This Easy Tiramisu Poke Cake recipe is made with yellow cake mix, filled with a coffee sweetened condensed milk filling and topped with a coffee whipped cream frosting. This homemade tiramisu poke cake is so moist and flavorful!
If you love tiramisu, then you are straight up going to love this super easy Tiramisu Poke Cake! A twist on the classic tiramisu recipe, this super flavorful poke cake is sure to be a new fav!
If there’s one thing I know in this world, it’s that coffee desserts are the bomb dot com (taking it back to the 90s with that gem of a phrase).
I know I’ve probably mentioned this before, but I was a little late to the coffee game. Sure, in jr. high, it was all the rage to be hopped up on sugary chocolate frappuccinos, but let’s be honest, those are mostly sugar and not a ton of coffee.
It wasn’t until college that I realized how much I straight loved a strong coffee with just a bit of creamer or milk in it. I blame it on the amount of dining dollars (money on my meal plan that I could use at any eatery on campus) I had each semester (a surplus of money to spend on food isn’t the worst problem in the world, especially on my college librarian salary…😉) so I spent a lot of time in the coffee shop.
Aaaand, I won’t name any names, but I had a friend who worked at one of the on campus coffee shops and I’d always get free drinks…so, coffee kind of became my life (as if the title of my blog didn’t give it away).
Now, I’m not a crazy coffee person (at least I don’t think so) who is super picky about their coffee and whatnot. I mean, I know what I like and there are certain coffee companies I prefer over others, but I’m not a coffee snob.
I had a friend in college who had his own coffee roaster in his apartment and did ‘cuppings’ at speciality coffee places and…I’m not that into coffee.
But, if coffee tastings came paired with coffee dessert tastings, well then, SIGN ME UP.
Especially if tiramisu is involved, because coffee and chocolate?
Pretty much the equivalent to my love language.
While I do love a classic tiramisu recipe, I’m kind of in love with this Easy Tiramisu Poke Cake.
I’m definitely team cake over team lady fingers (probably because the name ‘lady fingers’ is the absolute worst), so a tiramisu cake is definitely the way to my heart.
Then, you add a coffee sweetened condensed milk to the baked cake, making the cake ridiculously moist and flavorful? I mean, is there even a reason we need other desserts in life?
(Obviously I’m exaggerating because we all need things in our life like Strawberry Ice Cream, Lemon Pie and Chocolate Pound Cake.)
Finally, the cake is topped with this cream cheese whipped cream that’s got a bit of coffee and espresso powder and it’s wonderful (I can’t say that word without thinking of Everclear; apparently I’m in a 90s state of my mind).
What is a Poke Cake?
A poke cake is a 9×13 (typically) cake that has holes poked in it and the holes are filled with some sort of filling—a pudding or custard, a frosting, etc.
Poke cakes are super moist and flavorful thanks to the filling, but they are also insanely easy to make since many poke cake recipes use a boxed cake mix.
This tiramisu sheet cake begins with a boxed yellow cake mix (you can definitely use white cake mix too) to keep this a super easy poke cake recipe; however, if you’re feeling fancy, feel free to whip up your favorite homemade yellow or white sheet cake recipe.
How to Make this easy Tiramisu Poke Cake recipe with Coffee Whipped Cream Frosting:
- First things first, you make the cake according to the directions on the back of the box, but you do add espresso powder and a pinch of brewed coffee.
- Have you ever added sweetened condensed milk to coffee? It’s preeeetty magical. So you can imagine mixing coffee and sweetened condensed milk and then pouring it over a cake would be straight heavenly.
- Alternately, you could also use a coffee flavored liqueur instead of coffee and mix that with the sweetened condensed milk.
- The whipped cream frosting calls for heavy whipping cream, whipped cream cheese, powdered sugar, espresso powder and a bit of coffee.
- The cake does need to chill a couple of hours, or overnight. This gives the filling time to really soak into the cake.
Coffee lovers, high five!
- 1 box yellow cake mix (plus all ingredients on the back of the box)
- 1 Tbsp brewed coffee, cool
- 1 1/2 tsp espresso powder
- 1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
- 3 Tbsp brewed coffee, cool*
- 1 tsp espresso powder
- 1 Tbsp cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 6 oz whipped cream cheese (it does need to be whipped)
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 Tbsp brewed coffee, cool
- 1/2 tsp espresso powder
- dusted cocoa powder
- strawberries
- Preheat oven according to the temperature listed on the back of your cake mix (mine was 350 degrees) and grease a 9x13 pan. Set aside.
- Mix cake with all ingredients listed on the back of your box and add in the 1 Tbsp of coffee and 1 1/2 teaspoons espresso powder.
- Once all ingredients are combined, pour the batter into your prepared pan and bake according to the time listed on the back of your cake mix.
- Once the cake is baked, allow it to cool about 1-2 minutes, then, using the back of a wooden spoon (or something similar in size) poke holes across the surface of the cake. Poke only about halfway down into the cake (you don’t want to poke all the way to the bottom).
- Whisk sweetened condensed milk, brewed coffee, espresso powder, and cocoa powder. Pour filling over the cake, making sure to pour over the holes.
- Place cake in the fridge to chill.
- While the cake is chilling, whisk heavy whipping cream (with a hand mixer or standing mixer) until soft peaks form.
- Add in powdered sugar, brewed coffee and espresso powder and whisk until stiff peaks form.
- Add in whipped cream cheese, 3oz at a time, whisking until just combined.
- Spread frosting over the cake and continue to chill for at least 2 hours before serving.
- Right before serving, dust with cocoa powder and top with strawberries, if desired.
- Enjoy!
- Store leftovers in the fridge.
*You can substitute coffee liqueur for the brewed coffee, if desired.
Here are some other desserts you might love:
[…] Kidding. Sort of. But seriously, if you don’t love cookies and cream things, instead try this Tiramisu Poke Cake. It’ll change your […]