This recipe starts with tender, homemade yellow cake with roasted pecans, cinnamon, and nutmeg baked in. Several holes are poked into the cake and it is topped off with a sweet browned butter praline sauce. This cake is moist, flavorful, and easy to prepare, making it the perfect year-round dessert!
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Sheet cakes are a go-to dessert in our house because they are easy to prepare and a real crowd-pleaser. Poking holes in a warm sheet cake with the back of a wooden spoon and covering it in a delicious sauce or filling takes your sheet cake to the next level!
What Is A Poke Cake?
A poke cake is basically a cake that is baked and has holes poked in it after baking - pretty self-explanatory right? Poke cakes are typically made with a sheet cake since the surface area is larger and there is more room to poke holes.
The back of a wooden spoon or something similar is used to poke the cake holes. You don't want the holes to be too large but you do want them to be large enough for your sauce or frosting to fill.
The holes are poked into the cake while the cake is still warm so that the filling easily goes into the holes and creates a super moist finished cake. The type of filling, sauce, or frosting that you use is totally up to you and there are countless options available.
Ingredients You Need To Make This Cake Recipe
Unsalted butter. You will use this in the cake batter and the praline sauce. I do not recommend salted butter, but if that is all you have on hand omit any additional salt. Make sure that your butter is softened to room temperature.
I prefer to do this by leaving my butter on the counter for a few hours or overnight if I'm baking the next morning. There are other methods available to soften butter if you're in a time crunch - this is a great article by the Kitchn with a few options.
Light flavored oil such as vegetable or canola oil. We use a combination of butter and oil in this recipe as I find it yields the moistest cake.
Granulated sugar. The butter and sugar are creamed together for the cake batter in this recipe to create a fluffy, tender, and moist cake.
Eggs. We use 3 large eggs and 2 large egg yolks for this recipe as a binder in our cake batter.
Vanilla extract. This ingredient lends delicious flavor and depth to the cake batter. I recommend a good quality vanilla extract such as this one.
Baking powder. This is the leavening agent we use to ensure the cake rises. Be sure and check the date on your baking powder! If it is more than 6 months old, throw it out and buy new baking powder. Old baking powder could cause your cake to turn out dense and prevent it from rising properly.
Salt. A little salt in sweet baked goods always enhances the flavor of the other ingredients!
All-purpose flour. We use all-purpose flour in this cake recipe to achieve the perfect, fluffy texture without it being too fine or light.
Buttermilk. I almost always use buttermilk in my cakes and baked goods. The buttermilk adds a subtle tang and tartness and this is absolutely delicious.
Ground cinnamon and nutmeg. We add a little bit of these spices to the cake batter to complement the pecans and praline sauce flavor.
Roasted pecans. These are used in the cake batter and the praline sauce. You may buy pecans that have already been roasted or you may roast them yourself. We will coarsely chop the pecans for the cake and sauce.
Sweetened condensed milk. This ingredient is what helps create our praline sauce. Sweetened condensed milk is a widely used ingredient in Southern desserts and is essentially just shelf-stable milk and sugar. We will not need to add any additional sweetener to our praline sauce.
How to Make This Recipe
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a 9x13 baking dish with baking spray and set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer using the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. This should take anywhere from 3-8 minutes. You want to incorporate air into the mixture and break down the sugar crystals. This helps yield a tender, fluffy cake.
Add the eggs and egg yolks, one at a time, beating on medium-low (a setting of 3-4 on your stand mixer) after each addition. Add vanilla and beat on medium until combined.
In a separate medium mixing bowl, sift together flour, salt, and baking powder. Whisk ingredients to combine.
Alternate adding some of the flour mixture and buttermilk into the bowl with the butter and sugar mixture, starting and ending with the flour. I typically add the flour in three batches and the buttermilk in two batches, mixing on medium after each addition just until ingredients are combined.
Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, add cinnamon and nutmeg, and give everything one more mix on medium (a setting of 4-5 on your stand mixer) until you see no more flour in the batter and the spices have been mixed in. Be careful not to overmix your batter.
Fold in pecans with a silicone spatula until evenly mixed into the batter. Pour batter into your prepared baking pan and bake for 35-45 minutes, or until a toothpick or skewer inserted into the center comes out with only a few moist crumbs.
