Caramel Carrot Cake Poke Cake
This 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 fluffy frosting and drenched in caramel sauce.
If you want a more traditional recipe! Check out my Classic Carrot Cake made completely from scratch!
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 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. Seriously, don’t even look at the calorie count.
But honestly, when something tastes this good, who cares if you have to buy new pants, amirite?
Summer is still a couple of months away anyway. But seriously, though, you’re going to love this cake!
This carrot cake recipe is made from an adapted cake box mix. However, you can definitely use your favorite from-scratch recipe and use the frosting and toppings and the end result will be very similar.
This carrot cake is anything but basic.
It’s topped with a delicious whipped frosting made with cheesecake pudding mix which stands in for traditional cream cheese frosting.
Then the salted caramel sauce is just over the top, once you top it with pecans, it’s game over (for your diets, that is).
I loved the way everything came together and the slight crunch of the pecans was great for the texture of the cake.
Everyone loves this cake and always has seconds!
How To Make It:
Begin with a cake mix, it can be your favorite brand, I like Duncan Hines. You can also make your favorite from scratch carrot cake instead.
Mix all of the cake ingredients EXCEPT for the sweetened condensed milk together in a large bowl with a hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Pour the batter into a prepared 9×13-inch baking pan and bake.
Once baked, poke holes all over the cake and then pour the sweetened condensed milk all over the top of the cake.
You can do this while the cake is hot or cold, but let it soak in and cool completely before frosting.
Prepared the frosting and frost the cake.
Pour the caramel sauce over the top of the cake. I like to do this right before serving if possible.
Sprinkle chopped pecans all over the top of the cake. Slice and enjoy!
More Delicious Poke Cake Recipes:
- Banana Split Poke Cake
- Irish Cream Poke Cake
- Kahlua Poke Cake
- Grasshopper Poke Cake
- Cinnamon Roll Poke Cake
- Peach Poke Cake
Caramel Carrot Cake Poke Cake
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This post was originally published in April 2014 and was updated in March 2019 with new photos, video, and recipe clarifications.
Caramel Carrot Cake Poke Cake
Ingredients
Cake:
- 1 box carrot cake mix
- 1 (3.4 oz) box instant vanilla pudding mix dry
- 4 large eggs
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1 cup sour cream
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 cups chopped pecans optional
- 14 ounces sweetened condensed milk
Frosting:
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1/3 cup instant cheesecake pudding mix dry
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
Topping:
- 12 ounces Salted Caramel Sauce
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and grease a 9×13-inch baking pan with cooking spray and set aside.
- Combine cake ingredients except for sweetened condensed milk and mix until combined. Pour batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes.
- Let the cake cool completely in the pan. Once the cake has cooled, use a skewer to poke holes all over the cake.
- Pour the sweetened condensed milk over the top of the cake and let sit for at least 1 hour up to overnight.
- Once the cake has set, whip together the frosting ingredients until light and fluffy in a large bowl with a hand mixer or in a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, evenly spread the frosting over the cake.
- Pour the Caramel Sauce over the frosting and top it with chopped pecans. Slice and serve. Store leftover cake covered in plastic wrap or aluminum foil in the fridge for up to 2 days.
Video
Notes
- This cake is best when frosted the day of serving but you can prep the cake through Step 4 and add the frosting and caramel just before serving to save time.
Nutrition
Did You Make This Recipe?
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Do you refrigerate it?
Yes, I would refrigerate any leftovers due tot he cream-based frosting. You can leave it out for a few hours right after frosting.
Can you omit sour cream?
You can substitute with Greek yogurt or you should be able to omit it. The cake texture will change slightly but should still be good.
WOW. This is an overload of sweet. But that’s what makes it good. Definitely a keeper
This was a really delicious version of moist carrot cake that I made for a holiday! It was a huge hit! I’ll be making it again for a birthday celebration! The pecans and caramel are a very tasty addition!
So glad everyone enjoyed it!
This caramel cake looks delicious. The pictures are wow. A keeper.
My kids aren’t crazy about pecans. Can I lea e them out of the cake and just add them to the top. What’s your thought
You can omit the pecans if desired.
This was absolutely delicious ~ I made it for my birthday back in April.
Can this be frozen up to before you frost it and Carmel sauce
Hi Jan, I would think it would be best to freeze it before adding the sweetened condensed milk. Then once it thaws you’ll want to warm the cake up a bit to add the condensed milk. Let it cool then add the frosting and caramel.
I was wondering if I could make it in a Bundt pan? I recently bought a Bundt pan and am looking for recipes that start with box cake mix.
I’ve made this twice now in a 9×13” pan – we LOVE it – so rich & decadent!
I’ve made this twice – we LOVE it!! It’s so rich and decadent.
I was wondering if I could make it in a Bundt pan? I recently bought a Bundt pan and am looking for recipes that start with box cake mix.
I finally made it this weekend. I had to order the Sea Salt Caramel Sauce from Amazon. The cake is deliciously sweet!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Betty!
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.
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.
Thank you. I used 1/2 &1/2 with melted butter.
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?
Hi Sue, I would replace it with this recipe: http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1017749-bobby-flays-salted-caramel-sauce
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?
Nope, I’ve used the cheesecake before too. I usually use Jello-O brand. They Hershey’s brand doesn’t work as well.
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 🙂
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.
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?
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….
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!
What size pudding pkts? (1oz or 3oz)
It’s the 3.4, the smaller standard box. Make sure it’s instant. Enjoy!
My question is do you refrigerate the cake after pouring the sweetened condensed milk to set over night?
I didn’t, but it won’t hurt!
I was wondering if you can’t get this sea salt camel, can you make your own?
I’m sure you can, I don’t have a recipe myself but there are a lot out there!
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?
Just the dry pudding mix! Enjoy!
Should this cake be refrigerated after completion?
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.