Strawberries And Cream Poke Cake – This strawberries and cream poke cake may look complicated but, it’s not. You can be as creative as you like decorating the top. For me, it often depends on the day I make it, as to how I finish it off. If time is an issue and I’m in a hurry, just before serving I slice fresh strawberries and pile them on top with a dusting of powdered sugar. Add a couple of sprigs of mint and voila…magic.
Ingredients you’ll need:
1 [16.25] oz box white cake mix, plus eggs, oil and water to prepare [See Cook’s note]
1 [14] oz can sweetened condensed milk
2 [8] oz cream cheese, softened
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 quarts fresh strawberries, divided
4 cup sweetened fresh whipped cream or 16 oz frozen whipped topping, thawed
4 oz white chocolate, grated
few drops pink or red food coloring [optional]
Directions:
Prepare the white cake in a 9 x 13 inch baking pan per the instructions on the packaging. Use the recommended amount of eggs, oil and water. Remove from the oven and use the back of a wooden spoon or to similar poke holes all over the cake.
In a medium size mixing bowl, whip together the sweetened condensed milk, cream cheese and vanilla for 2 minutes. Whip until fluffy and fully blended. Whip in 1 cup of sweetened whipped cream. Add a few drops of food coloring, if desired.
Spread half of the whipped cream cheese filling onto the warm cake filling the holes. Hull and cube enough strawberries to equal 2 cups and set aside the desired amount of whole berries to decorate the top. Mix the cubed strawberries into the remaining cream cheese mixture by hand then spread this over the top.
Place the cake into the fridge to cool completely. After cooled, frost with the remaining whipped cream and decorate as desired with grated white chocolate and the reserved whole strawberries. Yield: 16 pieces
Cook’s note:
1) To prepare the cake from scratch use this White Buttermilk Cake.
2) To decorate the cake as pictured additional whipped cream or whipped topping will be needed.
See it at The Weekend Potluck here
- 1 [16.25] oz box white cake mix, plus eggs, oil and water to prepare [See Cook's note]
- 1 [14] oz can sweetened condensed milk
- 2 [8] oz cream cheese, softened
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 quarts fresh strawberries, divided
- 4 cup sweetened fresh whipped cream or 16 oz frozen whipped topping, thawed
- 4 oz white chocolate, grated
- few drops pink or red food coloring [optional]
- Prepare the white cake in a 9 x 13 inch baking pan per the instructions on the packaging. Use the recommended amount of eggs, oil and water. Remove from the oven and use the back of a wooden spoon or to similar poke holes all over the cake.
- In a medium size mixing bowl, whip together the sweetened condensed milk, cream cheese and vanilla for 2 minutes. Whip until fluffy and fully blended. Whip in 1 cup of sweetened whipped cream. Add a few drops of food coloring, if desired.
- Spread half of the whipped cream cheese filling onto the warm cake filling the holes.
- Hull and cube enough strawberries to equal 2 cups and set aside the desired amount of whole berries to decorate the top.
- Mix the cubed strawberries into the remaining cream cheese mixture by hand then spread this over the top.
- Place the cake into the fridge to cool completely.
- After cooled, frost with the remaining whipped cream and decorate as desired with grated white chocolate and the reserved whole strawberries.
2) To decorate the cake as pictured additional whipped cream or whipped topping will be needed.
This looks fabulous! I love the addition of white chocolate, too.
Thanks Joanne, it is quite tasty! (I’m a bit biased ☺)
This is the perfect cake for Valentine’s Day. Thank you Melissa
Linda, come on down I’ll make one. ☺
This looks and sounds delicious, Melissa! Thanks for sharing, I can’t wait to try it 🙂
Hi Sheila, it’s my pleasure.
this looks awesome.
I just made this for a family birthday celebration! Looks delicious and I can’t wait to eat it! Thanks for sharing:) I’ll let you know how it turns out!
Thank you for posting this recipe. I made this for my family Easter dinner and everyone loved it. I’ve been looking for a recipe that tastes like my favorite bakery’s Strawberries And Cream cake for almost a year and this one is even better! I used your buttermilk cake recipe and now I can’t wait to try it again. I might even try it with other fruits like raspberries or pineapple. Just wondering – have you tried frosting it with buttercream?
