This banana poke cake is the retro dessert shortcut your 1950s housewife alter ego and your 2025 time-crunched self will both adore. It starts with a boxed cake mix—because we’ve got better things to do than bake from scratch when it’s hot out and our mascara is melting.
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🎥 Video
Hit play and watch this banana pudding poke cake come together like it’s fixin’ to ruin someone’s diet and their self-control. It’s boxed cake, pudding, and whipped topping—basically the Southern trifecta of “don’t ask, just eat.”
Why this easy poke cake is my potluck bestie
Just poke the warm cake full of holes (use the handle of a wooden spoon like Grandma did), pour in that creamy pudding layer, and boom—moist, flavor-packed banana pudding cake magic.
It's a total showoff at potlucks, BBQs, and any occasion that requires dessert and applause.
Oh, and I’ve got a banana hack that keeps your slices from turning that sad brown color—because no one wants tired fruit on their cake. This one’s easy, fail-proof, and guaranteed to make you the dessert hero without breaking a sweat.
🧾 Ingredients for banana pudding poke cake
- Yellow cake mix – Because we’re not trying to win The Great British Bake Off, we’re trying to get dessert on the table before someone opens a box of store-bought cookies.
- Eggs, water, and oil – The usual suspects to make that cake mix do what it’s supposed to: rise, fluff up, and soak up the good stuff like it’s eavesdropping on a scandal. Obviously if you're starting with a pre-baked cake you won't need these.
- Sweetened condensed milk – This is the secret weapon. It sinks into the warm cake like juicy gossip at a family reunion—sweet, sticky, and impossible to ignore.
- Instant vanilla pudding mix – No stovetop, no stress. It thickens up fast and tastes like your childhood summers—if your childhood included banana pudding and questionable choices.
- Whole milk – Makes the pudding silky and rich. Skip the skim milk unless you like sad, runny desserts.
- Vanilla extract – Just a splash makes it taste homemade. Like you didn’t use a box mix and lie about it.
- Lemon juice – Keeps your bananas from going brown and weird. It’s the citrus version of setting boundaries.
- Ripe bananas – Don’t use green ones unless you want your cake to taste like regret.
- Nilla Wafers – The Southern crunch. If banana pudding doesn’t have these, someone’s gonna talk.
- Cool Whip – It’s not fancy, but it is fluffy, sweet, and effortless—basically the Dolly Parton of dessert toppings.
🥄 Optional but encouraged: Swap in evaporated milk to make the pudding thicker than your ex’s skull. Use dairy-free if you must, but don’t blame me when it's thin, runny, and tastes like sadness.
Get tips, variations, detailed storage instructions and more in this free banana pudding poke cake kitchen cheat sheet pdf. You won't even need your email.
📖 Recipe
Banana Pudding Poke Cake Recipe
Print Pin Recipe Save Recipe Rate RecipeIngredients
- 15.25 ounces butter pecan cake mix or butter yellow cake mix, baked according to instructions on box for a 13x9-inch cake.
- 14 ounces sweetened condensed milk, I use Eagle Brand
- 6.8 ounces packages instant banana pudding, 2 3.4-ounce boxes
- 4 cups milk, cold
- 8 ounces Cool Whip, thawed
- 1 cup Nilla Wafers, crushed
- 3 bananas, sliced - may need more
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice mixed with 1 cup of water, to soak banana slices
Instructions
- Prepare cake mix according to package directions for a 9 x 13 cake, adding 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla to the batter.
- Bake according to instructions.
- Remove from oven.
- Using a clean wooden spoon handle, poke holes into the warm cake. Make sure to poke the holes all the way to the bottom.
- Pour sweetened condensed milk over the cake, letting it run into the holes and soak in for a minute.
- Set aside.
- Add the instant banana pudding mix and milk to a medium mixing bowl.
- Quickly whisk until well combined but don't let it thicken.
- Pour pudding over the cake and spread it out evenly, lightly pressing it down into the holes.
- Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour. For best results refrigerate overnight.
- Peel the bananas and slice.
- Add banana slices to lemon juice and water.
- Drain on paper towels and gently pat dry.
- Place banana slices over the top of the chilled cake.
- Spread the whipped topping over the top.
- Crush Nilla Wafers to make 1 cup and evenly sprinkle them over the top of the cake.
- To serve, you can add fresh slices of banana and a few, whole 'Nilla Wafers to the top of each serving.
Notes
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- Poke the holes in the cake while it's still warm.
- Be sure to poke the holes all the way down to the bottom of the pan so that the banana pudding flavors each and every bite!
Nutrition Facts
Nutrition information is estimated as a courtesy. If using for medical purposes, please verify information using your own nutritional calculator. Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
This recipe has been tested several times. If you choose to use other ingredients, or change the technique in some way, the results may not be the same.
🔪 How to make banana poke cake
- Use the handle of a wooden spoon to poke holes in the cake and pour the sweetened condensed milk over top.
- Pour the pudding mixture over the cake. Let it chill in the fridge, covered with plastic wrap.
- Soak the sliced bananas and pat them dry. Layer them evenly over top of the instant pudding layer.
- Spread the whipped topping over the bananas and top with crushed vanilla wafer cookies.
🤫 Cook's secrets -
Hint: Soaking the banana slices in a mixture of lemon juice and water keeps 'em from turning brown as quickly. Just pat them dry before adding them to the cake!
📚 More banana pudding recipes
- Nutter Butter banana pudding: The cookies go soft, the flavor goes bam, and it disappears faster than good intentions at midnight. Sweet, crunchy, and absolutely dangerous.
- Southern banana pudding with cream cheese: A rich, creamy twist on the classic—with a no-cook, no-nonsense filling that’ll have folks begging for your secret.
- Old-Fashioned banana pudding from scratch: No shortcuts here, just pure Southern nostalgia layered with love, patience, and maybe a little gossip.
- No-bake banana pudding pie: Hot kitchen? Not today, Satan. This cool, creamy pie gives you all the flavor with zero oven time.
Y'all, I definitely have a sweet tooth and I've passed that genetic code on to each of my children.
My favorite table at the potluck? The dessert table! This creamy cake fufills all of those sweet cravings every time! And, if you're a banana pudding afficianado like I am be sure to try this Southern banana pudding cheesecake.
Don't lose this!
Keep it handy by pinning it to your favorite Pinterest board.
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