Boston Cream Pie Poke Cake is a simple twist on a classic dessert! Yellow cake is filled with pockets of vanilla pudding, then topped with a smooth chocolate frosting for an easy, addicting dessert!

Before we talk cake, let’s talk donuts. What is your favorite kind of donut? Do you go for the fancy, seasonal flavors like Key Lime Pie or Apple Crumble Pie? Or do you head straight for a classic cruller or cake donut? My fave is always a good ol’ Boston Cream Pie donut. Which is of course, inspired by a Boston Cream Pie. Which is really a cake, not a pie at all.

But this? This is a cake for sure! A full 9×13 yellow cake with pockets of creamy vanilla pudding topped with smooth chocolate frosting for days!

Boston Cream Pie Poke Cake

In true no-fuss food fashion, this Boston Cream Pie Poke Cake is a breeze!

First, bake your favorite yellow cake recipe (or boxed cake mix) in a 9×13 pan and allow it to cool. Using the handle of a wooden spoon or a drinking straw, poke holes all over the entire surface of the cake. Allowing the cake to cool is an important step. If it isn’t cool, the warm cake will stick to your spoon while you are poking holes and it makes a big ol’ mess and huge holes.

Mix up a small box of your favorite vanilla pudding and pour it all over the cake focusing on the holes you made. Those filled holes will become the pockets of creamy pudding within the cake, so work quick and fill ’em up! You can either keep any extra pudding in the fridge or just spread it over the surface of the cake like I did.

Finally – and here is my super secret for easily frosting a cake – remove the silver lid from a tub of chocolate frosting and pop it in the microwave for short intervals until the frosting is melted and pourable. Then? Pour it over the top of the cake and spread it evenly with a spatula. (This is the same trick I used for this Pumpkin Spice Eclair Cake.)

Just look at that gorgeous chocolate frosting! After the cake is frosted, pop it in the refrigerator to chill for at least a few hours.

The chilling allows the pudding to soak into the cake and set up. And once you cut it, you can see those glorious surprise little pockets of creamy dreamy vanilla pudding.

Now, all that’s left is to cut yourself a generous piece of this Boston Cream Pie Poke Cake and grab a fork!

See? Totally easy! Just a cake, some vanilla pudding and a tub of your favorite chocolate frosting.