jell-O version is what we’re making today.

Poke cakes were super popular in the 1980s in the USA but with people falling in love with vintage recipes again, poke cakes are coming back!

Ingredients For Chocolate Orange Poke Cake:

Chocolate Cake

• white sugar
• all-purpose flour
• cocoa powder
• baking powder
• baking soda
• salt
• eggs
• milk
• vegetable oil
• vanilla extract
• boiling water

Orange Filling

• orange gelatin (Jell-O)
• cold water
• boiling water

Chocolate Orange Poke Cake Topping:

• whipped cream
• 1 orange, for fresh orange zest
• shaved Chocolate

Crème Chantilly:

• heavy whipping cream
• powdered sugar

Ingredient amounts and recipe directions are in the recipe card below with a print option!

How To Make Chocolate Orange Poke Cake:

Should Poke Cakes Be Refrigerated?

YES! This cake is going to need to stay in the fridge. Of course it can stay out long enough to serve or take to an event, but this cake has Jell-O in it and Crème Chantilly on top. It’ll need to stay cool.

Plus the cake must go into the fridge after you pour on the orange gelatin (Jell-O) so that it can really soak into this cake.

What Is The Texture Of This Cake?

This poke cake is going to be very soft and not like a regular baked cake texture. It’s NOT like pudding soft but the Jell-O makes the cake really “melt in your mouth” soft.

How Do You Store Left Over Poke Cake?

Leftover poke cake can to be stored in air tight containers in the fridge for about 2-3 days.

More Poke Cake Recipes:

• Lemon Blueberry Poke Cake
• Banana Cream Pie Poke Cake
• Chocolate Peanut Butter Poke Cake
• Chocolate Peppermint Poke Cake

More Chocolate Orange recipes:

• Orange Chocolate Macarons
• Orange Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate Orange Poke Cake

Chocolate Orange Poke Cake

Yield: 12 servings

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Chill Time: 3 hours

Total Time: 4 hours 10 minutes

Skip the box, it doesn’t get any easier than this homemade Chocolate Orange Poke Cake. The combination of chocolate and orange is a match made in dessert heaven. Rich chocolate cake is drenched in orange gelatin for a super moist cake that’s topped with orange zest-infused whipped cream. Almost a pudding cake, but with enough density to hold its structure.

Print

Ingredients

Chocolate Cake:

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• 2 cups white sugar
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water

For Filling:

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• 1 box (4-serving size) orange gelatin
• 1 cup cold water
• 1 cup boiling water

For Topping:

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• Crème Chantilly
• 1 Orange for Fresh Orange Zest
• Shaved Chocolate

Crème Chantilly:

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• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar

Instructions

For Chocolate Cake :

Preheat oven to 300°F.

In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. 

Mix in eggs, milk, vegetable oil and vanilla. 

Mix in boiling water until combined and smooth. 

Pour into a pan and bake for 60 minutes or until done. 

Let cake cool completely. 

When cake is cool, use fork and poke holes into cake. 

Pour orange gelatin powder into a bowl, add in cold and boiling water. 

Whisk for 2 minutes until dissolved. 

Evenly pour mixture over cake. 

Place cake into fridge for 3 hours.

For the Creme Chantilly: 

In large bowl, add heavy cream and powdered sugar. Whisk together on medium speed until thick. 

Remove cake from fridge and top with a layer of Crème Chantilly. 

Zest 1 orange over top of cake and shave 1/2 of a chocolate bar over top of cake. 

Serve cold. 

If you make this recipe, leave me a comment or snap a picture and share it on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter with the hashtag #bigbearswife — I love to see what you’re cooking from the blog! 

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