This moist, fudgy, decadently rich chocolate poke cake recipe makes such a great addition to any party!
Easy chocolate poke cake
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. This step adds extra moisture and flavor to each deliciously gooey bite.
Poke cakes have been making a resurgence in recent years. They 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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My favorite chocolate cake to share
I made this chocolate poke cake over the weekend to share with a small group of friends.
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.
Step by step recipe video
(The recipe video above now has over 1 million views on facebook!!!)
Tips for making the best chocolate poke cake
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. 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. That is definitely the case with this dark chocolate cake and many of my other recipes.
If you can wait, I highly recommend not even tasting the poke cake until the next day.
Also Try These: Sweet Potato Brownies
Why you should try this chocolate 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
Video
Notes
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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!
Katie this looks amazing! The new syrup looks great too and I love how it’s vegan. I have a holiday party this weekend and am supposed to bring a dessert. I guess I know what to make now 😉
This looks so delicious. I’m glad to know there is a healthier syrup. I love it drizzled over ice cream, too.
Would there be any way to convert this to a 9 x 13 size pan?
You can! Just use her vegan chocolate cake recipe and bake in a 9×13. Then simply double the amount of syrup called for here so that you have enough for the doubled sized cake.
https://lett-trim.today/2017/07/24/vegan-chocolate-cake-recipe/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Jason (media relations)
Oh I am so making this! THANK YOU!!!!
Congratulations on your guest appearance with Hershey’s! How exciting! And this cake looks amazing! 🙂 I always look forward to your next idea! 🙂
Thank you!!
I say this as long-time fan and this is in no way meant to discredit you or your choice to work with Hershey’s (and the exposure it allows you is great) but for the disclosure of your readers I feel like someone needs to point out that Hershey’s uses child labor and slave labor to produce their chocolate and purchasing their products means supporting a really heinous industry that refuses transparency about their sourcing. I don’t want to be a downer on a good-looking recipe but you have such a large following and I feel like many people want to turn a blind eye to this issue.
Thanks Laura, and thank you for bringing this up. I want to reply based on what I learned about the situation and their current role (because I did a lot of research and asked questions before signing on), but I also don’t want to unwittingly make any false or misleading claims or speak for the company, so I’m currently waiting on confirmation that my reply is correct and okay to post.
thank you for pointing this out. it kills me on Halloween, watching alla these kiddos running around in their costumes, full of joy, collecting Hershey kisses, etc and knowing that kids on the other side of the world are living a completely different reality.
Hi Laura, My name is Stephanie and I am a representative of The Hershey Company. I appreciate the concerns you raised and wanted to take a moment to share more about our cocoa sustainability initiatives, as our company is committed to the responsible sourcing of cocoa. With 70 percent of the world’s cocoa supply coming from West Africa, there are entire communities in that region dependent on this crop. We want to let you know that we are committed to eliminating any illegal and abusive forms of child labor. In our efforts, we are attentive to the International Labour Organization (ILO). We cannot tolerate the unacceptable forms of child labor that continue to exist in cocoa-growing regions, but we recognize this is an enormous challenge well beyond the ability of a single organization to solve. As part of our commitment to eliminating illegal labor from our supply chain, we continue to build and accelerate our relevant programs. Since 2012, we have made rapid progress toward our commitment to source 100% certified and sustainable cocoa. We will continue to invest and innovate in this work alongside governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), private foundations and activist groups. We are also greatly encouraged by the coordinated efforts of the World Cocoa Foundation’s CocoaAction members. As a founding member, Hershey has worked to ensure our cocoa sustainability programs complement and support the broader goals of CocoaAction. We believe this will greatly advance our mutual commitment to end illegal child labor. Feel free to read more about this on our website: http://bit.ly/2aHVJdN.
While we are pleased with our progress on many fronts, we also recognize that more work needs to be done. We once again appreciate your concerns about responsible sourcing and welcome your feedback regarding our Corporate Social Responsibility efforts. We encourage you to connect with us to share your additional comments or any questions. Please contact us anytime by calling 1-800-468-1714 or sending us a note at http://www.askhershey.com.
If I had a child slave in my house doing heavy labor and kept this child out of school, and I formed several committees to investigate the problem of child slavery, would you still put me in prison?
Let’s hope the answer is yes. You would probably think I were even more of a hypocrite for the committees I’d sat on…and “my commitment to end illegal child labor.”
And you, Stephanie, should personally look at what you’re doing with your life as an apologist for this group of people. It can’t feel good, knowingly defending the practice of enslaving the weakest segment of any population. .
Exactly my thoughts, as great as this recipe looks. Especially since the recipes on this blog are vegan–all the more important to be mindful of the harm done to other humans in addition to other animals through oppressive and unjust agricultural practices.
I would like to try this recipe using honey or maple syrup. Do you think you can substitute the sugar for that? Thanks
Sorry, I haven’t tried it so I really don’t know… it would be replacing a solid with a liquid, so there’s really no way to tell what might result unless you try. But edible experiments are the best kind of experiments 🙂
I made this cake and cut the sugar in half then replaced what was deducted, with maple syrup and it turned out great!!! ?
Do you think this would work gluten free? If so, suggestions?
She has similar recipes that use Bob’s gf all purpose mix, so I’d experiment with either that or oat flour first. Oat flour will most likely work and will taste delicious, just the texture will be more dense.
Jason (media relations)
I made this cake using Bob Red Mill GF 1 to 1 flour and it turned out awesome!!! This is our new favorite cake!!! (Katie is the best?)
This is making me so hungry right before lunch. Must bake this weekend!
xo,
Em
Looks like the kind of cake I would absolutely love to make. I do not buy anything in plastic so I will not be purchasing the Hershey syrup. Would you have a recommendation (or a video of yours) on what I can make to replace such syrup? thanks! You’re beautiful and I Love your recipes.
https://lett-trim.today/2010/05/20/homemade-artisana-cacao-bliss/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Thanks!!!