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!
Looks amazing and so perfect for Valentine’s Day! Lovely photos too!!
I just made this and it is mind-blowingly awesome. I used half whole spelt, less sugar, and used 1/4 cup extra buttermilk + 2 tablespoons water instead of the dye. They’re almost brownie like. I also left out the vinegar because, uh, I couldn’t find it (don’t you love commenters like me who change almost everything? ;)) I’m definitely going to make these again and the only thing I’ll do differently is to use even less sugar. SO SO SO good! Really, thank you for this recipe! There were a lot of red velvet recipes going around before Valentine’s Day and way too many used cake mixes. I live in Germany and red velvet cake mix will never be a thing here so I was so happy to find this recipe! :)
Would not dulce de leche have more flavor than condensed milk?
It certainly has more flavor, but it’s a very distinct, caramel-like flavor. I was going for less flavor (I think the flavor the red velvet cake should shine through), but some added moisture.
AMAZING! I have been wanting to try a poke cake for awhile, and this one looks perfect
I made this over the weekend for my family, they loved it! The only think I added was toasted pecans and coconut to the frosting. My brother said it was super moist. My father went back for seconds and my niece said I make the best cakes. And when asked why she says I cook with love. <3
My daughter and I made this cake today for a birthday party, and it was delicious. I didn’t add 2 tablespoons of vanilla extract to the frosting because I thought that amount was too much. I added 2 teaspoons. The frosting came out perfect. Everyone loved it! This is my new favorite cake recipe!!!
I love how inevitably moist poke cakes are! This looks delicious and so festive!
I made the cake for my Mom’s B-day and I must say the cooking time was somewhat off. I also had to bake for 35-40 minutes. I left out the red food coloring and just added 6 TBL of buttermilk instead. Also, I only made half of the icing which was more than enough for the top of the cake. It was great and will make again. I love your blog and have tried many of the dessert recipes. Thanks for a recipe made from scratch!
I completely understand about not wanting to make a recipe because of it calling for a boxed cake mix. This is such a great recipe to showcase a typical cake box recipe made from scratch. Thanks for the recipe!
Hi–Just made the cake yesterday. Mine too, took longer to bake–about 35-40 minutes. But, I wanted to double check the amount of food coloring. I assumed one bottle would be enough, so I just bought one and it was actually only 2 tablespoons (which is the equivalent of 6 teaspoons). I made up the difference in liquid, but I ask because my cake looks just as red as yours and that seems odd since I only used 1/3 of the amount of coloring. Just checking. Love your blog, thanks!
Hi Heidi, Yes, the red food coloring measurement was correct (6 tablespoons).
I had the same results as you Heidi. My cake took 35 minutes and I only had one bottle (two tablespoons) and my cake looked very red as well. My family thought it was the best red velvet cake they have ever had. I look forward to Michelle’s posts every morning.
I have never made or had poke cake before. I have heard of it, but I thought it was more for making a striped design when you cut the cake. I will have to try making a poke cake some time!
This is awesome! My mother tried making vanilla poke cake before and it was great! Will try making your recipe one of these days. Thanks for the share!!!
Do you know if this cake is moist enough on its own, without the addition of the sweetened condensed milk?
Hi Linda, I think it is moist enough on its own; it’s basically the recipe for red velvet cupcakes, but doubled and baked in a 9×13. The cake is quite fluffy and moist.
this cake is by far the best i have ever made, and i do alot of baking, thanks!!!
Have you seen “the country cook”s, site? She is a poke cake-aholic. Although most of her recipes are from cake mixes. I hate box cake mixes but it is because I can’t stand the texture. But she has many ideas for different flavors that could easily be adapted to scratch cake options :)
This looks so yummy . Going to make it this weekend :)
I made this last night for my coworkers today! So excited to dig in. My daughter and I “tested” the frosting and it’s the best cream cheese frosting I’ve had so far. Yum!
What a decadent cake! I’ve never made (or tried) a poke cake, but it sounds so delicious! Love the red velvet twist on this one, just in time for love day!
You made an amazing scratch red velvet poke cake! Looking forward to seeing your other made from scratch poke cakes!
I just made this cake! Looks yummy can’t wait to eat it! Did anyone else who has made this note that there was loads of icing left? Iv frozen mine. I made the red velvet cheesecake from this site about a month ago as a treat for my husband when he finished his exams and it went down VERY well! He ate almost all of it on his own lol! He’s been begging for it again but iv been lazy! When I got this recipe thru email this morning I was so happy coz its kinda similar (ok not that similar but he’ll be happy)! And it’s so quick to make. Ingredients are ones u will usually always have. I made it in an oval shaped Pyrex dish and mayb my dish was a bit smaller than 9×13 coz the cake rose quite high but it looks so scrummy! Ur recipes are excellent thank u for being so active on your blog. Xx
This looks great! It’s definitely becoming a part of my future To-Do list! :)
I wish this cake could be my valentine….
I’ve never had a red velvet cake. the ingredients look like a chocolate cake with the addition of red food coloring.. is that about right? Does it taste different than a chocolate cake?
Looks incredible
There is actually a lot less chocolate in this (only 5 tablespoons) than if you were to actually make a chocolate cake, so to me, it definitely doesn’t taste like a traditional chocolate cake.
Thanks appreciate the explaination. Hoping to make this tonight!
MMMMM. I definitely have plans to try this one day!
Looks good, but is it overly sweet? (with the condensed milk) I have never made a poke cake and would like to try this, but I don’t want it over sweet.
Hi Linda, This is always a tough question for me because sweetness is so subjective – what’s too sweet to one person may be fine to someone else. I personally don’t think this is overly sweet – the condensed milk makes the cake incredibly moist.
If you are getting into poke cakes then you should definitely try better than sex cake!!!!!!!
I love poke cakes..they always turn out so moist!
I am so making this tonight! My father has always requested a lemon “poke” cake that was made with a lemon cake mix, lemon jello and a lemon glaze. As the pokes were visable we always did them with a special tiny fork. That cake aways disappeared quickly. Why have I never made a homemade lemon cake as a base?!? Must be time to try!
Another good one is a jello poke cake. You make a white cake, poke holes, pour whatever flavor jello you want over top, and then top with whipped cream and sprinkles. So good!!!
This looks amazing! But as an above poster mentioned, I am also wondering if I can leave the food coloring out – only because my best friend loves red velvet cake but later found out she is allergic to the food coloring.
Hi Diana, You can leave it out, it just obviously won’t be red. I would replace that amount with water.