Pumpkin Poke Cake combines a moist and flavorful pumpkin cake with deliciously gooey caramel, and tops it off with an irresistible cream cheese frosting. While these flavors and textures are all great on their own, the magic that happens when they are combined cannot be overstated. I’ve been sharing recipes here with you for over a decade, and this easy pumpkin cake is my family’s all time favorite.
Simply put, this cake is absolutely incredible.
Reasons You’ll Love This Cake
Last Bite Perfection – You know when you are eating something in a sauce, or an a la mode dessert with ice cream melting all around it, and you get to the last bite? The bite that has soaked up all the yummy flavor, the bite you swirl around the plate to get every last drop? That’s what every bite of this cake tastes like.
Full Of Flavor – The flavor this cake brings simply cannot be beat. Pumpkin spice, sweet caramel and a cream cheese frosting you could eat with a spoon!
All Time Favorite – I’ve been testing, making and sharing recipes for a long time, and this specific cake holds the spot of the all time favorite in my family. Given how many cakes I’ve made, that is saying something!
Surprisingly Simple – Would you believe that this amazing cake gets a little help from a spice cake mix? Trust me, after trying this cake, nobody would ever guess there’s a cake mix involved! It’s a great one to make with the kids.
Delish For Days – Dare I say, this cake actually gets better over a few days time. The cake just soaks up the caramel and the result is absolutely dreamy.
Skip The Decorating – This cake doesn’t need any decoration. If you like you can sprinkle on some chopped walnuts or pecans, but it’s absolutely perfect left plain.
I try to keep my recipe posts 100% business, no personal stuff. The internet has spoken, and nobody wants to hear a life story with a recipe – we know, we know. But for the first time in years, I will make a small exception with this recipe to tell it’s story.
About 10 years ago, I quickly threw together a cake for a family dinner. I just doctored a box cake mix, grabbed an open jar of salted caramel from the fridge and made a quick batch of cream cheese frosting. I didn’t write anything down. I didn’t take pictures. It was just a quick dessert. I thought nothing of it.
For the next ten years, my husband and daughters have talked about that cake. A lot. We’re talking at least a monthly mention, for 120 months. Incessantly. So I set out on recreating that random cake. I had a few misses, before finally hitting my target.
And now it’s time to share it with you, and make sure we have it forever preserved here on the website. I hope your family enjoys this cake as much as mine does. Let’s make pumpkin poke cake.
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
Spice Cake Mix – If you are a from scratch person, don’t let the inclusion of a cake mix turn you off. Trust me! While I typically use spice cake mix, if you can find a pumpkin mix, you can absolutely use that. If you can’t find either, go with a yellow cake. If you are using a yellow cake mix, double the cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice. Please note you are not following the directions on the cake mix, just add the mix and follow the directions in this recipe.
Pumpkin – Make sure you are using pure pumpkin puree and not pumpkin pie filling, which contains other ingredients. I recommend Libby’s Pumpkin. I make a lot of pumpkin recipes and I have found that other brands can have textures that vary greatly. Libby’s is usually nice and thick. If your pumpkin is watery, try and drain off some of that liquid. If you have homemade pumpkin puree, you can use that as well.
Pumpkin Pie Spice – If you don’t have pumpkin pie spice, here is how you can make your own.
Caramel – While homemade caramel sauce is amazing, any jarred caramel sauce will work. My favorite to use with this recipe is Smuckers Simple Delight Salted Caramel Topping.
Cream Cheese Frosting – This pumpkin poke cake is topped with cream cheese frosting. You can pick up a can of cream cheese frosting, but I highly recommend making it from scratch. This Cream Cheese Frosting recipe is my favorite.
How To Make Pumpkin Poke Cake
Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray a 9×13” pan with non-stick cooking spray and set aside. If desired you can line the pan with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, combine dry cake mix, pumpkin puree, egg, oil, pumpkin pie spice, salt and cinnamon.
- Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth and combined. This should take less than one minute. Do not overmix.
- Spread batter, which will be thick, into prepared pan. Bake for about 25 to 30 minutes, or until the cake springs back when lightly pressed in the center, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Remove the cake from the oven and transfer to a wire cooling rack. Using a straw, poke holes evenly over cake. You should have around 35-50 holes in the cake.
