This Halloween Graveyard Poke Cake is the perfect dessert for a party! It's easy to make and can be decorated to look like a graveyard scene. If you are looking for a cute and slightly spooky cake for Halloween, then this is the recipe for you!
Jump to:
- Why Everyone Loves our Tombstone Poke Cake.
- Dig Up These Ingredients for a Graveyard Cake
- Kitchen tools to make the Poke Cake
- How to make Graveyard Poke Cake
- Make-Ahead, Storage, and Freezer Tips
- Expert Tips
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Variations
- Halloween Pairings for the Poke Cake
- 📖 Recipe
- 💬 Comments
Why Everyone Loves our Tombstone Poke Cake.
- This graveyard poke cake uses a boxed cake mix. So it is very easy to make.
- It's the perfect dessert for a Halloween party.
Dig Up These Ingredients for a Graveyard Cake
- devil's food cake mix
- vegetable oil
- large eggs
- instant white chocolate pudding mix (box)
- whole milk
- green and orange food coloring
- whipped topping
- Oreo cookies
- semi-sweet chocolate chips
Graveyard Cake decorations
- ghosts, pumpkins, black cat peep candy
- gummi worms
- Halloween sprinkles
- Milano cookies
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Kitchen tools to make the Poke Cake
- 9" x 13" baking pan with lid
- Stainless Steel Mixing Bowls
- Measuring Spoons and Cups
- Wooden Spoon
- Whisk
How to make Graveyard Poke Cake
This is an overview of the recipe. The full instructions are below in the recipe card.
The last step, decorate the top of the cake with sprinkles, candy pumpkins, ghosts, cats, and tombstone cookies.
Make-Ahead, Storage, and Freezer Tips
This Halloween Poke Cake should be stored in the fridge for up to three days. Make sure to keep your cake tightly covered with plastic wrap or aluminum foil to protect it.
A covered airtight container works very well.
Expert Tips
Expert Tip: You can top this cake with chocolate pudding instead of the cool whip if you prefer.
- Follow the directions on the back of your cake mix, because they are all different. I used Betty Crocker.
- The key to making this cake is to poke holes most of the way through so the pudding can seep down into the cake and make it extra moist.
- I like to use a wooden spoon to poke the holes, but you can also use a smoothie straw instead.
- You can buy pre-crushed oreo crumbs or place your cookies in a plastic bag and crush them with a rolling pin.
- Check the ingredients on the back of your cake mix as they can vary slightly depending on the brand. I used Betty Crocker for this recipe.
- You can also use an unused clean medicine syringe to insert the pudding into the holes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Poke cakes got their name from the practice of poking holes into the cake to allow the pudding or other filling to seep in.
The most common is to use the handle of a wooden spoon to make small holes evenly throughout the cake.
Yes, you could experiment with other flavors of cake mix for this recipe. Just be sure to follow the baking directions for the cake mix that you use.
Variations
- You can change up the decorations on top of this cake, based on the candy that you can find in your local store.
- Instead of using Milano Cookies, try also use Nutter Butter Cookies.
- Skip the effort of melting chocolate chips and use an edible marker, or black gel icing to decorate the tombstones.
- You could also top the cake with chocolate shavings instead of the Oreo crumbs.
Halloween Pairings for the Poke Cake
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If you click on the number of servings in the recipe card you can adjust the measurements up or down for the exact number of servings you need.
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Halloween Graveyard Cake
Equipment
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F/177°C. Lightly grease a 9" x 13" baking dish.
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine cake mix, water, oil, and eggs. Stir until well combined. Pour the cake batter into the prepared baking dish.
- Bake the cake for 30-35 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Set the cake aside to cool.
- Using the handle of a wooden spoon poke holes into the cake.
- In a medium bowl combine the instant pudding and milk. Whisk until smooth, about 3 minutes.
- Separate the pudding into 2 medium size bowls.
- Mix green food coloring into one bowl of pudding and mix orange food coloring into the second bowl of pudding.
- Carefully spoon or use a clean cooking syringe to insert the pudding into the holes. I like to alternate colors.
- Top the cake with the whipped topping.
- In the bowl of a food processor with the S blade attached, add the oreo cookies, and crush them into a fine crumb. Spread the crumbs over the top of the cake.
- To make the gravestones, in a small microwave-safe bowl melt the chocolate chips in 30-second intervals until melted and smooth. Place the melted chocolate into a sealable plastic bag and snip off a tiny corner. Break the bottom off of each Milano cookie. Using the plastic bag of chocolate, pipe R.I.P onto the Milano cookies to resemble tombstones.
- Decorate the top of the cake with sprinkles, candy pumpkins, ghosts, cats, and tombstone cookies.
- Set the cake in the fridge to chill for 2 hours. Slice and serve!
- Slice and serve!
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