The ultimate Better Than Cake! This Chocolate Poke Cake is easy to make with only a few ingredients. An absolutely delicious turtle cake!
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This Better Than Cake is a decadent and indulgent dessert that is incredibly easy to make.
Moist devil's food cake gets soaked in sweetened condensed milk and caramel sauce and topped with whipped topping and heath bar bits!
Whether you serve it to guests or enjoy it yourself, this cake will be sure to wow everyone!
This Better Than Cake is better than just about everything!
- Full of Chocolate: Who doesn't like chocolate?! This will satisfy all your chocolate needs!
- Easy to make: Despite the decadent flavor, Better Than Anything Cake is actually so easy to make. This makes it a great dessert option for busy weeknights or a gathering at the end of a long day, just be sure to account for the chill time!
Chocolate Poke Cake ingredients
For the cake, you'll need:
- Devil's food cake mix (plus ingredients on back of box)
- sweetened condensed milk
- caramel sauce
- whipped topping
- Heath bars
How to make Better Than Cake
- Mix the devils food cake according to the directions on the back of the box and pour into the bottom of a lightly greased 9x13 baking dish. Bake accordingly.
- When the devils food cake is done baking, remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before the next step.
- When the cake is completely cooled, use the end of a wooden mixing spoon to poke about 12 holes evenly spaced on the surface of the cake, stopping just before you touch the bottom of the dish.
- Pour the condensed milk over the cake, allowing it to spread and fall into the holes. Using a rubber spatula, spread even more if needed.
- Repeat step 4 using the caramel sauce. Cover and allow to chill for 2 hours.
- Spread the whipped topping evenly over the cake. Top with Heath bar pieces and place back into the refrigerator for an additional 30 minutes before serving.
Tip: The condensed milk and caramel sauce will seep and absorb into the cake. Do not be alarmed if your holes are not filled as much as they were with these ingredients after the chill time. This will not affect the taste.
Turtle Cake Recipe substitutions and variations
Cake Mix: You can make this recipe with pretty much any cake mix. I'm sure it would be yummy with vanilla cake mix or our Homemade White Cake!
Condensed Milk & Caramel Sauce: We don't recommend substituting the sauces. You might be able to sub chocolate sauce for caramel sauce, but we can't recommend a sub for the sweetened condensed milk!
Cool Whip: You can use Homemade Sweetened Whipped Cream in place of cool whip!
Heath Bars: Feel free to use your favorite candy on top. Other chopped candy or even mini chocolate chips would be delicious!
How to serve Better Than Anything Cake
It's best to serve this cake straight from the fridge with plenty of whipped topping and heath pieces on top. Enjoy it with a cup of coffee, Hot Cocoa, or a glass of milk!
How to store Chocolate Turtle Cake
Storing: You can store this recipe for up to 4 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator
Freezing: This cake does not freeze well. It will turn into a soggy mess!
Chocolate Caramel Poke Cake FAQs
If you pour the condensed milk and caramel sauce on the cake when it is still warm, it may have soaked up too much.
Because you poke holes in the cake to allow the filling to seep into the cake, making a super moist and flavorful cake! You can also check out our post on How To Keep Cake Moist And How To Fix Dry Cake!
Use the end of a wooden spoon to poke holes on the surface of the cake, stopping just before you touch the bottom of the dish.
Other easy cake recipes:
Better Than Cake (Chocolate Caramel Poke Cake)
Ingredients
- 1 15 oz box Devil’s Food cake mix plus ingredients on back of box
- 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 cup caramel sauce
- 12 oz frozen whipped topping (1 ½ tubs Cool Whip)
- ¾ cup chopped Heath bars about 3 bars, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven according to the temperature on the back of the devils food cake box for a 9x13 dish. Mix the devils food cake according to the directions on the back of the box and pour into the bottom of a lightly greased 9x13 baking dish. Bake accordingly.
- When the devils food cake is done baking, remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before the next step.
- When the cake is completely cooled, use the end of a wooden mixing spoon to poke hole on the surface of the cake, stopping just before you touch the bottom of the dish. Poke about 24 holes, evenly spaced out.
- Pour the condensed milk over the cake, allowing it to spread and fall into the holes. Using a rubber spatula, spread even more if needed.
- Repeat step 4 using the caramel sauce.
- Cover and allow the cake to chill for 2 hours before the next step.
- When the cake has completed chilling, spread the whipped topping over the cake. Some whipped topping may seep into the holes, this is okay. Be sure to spread enough so that no holes appear and your cake surface is evenly and filled with whipped topping.
- Top with Heath bar pieces and place back into the refrigerator to chill for an additional 30 minutes before serving.
Terri
The instructions say to poke 12 evenly spaced holes in the cake but the picture shows 24 holes. Does the number of holes effect the end result?
Liz @ Tasty Treats & Eats
No it doesn't! That's a typo - I recommend 24 but you can do as many as you like!
Jess
Would it be okay to mix together the condensed milk and the caramel sauce together and then pour it all over the cake at once?
Liz @ Tasty Treats & Eats
I haven't tried it. I don't think it would make much of a difference, but there's also no need to mix them together and dirty another container 🙂