- Immediately pour caramel over cake. Pour slowly, taking time to try and get caramel into all of the holes, as well as over the top. If desired you can use the back of a spoon or an offset spatula to smooth the carmel over the top.
- Top with cream cheese frosting after cake has cooled slightly. If desired, sprinkle chopped pecans or walnuts over the cake.
Can be served warm, at room temperature or even cold.
Recipe Tips and Advice
Storage – If you use homemade cream cheese frosting, then store this pumpkin poke cake in the fridge, for up to a week. If you are using store bought cream cheese frosting, which is shelf stable, you can store it at room temperature for up to five days. If you store it in the fridge, I recommend a few seconds in the microwave to warm it up prior to serving.
Two Frosting Options – To be honest, this pumpkin poke cake tastes the absolute best if it’s frosted when still warm, as this lets the cream cheese frosting melt and soak into the cake. It is scrumptious. The downside of this is that you will likely see the holes all over the cake. If I am making this cake just for the four of us, and not serving to company, that’s what I do, we don’t care what it looks like.
But, sometimes you don’t want a cake that’s covered in holes. You can either wait until it cools to frost it, or another option is to frost the cake with 1/2 to 2/3 of the frosting, reserving the rest of the frosting. Then once the cake cools, place the remaining on the cake.
Take It To The Next Level
While this cake is rich and decadent as is, you can take it into the stratosphere by serving it warm with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. Or you could even top it with Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream!
More Recipes To Try
If you can’t get enough pumpkin, here are some recipes I think you’ll love!
- Pumpkin Cheesecake
- Easy Pumpkin Bars With Cream Cheese Frosting
- Pumpkin Pie With Graham Cracker Crust
- Pumpkin Pancakes
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Baked Pumpkin Donuts
More Recipes You’ll Love!
Pumpkin Poke Cake Recipe
Equipment
- 9 x 13 inch pan
Ingredients
- 15 ounces spice cake mix (standard size spice cake mix, you are only using the mix, do not follow the instructions on the box)
- 15 ounces canned pumpkin puree
- 2 large egg
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 11 to 12 ounces caramel sauce (approximately 1 1/3 cups homemade or use jar sauce)
- Cream cheese frosting (Homemade or a standard size store bought tub of cream cheese frosting.)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray a 9×13” pan with non-stick cooking spray and set aside. If desired you can line the pan with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, combine cake mix, pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, pumpkin pie spice, salt and cinnamon. Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth and combined. This should take less than one minute. Do not overmix.
- Spread batter, which will be thick, into prepared pan. Bake for about 25 to 30 minutes, or until the cake springs back when lightly pressed in the center, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Remove the cake from the oven and transfer to a wire cooling rack. Using a straw, poke holes evenly over cake. You should have around 35-50 holes in the cake.
- Immediately pour caramel over cake. Pour slowly, taking time to try and get caramel into all of the holes, as well as over the top. If desired you can use the back of a spoon or an offset spatula to smooth the carmel over the top.
- Top with cream cheese frosting after cake has cooled slightly. If desired, sprinkle chopped pecans or walnuts over the cake. Can be served warm, at room temperature or even cold.
Notes
Nutrition
The nutrition facts provided are calculated using a third-party tool and are estimates only. Actual nutritional content may vary based on the ingredients and brands you use, as well as portion sizes. For accurate results, please consult a registered dietitian or nutritionist.
Meet Christi, Love From The Oven
I’m Christi I love sharing easy & delicious recipes that your family & friends will love. I’m a mom, baker, cookbook author and lover of sprinkles.
Really a great, easy recipe. I made the homemade caramel sauce and followed the recipe as written for the cake. I made whipped cream for the frosting, (I was concerned that the cake would be too sweet with frosting) sprinkled chopped pecans on top of the whipped cream, and then drizzled some of the caramel sauce over the pecans and whipped cream. So yummy. Definitely a keeper recipe.
I really messed up the cake when I transferred it to cooling rack. Next time, I will go with my instinct and leave it in the pan.
You transfer the cake in the pan to the cooling rack so it can cool, versus say setting in on a counter or surface where you can’t get airflow on the bottom side of the pan. Especially being a poke cake, I always keep those in the pan as they can get fairly messy otherwise.
Do you have any recommendations for a different flavor frosting other than cream cheese? I don’t like cheese.
Thank you!
I want to make this,as it sounds delicious!
I’d just us a vanilla frosting in that case.