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I just googled “who invented the poke cake” because I want to thank them! What did google give me?
Nothing!
‘Poke Cake’ doesn’t have it’s own wiki page and you can’t define it in google, but urban dictionary has a definition for jello poke cake!! Apparently the idea of the poke cake originated around 1969 as a way to increase jello sales. Lucky for them, it worked, and we’re still hooked on the idea of the poke cake today!
What’s not to love? There is delicious cake combined with ooey gooey filling – it could be jello mix, pudding mix, hot fudge, sweetened condensed milk, or peanut butter sauce!
If everyone loves the poke cake, why not have a poke cake recipe for every occasion?!
This poke cake is all about New Year’s Eve. Which, in my world, means it includes champagne and glitter :) Champagne is baked into the cake mix and I topped the cake with cherries dipped in white chocolate and covered in gold sprinkles!
The champagne flavor is not overwhelming, but it adds a nice, light airy taste. The cherry flavor is an excellent complement to the champagne, and the whole recipe becomes extra fancy when you serve each piece with a cherry dipped in white chocolate and covered in gold sprinkles. The cherries are my favorite part – can I serve just those at a New Year’s Eve party? :)
I shared another recipe that uses those dipped cherries – white chocolate champagne cheesecake shooters. I’m in love, I want to live in a world filled with champagne flavored cheesecake and fancy dipped cherries.
More top rated New Year’s Eve recipes:
White Chocolate Champagne Cheesecake Shooters and White Chocolate New Year’s Eve Puppy Chow
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Champagne Cherry Poke Cake
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 box white cake mix, plus ingredients on back of box, *replace the water with champagne*
- 1 box cherry flavored jello mix, 3 oz
- 1 cup boiling water
- ½ cup cold water
- 1 container cool whip, thawed
Dipped Cherries
- cherries, 16-20 or one for each piece of cake
- 1-2 squares white chocolate candiquik, depending on how my cherries you’re dipping
- 1 tsp vegetable shortening
- 1-2 containers gold glitter sprinkles
Instructions
Cake
- Bake the cake mix according to the directions on the package, however substitute the water for champagne, so if your box calls for 2/3 cup water use 2/3 cup champagne.
- Allow the cake to completely cool before poking holes.
- Once cooled, use a straw to poke holes all over the top of the cake.
- Combine the cherry jello mix and boiling water, and stir until dissolved.
- Add in the cold water, and stir again.
- Pour the jello mixture evenly over the cake, allowing it to seep into the holes you created.
- Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.
- Before serving, top the cake with cool whip and garnish each piece with a cherry dipped in gold sprinkles.
Dipped Cherries
- Pour the gold sprinkles in a very small bowl.
- Wash and dry the cherries. Melt 1 square of white chocolate candiquik with vegetable shortening in the microwave for 1 minute and 30 seconds on 50% power. Continue to microwave on 50% power in 20 second intervals until the chocolate is melted.
- Dip one cherry at a time in the melted chocolate, allowing the excess chocolate to fall back into the bowl.
- Then dip each cherry into the bowl with gold sprinkles. You may have to shake or rotate the sprinkles to get them to cover all of the chocolate. Place on a plate to harden until your ready to use them.
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclosure
All nutritional values are approximate and provided to the reader as a courtesy. Changing ingredients and/or quantities will alter the estimated nutritional calculations.
That’s crazy that there’s no origin of the fabulous poke cake! This one looks perfect for New Year’s!
Thanks for visiting Kelly!
This looks great. I think I will try subbing more champagne for the cold water with the jello so the alcohol isn’t all cooked out.
That’s a great idea if you’d like a stronger champagne flavor!
I would honestly love to know who invented the poke cake too! This one is a beauty. Happy New Year!
The creator of the poke cake could be making a lot of money!!
What a gorgeous cake, Beth – I’m such a huge fan of champagne and having it cake form sounds divine!
Thank you Melanie!