by Amber 15 Comments
Unicorn Poke Cake is a fun rainbow cake made from a box cake mix, vanilla pudding and a whipped cream frosting topped with colorful sprinkles that makes my inner unicorn completely delighted!
My daughter requested something a little different this year for her Birthday! She wanted something with pink and rainbows, sprinkles galore and whipped cream so we created this delicious cake that is totally girly and so simple. Works perfect for a unicorn themed Birthday party. Plus, you don’t need any sort of cake decorating skill to nail it!
Also try these Cake Batter Rice Krispie Wands from Leggings ‘N’ Lattes for the ultimate girly party treats.
You may remember that Chocolate Poke Cake from a few weeks back and this poke cake is the same idea. Start with a yummy cake baked in a 9 x 13 inch pan, then poke holes in it using the back of a wooden spoon. Top that with a layer of pudding and then comes the frosting.
Unicorn Poke Cake
My favorite part of this Unicorn Poke Cake are the vibrant colors inside! Aren’t they just beautiful? You can use any color combination you want. My daughter picked yellow, pink, purple and blue and it turned out really nice.
Whipped Cream Frosting
My daughter isn’t a huge fan of traditional buttercream frosting. This Whipped Cream Frosting was just right since she is a whipped cream kind of girl and it adds a really light, fluffy layer that works really well with this dessert. A great whipped cream takes just a little patience to beat the heavy cream until it sets up to that perfect consistency. Add some gelatin to the mix for a more stable topping!
Unicorn Poke Cake
- Author: Amber
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 12 servings 1x
Description
Unicorn Poke Cake is a fun rainbow cake made from a box cake mix, vanilla pudding and a whipped cream frosting topped with colorful sprinkles that makes my inner unicorn completely delighted!
Ingredients
Scale
Rainbow Cake
- 1 box white cake mix
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter (softened)
- 1 cup whole milk
- food dye (pink, purple, yellow, blue)
- non-stick cooking spray
Vanilla Pudding
- 5.1 ounce vanilla pudding (instant)
- 3 cups whole milk
Whipped Cream Frosting
- 1 cup confectioners sugar
- 3 cups heavy whipping cream
- 1 Tablespoon unflavored gelatin
- 6 Tablespoons hot water
Garnish
- rainbow sprinkles
Instructions
Unicorn Poke Cake
- Heat oven to 350 degrees.
- Use a hand or stand mixer to beat the softened butter until creamy. Add the remaining cake ingredients (milk, cake mix and eggs) and lightly beat until you have a nice, consistent batter.
- Place the batter into four bowls (or a bowl for each color you are using). Add food dye to each bowl and stir until color is consistent.
- Spray the 13 x 9 inch pan with non-stick spray and spoon the batters into it switching colors between each spoonful. Take the spoon and smooth out the top when finished.
- Bake for 28- 30 minutes.
- Remove from oven and let cool.
- Once cooled, use the bottom of a wooden spoon to gently poke holes throughout the cake.
- Make your pudding. Add a box of pudding powder to cold milk and stir until it begin to set up. Immediately pour the pudding over cake. Smooth out the top.
- Set the cake in fridge for at least 30 minutes to chill.
Whipped Cream Frosting
- As the cake is chilling, place the beaters and a mixing bowl into freezer.
- Once the beaters and bowl are chilled, assemble the hand or stand mixer and start the frosting. Beat the heavy whipping cream and confectioners sugar for 3-5 minutes. You want a stiff peak to form where when you lift the beaters, the frosting will stand straight up with a slight curl.
- In a small bowl, add 6 Tablespoons hot water and 1 Tablespoon unflavored gelatin. Mix together until dissolved. Add the mixture to the whipped cream frosting and beat again.
Finishing Touch
- Frost the cake with the whipped cream frosting and smooth the top.
- Add sprinkles! Refrigerate until serving.
- Category: Dessert
I hope this cake gets the unicorn inside you super excited! Let me know in the comments below about the gathering you will be mixing this cake up for!
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Reader Interactions
Comments
MichelleHi. I just made this cake today for my daughters birthday, it’s super cute! I did have a lot of pudding on the top and contemplated not adding icing because it was so much. I decided to remove a lot of the pudding in order to accommodate the icing. Not sure what went wrong for me, perhaps I didn’t poke enough holes? Any thoughts?
★★★★
Reply
- Amber
hmmmm, yeah, my first thought was the holes were not big enough or enough of them because most the pudding should have gone into the holes or maybe it was just a larger pudding mix and there was extra pudding!
Reply
- Lauren
Love this idea and plan to male this weekend. Do you think I could remove from pan and frost sides too? I would think I could as long as I remove from pan before I poke 5e holes and add pudding ? Ever tried it?.
Reply
- AmberSee AlsoEasy Green Bean Casserole Recipe
I am not sure because when you pour the pudding over it will kind of just go anywhere so it could be a mess removing the cake from the pan. If anything, let the pudding set up and remove the cake but still not really sure how it would work out. Not very hopeful. If you really want to frost the sides- maybe skip the pudding part and just do the colorful cake and in that case you could put it into 2 round pans and stack the cakes and frost as normal. You would also need to switch up the frosting and do a buttercream or cream cheese frosting because those would hold up better than the whipped cream for what you want to do. Let me know how it goes!
Reply
Hey Amber,
Thank you for this amazing recipe. Just wanted to let you know that your recipe is featured on our new series here:
https://www.impilos.com/unicorn-cake-recipes/
We have listed some of the best unicorn cake recipes. Congrats!
Please keep posting delicious recipes as always.Love.
Reply
- Jackie
I’m making this for our granddaughter next week….it looks perfect and very easy. . Thank you !
I think you meant to say vanilla pudding, not chocolate, in the recipe instructions #8 when making the pudding part.Reply
- Amber
Yes! Good eye Jackie. Must have had chocolate on the mind. This cake is so easy to make. I think your granddaughter will really enjoy it!
Reply
This is such a fun and festive cake! My daughter, who loves unicorns, will really enjoy this…can’t wait to make it!!
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- Brittany Limberakis
That is so cute! My little sister would be obsessed!
Reply
My daughter would LOVE this cake! It looks amazing!
Reply
- Amber
Little girls seem to love all things rainbows and sprinkles!
Reply
What a blessed little girl! So cute!
Reply
- Amber
That she is 🙂
Reply
I love this cake! It is so adorable!
Reply
- Amber
Thanks Lisa!
Reply
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