This Sea Salt Caramel Carrot Cake Poke Cake is so sweet and delicious, you’ll never want any other carrot cake again! Baked to perfection and saturated in sweetened condensed milk, then topped with a fluffy frosting and drenched in caramel sauce.
I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter or at least a great day with their families! I know most associate Carrot Cake with Easter, but I think it’s a great dessert that can be served all year round! This particular Carrot Cake is a Poke Cake which means it’s had holes poked in it and then drenched in Sweetened Condensed Milk. Then it’s topped with frosting and in this case Sea Salt Caramel Sauce from Stonewall Kitchen and some chopped pecans.
I had never made or had a Poke Cake before this one and now I understand why they are so popular, they’re incredibly moist and delicious and let’s just try to forget about the fact that they’re pretty much waistline suicide.
If you’ve been reading the blog for a while, then you know I have a slight obsession with Stonewall Kitchen products. I was super excited to partner with them again for a Spring/Summer Series after the Fall/Winter Series was so successful! You might remember my Banoffee Pie and Wild Maine Blueberry Pancakes in a Jar which were pretty popular.
Sea Salt Caramel Carrot Cake Poke Cake
A fun and delicious twist on the classic carrot cake!
Ingredients
Cake:
- 1 box Carrot Cake Mix
- 1 package Instant Vanilla Pudding
- 4 Eggs
- 1/2 cup Milk
- 1 cup Sour Cream
- 3/4 cup Vegetable Oil
- 1 1/2 cups Chopped Pecans Optional
- 14 oz. can Sweetened Condensed Milk
Frosting:
- 2 cups Heavy Cream
- 1/3 cup Instant Cheesecake Pudding
- 1/2 cup Confectioners' Sugar
Topping:
- Stonewall Kitchen Sea Salt Caramel Sauce
- 1/2 cup Chopped Pecans
Instructions
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Preheat 350 F.
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Combine cake ingredients except for Sweetened Condensed Milk and mix until combined.
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Pour batter into a greased 9 x 13 inch pan.
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Bake for 40-45 minutes.
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Let cake cool completely. Do not remove cake from pan, it cannot stand on its own.
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Once cake has cooled, use a skewer to evenly poke the cake about 25 - 40 times.
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Pour sweetened condensed milk over the cake and let set over night.
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Once cake has set, whip together frosting ingredients until light and fluffy, evenly spread frosting over the cake.
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Heat opened Sea Salt Caramel Sauce jar in the microwave for 20 - 30 seconds.
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Pour Sea Salt Caramel Sauce over the frosting and top it with chopped pecans.
The Sea Salt Caramel Sauce was the perfect touch to this cake, the combination of sweet and salty was so delicious. I loved the way everything came together and the slight crunch of the pecans was great for the texture of the cake. Everyone loved this cake and I think almost everyone had seconds!
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I love to blend my traditional Maine roots and millennial imagination. I have a serious sweet tooth, an Audible addiction, and I’m always up for exploring new places!
Sea salt caramel carrot poke cake says
In this recipe I am or sure for the icing portion if I use prepared pudding or just powdered pudding mix?? Can you help me?
[email protected] says
Just the dry pudding mix! Enjoy!
Pat queen says
Should this cake be refrigerated after completion?
Rebecca says
Hi Pat, if you’re not going to eat it right away than I would definitely store it in the fridge, but make sure to remove it an hour or so before consuming so it can come back to room temp.
Dolly Myers says
I was wondering if you can’t get this sea salt camel, can you make your own?
[email protected] says
I’m sure you can, I don’t have a recipe myself but there are a lot out there!
Tana says
My question is do you refrigerate the cake after pouring the sweetened condensed milk to set over night?
[email protected] says
I didn’t, but it won’t hurt!
Magan says
What size pudding pkts? (1oz or 3oz)
[email protected] says
It’s the 3.4, the smaller standard box. Make sure it’s instant. Enjoy!
Bev says
Hi I made this cake exactly as noted however the cake came out very dense, it was very yummy but I wanted it to look like the picture, any suggestions? I made my own caramel sauce, the frosting was good, different tasting due to the pudding, I think the entire recipe layered a lot of great flavors, I am wondering if the “poke” step could be left out ? I won our family holiday bake off too! Thanks for posting this recipe….
[email protected] says
Hmmm… I’m not sure. I’ve made it several times and it’s always moist and fluffy, definitely heavy though. How long did the condensed milk sit before serving. You could definitely leave it out next time! The homemade caramel sauce sounds like an amazing addition!
Sandra L says
Absolutely Delicious! I poked with a straw instead of a skewer & also didn’t let it sit over night ( I had missed reading this step and had planned for making for a dinner party later in the evening) I poured the condensed milk while the cake was still hot and let sit in the fridge for 2 hours to cool. I must have done something wrong with the topping since it didn’t get fluffy. Luckily, I had some Cool whip in the freezer which I think was a great topping with such a sweet cake. Thanks for your recipe. I indent to make again with no changes as Im certain it will be that much better.
[email protected] says
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, sorry to hear the frosting didn’t fluff up. It’s the same base recipe I use for almost all of my others. What kinda of pudding did you use?
Sandra L. says
I used Vanilla instant pudding since I couldn’t find cheesecake pudding. I figured they are made the same, just a different flavor. Is the cheesecake pudding A thicker pudding?
[email protected] says
Nope, I’ve used the cheesecake before too. I usually use Jello-O brand. They Hershey’s brand doesn’t work as well.
Sandra L says
Thanks for the tips. I intend to make this again since it was so delish, I’ll make sure to email if my topping fails me again (though, it’s probably just me 🙂
Sue Malewitz says
Looks delicious. I intend to make it for a family gathering next weekend. If making my own caramel sauce, should I add some sea salt to it?
Rebecca says
Hi Sue, I would replace it with this recipe: http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1017749-bobby-flays-salted-caramel-sauce
Cherie says
I made this and it was delicious. I had trouble with the frosting. We don’t have heavy cream here so I found a recipe for it and made 2 cups. Added the rest of the ingredients and whipped. Problem is the frosting was real runny and my caramel sauce ran off. Can you help me with what i did wrong. Thank You for the recipe, it was still great.
Rebecca says
Hi Cherie, can you tell me how you made the heavy cream? My guess is that that substitution didn’t work quite as well as the frosting should be nice and fluffy and not runny at all. Next time you can try making my classic vanilla buttercream.
Cherie says
Thank you. I used 1/2 &1/2 with melted butter.