Red Velvet Poke Cake
Red velvet cake is infused with sweetened condensed milk and topped with the best cream cheese frosting. A must for Valentine’s Day!
Poke cakes have been around for a long, long time. I remember getting recipes for different versions through email “recipe exchanges” back in the early 2000’s. That’s when they popped onto my radar, and I have a feeling that they had been floating around for decades before that.
This cake was my first go at a completely from-scratch poke cake. I have a deep love for better than sex cake, which features the combination of chocolate cake, caramel topping, Cool Whip, and Heath bits that has been popular for ages, but in anticipation of Valentine’s Day in 2013, I wanted to go all-in on homemade cake. This red velvet poke cake is based on my red velvet cupcake recipe, is infused with sweetened condensed milk (ahh, shades of tres leches cake!) and topped with my favorite cream cheese frosting.
I doubled the recipe for my red velvet cupcakes and baked it in a 9×13-inch pan. Once it came out of the oven, I poked holes all over the top using a metal skewer and poured a can of sweetened condensed milk over top. The idea is to let the sweetened condensed milk slowly seep into the cake, giving it a boost of flavor and keeping it incredibly moist. You can’t have red velvet without cream cheese frosting, so once the cake cooled completely, I slathered cream cheese frosting over the top and showered it with some pretty pink, red and white sprinkles.
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This is the red velvet cake of dreams. I made it again a couple of weeks ago for Sunday dinner dessert and everyone loved it. Those dinners are a great way for me to gauge how good a recipe is – our family is made up of quite a varying array of tastes and preferences, so if I serve something that EVERYONE goes nuts over, then I know it’s a for-sure winner.
Watch How to Make Red Velvet Poke Cake (video):
What’s YOUR favorite poke cake recipe? There are still a million I want to try!
One year ago: King Bundt Cake
Five years ago: Red Velvet Cheesecake
Red Velvet Poke Cake
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1½ cups (300 g) granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 5 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 6 tablespoons red food coloring
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup (240 ml) buttermilk
- 2¼ cups (281.25 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar
- 14 ounce (396.89 ml) can sweetened condensed milk
For the Frosting:
- 1 cup (236.59 g) salted butter, at room temperature
- 8 ounces (226.8 g) cream cheese, at room temperature
- 3½ cups (420 g) powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- Make the Cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9×13-inch baking pan.
- On medium-high speed, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Turn the mixer to high and add the eggs. Scrape down the bowl and beat until well incorporated.
- In a separate small bowl, mix together the cocoa powder, vanilla extract and red food coloring to make a thick paste. Add to the batter and mix on medium speed until completely combined. You may need to stop the mixer to scrape the bottom of the bowl, making sure that all the batter gets color.
- Reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly add half of the buttermilk. Add half of the flour and mix until combined. Scrape the bowl and repeat the process with the remaining milk and flour. Beat on high until smooth, about 1 minute.
- Again, reduce the mixer speed to low and add the salt, baking soda and vinegar. Turn to high and beat for another 2 minutes until completely combined and smooth.
- Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan, smoothing the top into an even layer with a spatula. Bake until a thin knife or skewer inserted into the center comes out clean, about 25 to 30 minutes.
- Remove the cake from the oven and immediately poke holes all over the top of the cake. You can use the end of a wooden spoon, a skewer, the tines of a fork, etc. Slowly pour the can of condensed milk all over the top of the cake, making sure to drizzle it evenly all over the top. If it pools along the edges, use a spoon to scoop it up and redistribute it on top. Allow the cake to cool completely before frosting and decorating.
- Make the Frosting: Using a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, whip the butter and cream cheese on high speed for about 5 minutes, scraping the bowl down as necessary. Reduce the speed to low and slowly add the powdered sugar until all is incorporated. Add the vanilla and mix to combine. Increase the speed to medium high and whip for a few minutes until the frosting is light and fluffy, scraping the bowl as necessary.
- Spread the frosting evenly over the top of the cake and decorate as desired. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @thebrowneyedbaker on Instagram so I can see it!
This recipe has been a family favorite for many years now! We however are dye free now and I am trying to make it today. Is there anything I need to add if I am not using the food coloring? I wasn’t sure if I needed to add some extra liquid of some kind or just leave out the dye and move forward.
Question….. Can you make this with box red velvet ? Just curious
Yes, you can!
I made this for our church coffee cafe and it was a hit! The recipe is very well written and easy to follow too. Thanks so much for posting!
