Lemon Poke Cake made with few ingredients and so simple! Delicious, easy poke cake recipe with a bright lemon flavor topped with sweet cream.
You only need a few ingredients to make this tasty lemon cake recipe! Bake a lemon cake per box cake mix instructions, then 2 additional ingredients are all you need to take it from good to AMAZING. I like to grate lemon zest and use that to garnish the top of the cake.
What is a Poke Cake?
Poke Cakes became popular a few years back and I have loved experimenting with different flavors. Lemon, has to be one of my favorites, though. These cakes are given their name, Poke Cake, because after the cake has been baked, holes are poked all through out the cake before adding some type of filling into the cake. For this cake, we are using Lemon Pie Filling.
Ingredients for Lemon Poke Cake recipe
Here’s what you need to make our Lemon Poke Cake recipe:
- 1 prepared Lemon Cake (from a box mix, made in a 9×13 pan)
- 21 oz can Lemon Filling
- 8 oz tub Whipped Topping (thawed)
How to make Lemon Poke Cake
Making Lemon Poke Cake is extremely easy! First, make a boxed Lemon Cake in a 9×13 pan. Cool completely.
Use the back of a wooden spoon and poke holes throughout the cake. The holes need to be on the larger side since the Lemon Filling is quite thick.
Spread the contents of the Lemon Filling over the cake, making sure that the filling goes into each hole. You can find the Lemon Filling in your local grocery store with all of the other canned pie filling and store bought graham cracker pie crusts.
The last and final step is to top the cake with whipped topping. You’re welcome to grate some lemon zest from a lemon and use that to top the cake. It adds a wonderful bright, fresh lemon flavor and is so pretty! Then refrigerate until ready to serve.
Can you replace the Cool Whip in poke cake?
If you can’t find Cool Whip where you live or you prefer not to use it in recipes, you can use stabilized whipped cream instead. If you just use regular whipped cream, the consistency will be too light and the cream will not hold up very well when mixed into the jello salad. It’s very simple to make your own stabilized whipped cream and it just takes a few minutes!
How do you make stabilized whipped cream?
To make stabilized whipped cream, you will need the following ingredients:
- 4 ounces of cream cheese (softened to room temperature)
- 1/3 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream.
- Beat the cream cheese with the powdered sugar and vanilla until soft and smooth.
- In a separate bowl, beat the whipping cream just until soft peaks form.
- Add the cream cheese mixture to the whipped cream and beat until stiff peaks are formed. Store in the refrigerator until ready to use.
A little tip for making whipped cream faster. Use a metal bowl for whipping the cream and place the bowl in the freezer for about 30 minutes before you make the whipped cream. This will significantly decrease the amount of time that you will need to beat the whipped cream – the process will go much faster!
How to Store your Poke Cake
The best way to store your Lemon Poke cake is covered, in the fridge. The cake will keep well in the fridge for up to 4 days, but is best served within a day or two. The cake should be served chilled, directly from the fridge.
Lemon Poke Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 9x13 Lemon Cake box cake mix, prepared according to package instructions
- 21 oz lemon pie filling
- 8 oz whipped topping thawed
Instructions
- After the Lemon Boxed cake has been made according to the directions on the box, allow to cool completely.
- Use the back of a wooden spoon and poke holes in the cake.
- Spoon and spread the lemon pie filling onto the cake, making sure the filling fills all of the holes created.
- Spread the whipped topping on top of the cake. Sprinkle with lemon zest, if desired.
- Refrigerate for 60 minutes before serving, if possible. Store all leftovers in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Nutrition
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Like Lemon Recipes? Try some of these:
- Lemon Cake Mix Cookies Recipe
- Lemon Lush recipe
- Lemon Ice Box Pie Recipe
- Lemon Sugar Cookies
- Easy Lemon Raspberry Truffles
- Lemon Butter Bars Recipe
- Lemon Buttermilk Pound Cake
- Easy Lemon Bread
- Lemon Blueberry Quick Bread Recipe
- Lemon Raspberry Fruit Pizza
- Lemon Drop Glazed Mini Cupcakes
- Lemon Butter Cookies
Can poke cake be made ahead of time?
Yes, you can make poke cake 1-2 days before you plan on serving it! I actually think poke cakes are even better the next day because the lemon filling has more time to seep into the cake! Just store it covered in the fridge.
Can you freeze poke cake?
You can freeze poke cake! You can freeze the entire cake, or freeze slices in airtight containers. Just thaw it in the fridge for 2-3 hours before serving.
What is lemon zest?
Lemon zest is small bits of the outside rind of lemons. It’s used in recipes to add a stronger lemon flavor. You can get lemon zest by grating the rind off a lemon using a fine cheese grater or lemon zester. Grate zest into a bowl, then measure it out as needed using measuring spoons. I don’t measure the lemon zest for this recipe, I just sprinkle it on top of the cake.
Like Easy Cake recipes? So do we!
- Strawberry Shortcake Cake recipe
- Orange Cake with Pineapple Frosting
- Lemon Buttermilk Pound Cake recipe
- Chocolate Coca Cola Cake
- Easy Vanilla Cake recipe
- Super Fast 100 Calorie Chocolate Mug Cake
- Easy Zucchini Cake recipe
- Cookies & Cream Poke Cake
- Strawberries & Cream Poke Cake
- Chocolate Chip Banana Cake recipe
- Buttermilk Banana Cake
- Death-By-Chocolate Cake recipe
- Glazed Strawberry Bundt Cake recipe
Lemon Poke Cake made with 3 ingredients and so simple! Delicious, easy poke cake recipe with a sweet lemon flavor topped with whipped cream.
Once you have the cake made, you only need 2 more ingredients to make this tasty lemon cake recipe! I like to grate lemon zest and use that to garnish the top of the cake.
Cyndi says
I’ve made this once and have another in the oven now. The only difference I did was added lemon zest and fresh lemon juice to batter
Hubby asked me to make another and he’s usually all about the chocolate
Nicole says
Oh that sounds delicious!
Nannette Rodriguez says
Yes I did and wow, it was delicious 😋 my daughter and her fiancé both agreed how delicious it was. The best was how simple and easy it was. I added a little lemon zest and oh my world. Thank you for sharing.
Jessica says
So glad you liked it!!