Cookies and Cream Pudding Poke Cake

If you’ve been reading my blog the last few months, you know that in late 2019 I decided to ditch diet culture and dieting all together. It’s been difficult in a lot of ways, but freeing in so many others. 

One of my favorite changes has been embracing my love for baking (and eating dessert!). I’ve always loved to bake, but I’d basically given it up while obsessed with losing weight. My mom makes this delicious lemon poke cake that I wanted to imitate in premise, but I really wanted it to include cookies. Well let me tell you, that was a fan-freaking-tastic idea!

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Cookies & Cream Pudding Poke Cake
Ingredients: 

• 1 box cake mix, baked according to instructions on box, cooled (as always, I prefer our Fiestaware bakers for just about everything)
• 1 can of sweetened condensed milk
• 1 box of cookies & cream pudding mix 
• ½ c. milk (preferably 1% or 2%, but skim works if it’s what you’ve got!)
• 1 tub thawed whipped topping
• Optional: chopped sandwich cookies for topping

Directions:

1. Bake the box cake according the instructions on the box and let it completely cool.
2. Using the end of a wooden spoon, poke holes all over the cake (I like to make rows to get the best coverage).
3. Pour the condensed milk over the cake (you can avoid the temptations to evenly fill the holes… it’s not going to work out how you want it to, lol).
4. In a mixing bowl, mix the pudding mix and ½ c. of milk until combined (while annoying to clean, a whisk is best). Gently mix in the thawed whipped topping. Spread the mixture over the cake. 
5. If you had sandwich cookies to chop up, top the cake with them.

You can eat this right away, but it gets even better while sitting in the fridge! Store covered in the refrigerator for up to a week (it won’t last that long, though!). 

This version with red velvet cake and topped with vanilla sandwich cookies, but the options are pretty endless: 

• Classic: Vanilla/white cake mix with chocolate sandwich cookies
• Spice: Using vanilla pudding, spice cake mix, and vanilla sandwich cookies
• Chocolate overload: Using half cookies & cream pudding and half chocolate pudding, chocolate cake mix, and chocolate sandwich cookies
• Chocolate chip: Using vanilla or chocolate pudding, yellow cake mix, and chocolate chip cookies

… like I said, endless! 

I haven’t tried all of these, but I am definitely putting all of the variations on my ‘weekend baking adventures’ list. Have a favorite poke cake recipe? Please let me know so I can add it to the list of ‘to be made’, too!