You can frost this with buttercream, if you prefer. I find with the cheesecake filling it can be a bit heavy and the whipped cream is just right in my opinion. So happy you loved this one we do too!
I am wondering how much sugar is needed to make the 4 cups of sweetened whipping cream? Should it be stabilized? I am alittle nervous working with whipping cream but am making this as a special birthday cake and want it to be spectacular! Thank you.
Whipping cream can be stabilized in any number of ways. However, it still isn’t something you can make several days in advance. I would say 3-4 Tbsp per cup is a good rule of thumb then taste and add more if needed. One of my favorite ways to stabilize whipped cream is to whip in some marshmallow fluff. The gelatin in the fluff helps to stabilize the whipped cream and doesn’t change the flavor. Start with 1/2 cup then add more if you like. Hope this helps!
I’ve got a couple of dumb questions. Is the 4 cups of whipped cream measured AFTER it’s whipped? If so, about how much heavy cream would I buy to make 4 cups whipped?
And you do mean that the whipped cream is sweetened and whipped before it’s whipped it into the condensed milk, cream cheese and vanilla, right?
Thanks for answering. 🙂
Hi Dianne, those aren’t dumb questions at all, I’m happy to help. Generally, 2 cups of heavy cream will make 4 cups of whipped cream. {Around 3-4 Tbsp pf sugar per cup to sweeten.] In the case of this cake, more won’t hurt. ☺ And, yes, the cream should be whipped. Think of it as if you were adding a cup of Cool Whip to the filing. Hope this helps.
Thanks! I’m sending the hubs to the store. YAY!
My pleasure, enjoy!
Have you ever tried making this with a chocolate cake? Wondering if it would taste like chocolate covered strawberries. What do you think?
I haven’t but it sounds wonderful. Let me know if you try it!
would like to follow & print receipe for Strawberries-and-cream-poke-cake looks delicious
Hi Marsha, you can print this recipe by choosing the print option on the recipe template or use the print icon with the share buttons. To follow, choose subscribe and enter your email address and follow the prompts.
This looks so delicious, can not wait to try it.
I made your coconut poke cake and loved it but want to make a July 4 version with strawberries instead of pineapple. Could I replace the cheese mixtures with vanilla pudding in this recipe? Have any ideas? Was going to make a flag design on top with fruit. Do not want to use gelatin in cake.
Hi Bonny, have you seem my strawberries and cream poke cake? That might be a better choice and easier to adapt. Have a safe July 4th!
Looks absolutely scrumptious can’t wait to try it
Thank you!
I did not find these directions easy to follow. I had never stabilized whipped cream so I tried to add marshmallow fluff at the end and had lumps. I also found the cream cheese mixture was too thick to be absorbed into my buttermilk cake. I also found when I added the second layer of topping that contained the strawberries my dish was almost overflowing which made decorating with the whipped cream and strawberries almost impossible. To make it worse, this cake had to transported across town with just waxed paper draped loosely across the top as no cover would fit and I did not want to crush the top. I don’t think I will try again regardless of taste.
Too bad you had so many issues. If your whipped cream was lumpy that indicates over beating. It’s imperative that you use the correct size pan and make the holes large in the cake as the filling has chunks of strawberries in it which would never fill small holes poked with a fork. This particular cake if made like I did in the pictures, would be difficult to transport and perhaps a less involved topping would have been more suitable in this instance. I would have suggested that you frost it simply with whipped cream and perhaps finished the top with berries after you arrived at your destination.
This looks so pretty and tasty ! I will try it. Thanks, where do you find the buttermilk cake recipe? Please
Thanks Linda, if you’ll click on the highlighted words “white buttermilk cake” in the narrative it will take you to the recipe. Otherwise, search the archives.
SCRUMPTIOUS and beautiful cake! I want a big piece..NOW! =) Thanks so much for sharing with us at Weekend Potluck!!
Thank you!
Just starting to make this beauty and wondering if you could use buttermilk instead of water in the box mix?
Yes ma’am EVEN BETTER. I often do that when I use a boxed cake mix to add more flavor. Go for it!