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My Gingerbread Cake Recipe is the perfect Christmas cake! This one is easy to make with a cake mix and is a poke cake so it’s moist and full of flavor in every bite. Use whipped cream or Cool Whip frosting for a fun twist on a classic holiday cake.
Gingerbread Poke Cake
Gingerbread cake is good, but Gingerbread POKE Cake is even better! This is made easy with a cake mix because the holidays are already tough enough. Need a last minute dessert – this one is the one you should make.
Poke cakes are cakes baked in a sheet pan and then poked while hot. The holes are filled with something sweet; in this case it’s butterscotch ice cream topping. Once the cake cools you frost it with Cool Whip and it tastes like Christmas!
Important Ingredients
- Gingerbread Cake Mix – Betty Crocker sells one at the holidays, and you’ll often find store brand ones too. (Sometimes this is labelled as gingerbread loaf.) The cake mix comes with all the molasses, ground cinnamon, nutmeg, ground ginger and other spices you’ll need already in the cake.
- Butterscotch Ice Cream Topping – You can also just use caramel sauce if that’s what you can find.
- Sweetened Condensed Milk – Use regular or fat free.
- Cool Whip – Or you can use freshly whipped cream or whipped cream frosting or even cream cheese frosting.
How to make Gingerbread Cake
- Make your cake according to the package directions, using the eggs, water, and oil called for on the box. Pour the batter into a 9×9-inch square pan. Bake according to the package directions, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- While the cake is hot from the oven, poke lots of holes in it using the back of a wooden spoon.
- Pour sweetened condensed milk and ice cream topping all over the cake.
- I like to sprinkle the top of the cake with toffee bits or crumbled gingerbread cookies. This is for texture; you can use nuts or anything you like. Let cool completely.
- Top with whipped cream or Cool Whip and more toppings before serving.
Tip From Dorothy
Expert Tips
- Poke cakes are great for parties and they’re SO easy. They’re the perfect pot luck cake recipe!
- Be sure to grease your pan with cooking spray so the slices come out easily.
- Substitute melted unsalted butter for the oil called for on the box.
- Use your favorite toppings and frosting. Brown Sugar Frosting would be amazing too!
- You can make this up to 2 days ahead, it tastes better as it sits. Don’t frost it until before serving.
Gingerbread Poke Cake
This Gingerbread Cake is poked and filled with butterscotch and topped with toffee – it's a fantastic easy holiday dessert!
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 Gingerbread Cake Mix , plus ingredients listed to make the cake
- ½ cup sweetened condensed milk
- ¾ cup Butterscotch ice cream topping
- 8 ounces Cool Whip (or freshly whipped cream)
- 1 cup toffee bits (or other crunchy topping)
Instructions
- Make cake as directed on the back of the box. Bake as directed in a 9×9-inch pan sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Let cool for 20 minutes.
- Poke the cake with the back of a wooden spoon at least 15 times. Pour the sweetened condensed milk over the top of the cake, making sure that it gets in the holes. Pour the butterscotch ice cream topping over the top of the cake, making sure it gets in the holes also.
- Top the cake with an even layer of Cool Whip (use at least half the container, more if you like lots!) Sprinkle with toffee bits.
- Chill for 4-6 hours for flavors to meld. Best served at room temperature.
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
- The toppings recipe is written for a cake baked in a 9×9-inch pan. If your mix calls for a 9×13-inch pan, double the filling and toppings.
- Use your favorite toppings and frosting. Toffee bits, nuts, even crushed cookies or gingersnaps are perfect. Cool Whip is easy but you can swap out whipped cream or your favorite frosting.
- You can make this up to 2 days ahead, it tastes better as it sits. Don’t frost it until before serving.
- If you can’t find gingerbread cake mix, you can use spice cake mix. That usually makes a 9×13 pan size cake. In that case, double the sweetened condensed milk, butterscotch, cool whip and toffee bits.
Recipe Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 439kcal | Carbohydrates: 68g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Cholesterol: 33mg | Sodium: 405mg | Potassium: 274mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 52g | Vitamin A: 345IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 125mg | Iron: 2mg
Nutritional information not guaranteed to be accurate
First, I came over for the cake! My mother is going to LOVE this – she really enjoys gingerbread but as she gets older, it has become “biting” or “too hot” – your ingredients will soften that and make it enjoyable once again for her. I’m going to make it this weekend for sure!
As for American Girl – Those dolls were just coming out when my daughter was 8 or 9 and she too wanted one, mostly because that doll looked exactly like her (which was kind of scary). I was a single mom at the time and had no extra $$ for an expensive doll. So, I took a picture of one to a Kinko’s along with some fabric that was an approximation of skin color – I had the face copied onto the material and then my mom and I bought a doll body, wig, the glasses, and mom made some pretty close clothes. It looks VERY close to the real one and we told her that it was custom made just for her. I made up a birth certificate like on Cabbage Patch dolls and she didn’t know the difference until she was about 14. She loved the doll and still has it. Just a thought for you to consider if you know someone who can sew.
Thank goodness my mom can! She makes all sorts of clothes and things for the doll. Which is good, because even the stuff at Kohl’s has gotten outrageous!
I’m so thankful my girls never got into the American Girl Dolls, just outa my price range and considering what they do to a barbie doll, I’d have to keep the poor doll under lock and key instead of letting them enjoy playing with it like they should! Poke cake seems like a fair exchange to me!
I know, huh? Oh, the knots in the hair! 🙂
Some days I wish I had a little girl. But after reading your post today is not one of them. 😉 I’ve heard friends complain about the price of AG doll clothes but seriously I think I almost choked as well when I read about the 350$ car. I bought my boys a car they can actually drive for 1/3 that!
Also poke cake is delicious. My favorite is coconut!
Yum!! This cake sounds amazing…and easy!
Love this! Would love for you to share this on our Kitchen Fun and Crafty link party… http://kitchenfunwithmy3sons.blogspot.com/2012/11/kitchen-fun-and-crafty-friday-link_23.html?m=1
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