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This easy Milky Way Poke Cake is a decadent dessert filled with chocolate and caramel and topped with fluffy frosting and candy bars. A real crowd pleaser!

milky way poke cake on a white plate with milky way candy bars

If you like poke cake recipes, you are going to love this easy Milky Way Poke Cake! It’s loaded with chocolate and caramel, and it tastes just like a Milky Way candy bar. A chocolate lover’s dream dessert!

The weather has been just a tad cooler than normal here in the desert, so I felt inspired to do a little baking. The kids are on summer break, and I thought it would be fun to indulge them with a special dessert. A sweet send-off for the new week.

We made an easy Butterfinger poke cake last week, and that went fast! This time around, I decided to indulge the chocolate lovers in our family, and I made a Milky Way poke cake. Yep, we’re working our way down the candy aisle, here!

You guys, this chocolate poke cake is a truly decadent, rich dessert, but it’s super easy to make. Since the kids love helping when it comes to dessert, my daughter did the baking.  It’s perfect for birthdays, potlucks, holidays or whenever you’re craving chocolate!

How to Make a Milky Poke Cake

I cut some corners here and used a cake mix to make the cake. But, you can easily make this cake from scratch.

Just bake the cake, and when it cools down, poke holes all over the cake. Normally, we use the handle of a wooden spoon, but we found that using 2 straws made holes that were the perfect size.

I let the kids use a drinking straw to poke holes in the cake. They had fun eating the little tubes of cake that got stuck in the straw.

poke holes in chocolate cake with straws

When the cake is completely cool, pour caramel syrup all over the cake. Then, pour some chocolate syrup all over the cake. Make sure the syrup gets into the holes.

pour caramel syrup into chocolate poke cake
I like to refrigerate the cake at this point so that the syrup has a chance to firm up. I think this step makes it easier to frost.

poke holes in chocolate cake with a drinking straw

I wanted the frosting to be light and fluffy — kind of like the nougat in a Milky Way bar. So, I combined a can of chocolate frosting with one small tub of Cool Whip and spread it over the cake. Then, I added a few swirls of chocolate and caramel syrup over the top.

chocolate caramel poke cake in a glass baking dish with chocolate cool whip frosting

It still looked a little bit plain, so I added some bite-sized Milky Way pieces before I served the cake.  You can chop up larger candy bars if you can’t find the bite-sized ones.

chocolate poke cake with fluffy frosting and milky way candies with chocolate and caramel syrup in a glass pan
Then, we had to have few more drizzles of syrup before achieving chocolate – caramel perfection.  Voila — a Milky Way poke cake! Yum!

milky way poke cake and slice of cake on a white plate

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Milky Way Poke Cake Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Milky Way Poke Cake

By: Dee
This easy Milky Way Poke Cake is a decadent dessert filled with chocolate and caramel and topped with fluffy frosting and candy bars. A real crowd pleaser!

Prep Time: 3 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Refrigeration Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 3 minutes
Servings: 12

Ingredients  

  • 1 box chocolate cake mix
  • ½ cup butter, melted or vegetable oil
  • 1 ¼ cups water
  • 3 eggs
  • chocolate syrup
  • caramel syrup
  • 8 ounce Cool Whip
  • 1 jar chocolate frosting
  • Milky Way candy bars We used bite sized.
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Instructions 

  • Make cake according to package directions.
  • Let cool, and poke holes into cake with large straw.
  • Pour chocolate and caramel syrup all over cake, and allow to cool completely
  • Mix frosting with Cool Whip, and spread all over top of cake.
  • Top with more syrup and bite-sized Milky Way candy bars before serving. Keep refrigerated

Nutrition

Calories: 248kcal, Carbohydrates: 37g, Protein: 4g, Fat: 10g, Saturated Fat: 6g, Cholesterol: 64mg, Sodium: 297mg, Potassium: 36mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 22g, Vitamin A: 330IU, Calcium: 50mg, Iron: 1.7mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
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Recipe was originally published in 2014 and updated in 2019

slice of chocolate poke cake with chocolate cool whip frosting, caramel and chocolate sauce and milky way bars

I hope you enjoy this easy chocolate poke cake as much as we do!

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13 Comments

  1. John says:

    I followed the pattern, but I got a little extra and made the cake and caramel syrup from scratch, used homemade buttercream instead of canned icing and fresh whipped cream instead of Cool Whip. It was marvelous.

    1. Dee says:

      Sounds amazing! Thanks for sharing, John!