For The Browned Butter Praline Sauce
About 5 minutes before you remove the cake from the oven, melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add pecans and cook until butter is frothy and begins to brown, stirring constantly.
Continue to cook until the butter is a golden brown and the foam begins to subside a bit. The butter should smell intensely nutty and rich. Be careful not to burn the butter. The browning process should take 6-8 minutes.
Remove the pan from heat and stir in the sweetened condensed milk. Continue to stir until the condensed milk is completely mixed in with the butter and the sauce is smooth and coats the back of a wooden spoon.
Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool for about 5 minutes in the pan. Poke several holes into the warm cake with the back of a wooden spoon and pour warm praline sauce over top. Smooth sauce out over cake with a silicone spatula, getting it into all of the holes.
Cut and serve the cake warm. Enjoy!
Storing This Praline Poke Cake
Leftover cake can be wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and stored at room temperature for up to 5 days. It will be a bit messy when unwrapping due to the praline sauce, but this method ensures your cake stays freshest the longest.
You can also store this cake in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to five days.
To freeze leftover cake, tightly wrap the cake in plastic wrap, then in aluminum foil, and place it in a zip-top freezer bag. The cake will keep in the freezer for up to a month!
Variations of This Recipe
You can use just about any cake flavor as the base for this poke cake recipe. You may also save some time and use boxed cake mix as a shortcut if you like! Some cake flavor suggestions are:
- Chocolate
- Vanilla
- Carrot
- Lemon
- Strawberry
- Red Velvet
Poke cakes are also made with a wide array of different sauces and fillings. Try pudding, jello, cream cheese, or chocolate fillings or sauces for your next poke cake!
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📖 Recipe
Browned Butter Praline Poke Cake
Ingredients
For the Cake
- ¾ cup unsalted butter softened*
- ¼ cup light flavored oil such as vegetable or canola**
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs room temperature
- 2 large egg yolks room temperature
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder***
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 ⅔ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup buttermilk**** room temperature
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 cup roasted pecans chopped
For the Praline Sauce
- 4 tablespoons butter unsalted
- 1 cup rosated pecans chopped
- 1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
Instructions
For the Cake
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a 9x13 baking dish with baking spray and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer using the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, about 4-7 minutes.
- Add the eggs and egg yolks, one at a time, beating on medium-low (a setting of 3-4 on your stand mixer) after each addition. Add vanilla and beat on medium until combined.
- In a separate medium mixing bowl, sift together flour, salt, and baking powder. Add cinnamon and nutmeg and whisk ingredients to combine.
- Alternate adding some of the flour mixture and some of the buttermilk into the bowl with the butter and sugar mixture, starting and ending with the flour. Mix batter on medium speed (4-5 on stand mixer) after each addition.
- Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and give everything one more mix on medium (a setting of 4-5 on your stand mixer) until you see no more flour in the batter. Be careful not to overmix your batter.
- Fold in pecans with a silicone spatula until evenly mixed into the batter. Pour batter into your prepared baking pan and bake for 35-45 minutes, or until a toothpick or skewer inserted into the center comes out with only a few moist crumbs.
For the Praline Sauce
- About 5 minutes before you remove the cake from the oven, melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add pecans and cook until butter is frothy and begins to brown, stirring constantly. Continue to cook until the butter is a golden brown and the foam begins to subside a bit. This process should take about 6-8 minutes.
- Remove the pan from heat and stir in the sweetened condensed milk. Continue to stir until the condensed milk is completely mixed in with the butter and the sauce is smooth and coats the back of a wooden spoon.
- Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool for about 5 minutes in the pan. Poke several holes into the warm cake with the back of a wooden spoon and pour warm praline sauce over top. Smooth sauce out over cake with a silicone spatula, getting it into all of the holes.
- Slice and serve the cake warm. Enjoy!
Buttermilk quantity??!
Hi Kalisa,
1 cup - I'm so sorry about that!!
This was truly heaven on a plate! Couldn’t believe how easy it was to make! The pecans were the best part! Love this recipe
Hearing this makes me so happy, Marlon! I'm so glad you enjoyed the recipe and I agree that the pecans definitely elevate this cake!