A moist and decadently rich chocolate poke cake recipe – this makes such a great addition to any party!
A few weeks ago, I received an email with such an incredible and exciting opportunity that my initial thought was, “There’s just no way I’m not dreaming right now.”
HERSHEY’S Kitchens asked if I’d like to be a guest chef on their website, creating a new recipe in partnership with them to highlight a few of their core baking products, such as the Simply 5 Chocolate Syrup. Having grown up with their original chocolate syrup (It was the only way my mom could get me to drink milk!), I was intrigued and happy to learn they now offer a version with just 5 simple ingredients and no high fructose corn syrup, artificial preservatives, or artificial flavors.
I knew exactly what I wanted to make first with the syrup: a homemade chocolate poke cake!
Originally popular in the 1970s, the idea of a poke cake is to press holes into the top and pour on a filling that soaks into the cake, adding extra moisture and flavor to each deliciously gooey bite.
Poke cakes have been making a resurgence in recent years and seem to be really popular lately at potlucks or barbecues, with anything from pudding, to caramel sauce, to fruit-flavored gelatin, to sweetened condensed milk being used as the filling.
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I made this chocolate poke cake over the weekend to share with a small group of friends, and as we sat on the balcony catching up and eating chocolate cake, I couldn’t imagine a more perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
Baking is something that has always made me ridiculously happy.
It’s a creative outlet where I can use my imagination to transform everyday household ingredients into an endless array of magical possibilities, turning the chocolate desserts of my dreams into reality.
And one of my favorite parts of the baking process is sharing the results with others.
(The recipe video above now has over 1 million views on facebook!!!)
Tips For Success:
1. You can poke small or large holes into the cake. I decided my favorite way is to poke a larger number of smaller holes with a fork, which disperses the chocolate filling more evenly.
2. Check off each ingredient as you add it, to ensure you don’t accidentally skip over an easy-to-miss item such as salt or baking soda.
3. When making a recipe for the first time, it’s always a good idea to follow the recipe exactly—without substituting a different flour, sweetener, or cutting back on the salt, sugar, or oil—as even seemingly small changes can make a huge difference.
Once you know how a recipe is supposed to turn out, you can play around. Edible experiments are the best kind!
4. Be sure to have all ingredients out and read through the full recipe before starting.
5. As a general rule, baked goods are actually richer, sweeter, and have a much better texture the day after they are made, which is definitely the case with this cake and many of my other recipes.
If you can wait, I highly recommend not even tasting the poke cake until the next day.
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Why Should You Try A Poke Cake?
This was my first time making a poke cake from scratch, and I was surprised at how just the one little step could have such an enormous impact on the results – it is so much better than an ordinary chocolate cake!
The chocolate syrup gave the cake a soft and opulent center with an unbelievable richness. If you can find HERSHEY’S Simply 5 Syrup, I highly recommend it, because it can be used just like regular chocolate syrup yet has a much cleaner ingredient list (no GMOs, and just 5 ingredients: cane sugar, organic invert cane syrup, water, cocoa, and natural vanilla).
I also used HERSHEY’S Natural Unsweetened Cocoa to make this cake. It’s vegan and 100% natural, as the only ingredient is cocoa.
I frosted this cake with my Avocado Chocolate Frosting, but the cake is so decadent on its own that you can honestly get away with skipping the frosting altogether and it will still be fantastic!
Chocolate Poke Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup spelt or white flour
- 6 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp each: baking soda and salt
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar, unrefined if desired
- 1/4 cup applesauce, banana, or yogurt of choice
- 1/4 cup oil, almond butter, or allergy friendly sub
- 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup water
- 2/3 cup chocolate syrup
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350. Line an 8-inch pan with parchment, and set aside. In a large bowl, combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt, and sugar. In a separate bowl, whisk all remaining ingredients except the syrup until evenly combined. Pour wet into dry, stir until just combined, and pour into the prepared pan. Bake on the oven center rack 25 minutes or until cake has risen and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out mostly clean. Let cool completely. Poke holes into the cooled cake with a toothpick or fork. Pour the syrup evenly on top, and let it seep into the cake. As mentioned earlier, if you can wait, I highly recommend not tasting until the next day… this cake is so much richer and sweeter after sitting for a day!View Nutrition Facts
Notes
Have you made this recipe?
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Thank you again to HERSHEY’S Kitchen for sponsoring this post. I was excited for the opportunity and had so much fun creating this recipe. If you try the poke cake, be sure to tag me @chocolatecoveredkatie on Instagram so I can see and like your photos!
anonymous says
Do you think it would still be good if I did a vanilla cake instead of chocolate? I like the idea of a poke cake but just think that chocolate cake and chocolate syrup would be too much of a chocolate flavor for me, so I’d like to try a vanilla cake with chocolate syrup, if you think that’d still work?
Jason Sanford says
Absolutely!
Andrea says
I’m glad to see Hershey’s is offering a healthier alternative to the corn syrup and chemical filled original, and that it doesn’t have sucralose or splenda added to make it “healthier”. I will look for it, but I do wish though, that they’d make some of their bars or dark chocolate kisses vegan as well. Or Katie, maybe you could come up with a homemade vegan hershey kiss? Peanut butter blossom cookies are my mom’s favorite and I’d love to make a vegan version.
Suzette says
I am also disappointed that you are going to go the way of so many bloggers and start publishing posts sponsored by big food companies. I thought your recipes were supposed to be refined sugar free? I really dont see how this Hershey’s product fits into your claim of natural ingredients and sugar free.
Hena Tayeb says
omg this looks unbelievably good.
Jenn says
This was delicious! Mine did not rise very much, but it got fourteen thumbs up from my house! (Two thumbs a piece!) Not everyone opted for the frosting, but the ones that did declared it fantastic as well!
I did make two small changes. The first was that I made this grain free using a paleo flour blend and the second was that I used Truvia instead of pure sugar. I also made my own syrup using Truvia.
So much yum! Thank you!
luci says
Wow! This looks *so* good. Like chocolaty heaven. I can’t wait to try it!
V says
Can these be made into cupcakes? How would you recommend doing that?
Nina says
I made this for my office party today and it was delicious. Super simple and moist. I like the simple syrup!
Christopher says
This cake is delicious – so moist and so many layers of chocolate goodness. The family gave it a 10/10! It will definitely go into our dessert rotation. Thank you for the great recipe!
Erin says
Is there frosting in this cake? It looks like it and I’d like to know how to make it.
Jason Sanford says
Yes, it’s mentioned in the post as her avocado frosting. Here’s the link: https://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2017/03/16/chocolate-avocado-frosting-recipe/
JP says
Looks delicious! Would you store this overnight in the refrigerator?
Jason Sanford says
Yes!
Sameena says
Hi. You mentioned 1/4 cup of apple sauce, banana or youghurt eg coconutmilk youghurt. Do you mean apple juice or normal plain yougurt/fruit yougurt
Jason Sanford says
Not juice, applesauce like motts 🙂
Mahika says
Can I use cake flour or All-purpose flour instead of white/spelt flour?
Jason Sanford says
Yup! White flour is all purpose 🙂
That works!