Strawberry Banana Poke Cake


Have you been on the hunt for a delicious and loving-looking dessert? You know, something to be the cherry on top at brunch or at a loved one’s birthday party, that’ll taste amazing but also look like a million bucks. What we’ve got today is a cake fit for a queen, perfect for any spring or summer party – this is our strawberry banana poke cake!





We’ll lay it out for you: strawberry cake topped with banana pudding and frozen whipped topping, then a fresh layer of bananas and strawberries. Does it get any better?? While you could always use freeze-dried strawberries to make a from-scratch strawberry cake, we just grabbed ourselves a box of strawberry cake mix – and while we were at it, two boxes of banana pudding. If you haven’t made a poke cake before, the premise is this: take a baked cake, poke holes in the top of it, then pour pudding over the top of the cake so that it sinks into the holes and sets in the cake.



Here’s a pro tip: get your cake out of the oven and poke holes all over the top, THEN whisk together your pudding mix and pour it over the top. This ensures all of the pudding will sink into the cake and set perfectly in the holes you poked in there. If your pudding starts to set before you pour it over your cake – it’s happened to us! – that’s no problem, just smooth it over with your spoon or spatula and gently press it into the holes.



This cake is fruity and refreshing, especially thanks to the fresh fruit we put on top, with pockets of creamy banana pudding nestled into a perfectly-cooked strawberry cake. For a baby shower, brunch, birthday or just because, this is just the thing to make and serve to your friends and family.

Strawberry Banana Cake

1 hour to prepare serves 8-10

Ingredients

  • 1 (13.25 oz.) box strawberry cake mix
  • 4 eggs
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick unsalted butter), melted
  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 2 (3.4 oz.) box instant banana pudding mix
  • 4 cups cold whole milk
  • 4 bananas, thinly sliced
  • 1 pint strawberries, thinly sliced

Preparation

  1. Preheat oven to 350ยบ F and lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking dish with non-stick spray.
  2. In a large bowl, beat together cake mix, eggs, melted butter and 1 cup milk, stirring until mixture is smooth.
  3. Pour batter into greased baking dish and bake according to package directions.
  4. While cake bakes, whisk together pudding mix with 4 cups cold milk.
  5. Remove cake from oven and use the back of a wooden spoon to make holes 2 inches apart, then pour pudding over cake.
  6. Place cake in refrigerator to set pudding.
  7. Once pudding layer has set, top with a thick layer of frozen whipped topping, then top with sliced strawberries and bananas. Slice, serve and enjoy.

Recipe adapted from Lamberts Lately