I have made this cake many times and it is always a hit!! I have to be honest and say I cheat and use a red velvet cake mix! Sorry! But, the icing is what makes it so delicious plus the condensed milk oozing out of the cake! I do cut back on the vanilla in the icing. Thank you for a great recipe!
I made this cake for Christmas and it was a total success! I’d never made a poke cake nor a red velvet before, and everything turned out fantastic.
For years, I’ve made a more traditional RV cake. I made this for the first time about 6 years ago and did a taste test at my job. They loved mine (which takes longer to prepare) the best, but everyone said this is a really good cake as they gobbled it down!
The condensed milk adds to the moisture. Kids love it. The fact that it’s meant to be a sheet cake is also a plus. It’s a good go to if you prefer scratch but don’t have a lot of time. Love this recipe!
I made this for 4th of July. It was enjoyed by all!!
Hello I love your redvelvet cupcake recipe and this cake looks very similar to the ingredients…..is this recipe doubled from your redvelvet cupcake recipe?
I’m still waiting for the directions to add the 2 eggs.
It’s in step 2
Meant (Condensed)
This is a take on the Mexican Tres Leches cake without the 2 other milks needed to help cut the extreme sweetness of the Condemned milk by it self I made it Tres Lechesstyle and it was not too sweet it was perfect!! Try it!!
Pretty easy and quick but didn’t quite hit the spot for me. I went with half the butter in the icing, like a few others in the comments, but the cake still lacked that tangy kick. It was moist, so no complaints there, but the taste was just like a bland chocolate cake. I’m sure my coworkers will gobble it up, but I personally wouldn’t make this again.
Try adding a cup or 2 of coffee to the mix, a quality instant or filter coffee, would perhaps give it the kick that you’re looking for. I personally always do this to my red velvet cakes, and even to my chocolate cakes as well. But if that’s not the kick you’re looking for then try some Jack Daniels in the coffee before adding it, but you didn’t hear that from me, haha…
Enjoy!
Thoughts on cutting in half and baking it in an 8×8? I am making it as a gift and it is for a family of 2.
Thank you!
Can you stack this cake, making a layered cake? Or will the sweetened condensed milk make the cake too gooey to stand up to the layering?
Hi Sandy, The sweetened condensed milk makes this a really, heavy dense cake, and I don’t think it would be well-suited for layering, unfortunately.
I made this, modifying it so it would be vegan and gluten free, and it was amazing. Thanks for the recipe. Will definitely make again as it was super easy as well.
What a nice thing for me to make on this rainy day. I’m happy that the red food coloring cleans up easily as I got it everywhere, but it’s worth it. So rich and yummy.
I am making this for the 3rd year in a row for my son’s birthday. He loves it and so does the whole family.
I was wondering if you might be able to provide nutritional info for this recipe? Namely how many carbs per serving? Thanks a bunch!
Hi Shannon, I don’t have that capability right now (hopefully soon!), but I think you can plug in the ingredients and servings to something like MyFitnessPal and get the nutrition info.
very easy to make.
I was a little disappointed in the red velvet poke cake I made. I was off from work today and really took my time. Even though it had the cream, it seemed a little on the dry side and a little bland…. Probably won’t try again. Others seemed to have really liked, so maybe it was just me.
I’m not a huge fan of Red Velvet Cake, but I thought this would be pretty since this month is all about red. I made this cake Saturday and Served Sunday. It was very good and easy since it in made in a 9X13. No fussing with layers. It had a nice subtle chocolate chocolate flavor, was nice and moist from the condensed milk, and beautiful in color. I did make a couple of changes. I only used 4 oz of red food coloring (because that’s all I had on hand and I didn’t feel like going to the store) and it was still had plenty of color and was a beautiful red. Secondly, I only used one stick of butter in my cream cheese frosting (that’s my standard recipe) and it’s delicious. I recommend the recipe.
Hi Susan,
would you accept to give me your frosting recipe with less butter please ?
Many thanks!
Leira
Hi There,
Would the cake taste amazing if I were to make it the night before? Thank you!
Hi Suzanne, Yes! I often make it a day in advance!
Looks amazing!
Im a Cupcaker, and I am always in search for new recipes, and I never made a single red velvet cake.
so… my question is….If I use this same recipe size, but for cupcakes, how many it would make? I need to change something size-wise because is for cupcakes and not cake?
~ sorry my poor English.
thanks
Hi Sabrina, Here is the actual recipe for cupcakes! https://www.browneyedbaker.com/2010/11/08/red-velvet-cupcakes-cream-cheese-frosting/