Chocolate Poke Cake with Whipped Coconut Icing
Chocolate Poke Cake with Whipped Coconut Icing

Chocolate Poke Cake with Whipped Coconut Icing



Recipe by: Willow Bird Baking with icing adapted from Missy Dew on Tasty Kitchen
Yield: 9 servings

Simply: one of the best cakes ever. A Texas Sheet Cake doused with chocolate glaze and topped with fluffy whipped coconut icing. You won’t believe the taste.

Cake Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup sugar
dash salt
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Sauce Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon cocoa
3 tablespoons milk
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Whipped Coconut Icing Ingredients:
1 cup milk
5 tablespoons flour
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar (not powdered sugar)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup coconut plus more for topping


Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9-inch square baking pan with a parchment paper sling (I cut two 9-inch wide sheets that are longer than the pan so they’ll hang over the edges a bit, making it easy to pull the cake out later. I then lay them in the pan, one horizontal and the other vertical). Spray the parchment paper with cooking spray. In a large bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, sugar, and salt together and set aside.

In a small saucepan, bring the butter, vegetable oil, cocoa powder, and water to a boil over medium-high heat. Remove it from the heat and whisk in into the dry ingredients well. Mix in the buttermilk, egg, and vanilla. Pour into your prepared baking pan and bake at 350 degrees F for about 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out with just a few moist crumbs.

Poke holes in the cake with the back of a wooden spoon. While the cake starts to cool, make the sauce. In a medium saucepan, bring the butter, cocoa, and milk to a boil. Remove them from the heat and add the icing sugar and vanilla. Stir to combine. Pour over the warm cake and let it sit to soak up the chocolate sauce and cool completely.

To make the frosting, heat the milk, flour, and granulated sugar together over medium heat, whisking constantly. Once it starts to boil, continue whisking and heating it for around 7 minutes or until it’s very thick, like cake batter consistency. Remove the mixture from the heat and add the vanilla extract. Remove the mixture to a shallow pan and let the mixture cool completely (after a bit, I stuck mine in the fridge to hurry it along). Once the mixture is cool, beat the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer until soft and fluffy. Add the completely cooled mixture and beat on high until you have fluffy frosting the consistency of stiff whipped cream. Mix in the coconut. Frost your completely cooled cake with a thick layer. Sprinkle more coconut on top.

30 Comments on Chocolate Poke Cake with Whipped Coconut Icing

  1. Jess
    October 28, 2013 at 3:45 pm (10 years ago)

    This looks amazing!

    Reply
  2. Amanda @ Once Upon a Recipe
    October 28, 2013 at 4:30 pm (10 years ago)

    These are great suggestions for new and old cooks!I really need to work more on my mise en place – I often jump into a recipe headfirst and then end up scrambling throughout. And this cake – divine!

    Reply
  3. Elizabeth @ Confessions of a Baking Queen
    October 28, 2013 at 5:14 pm (10 years ago)

    Great tips- starting with clean countertops and a clean sink/dishwasher is defo a number one thing to do! Dirty dishes can easily take over and make a disaster!! This poke cake looks great!

    Reply
  4. Jennifer | Bake or Break
    October 28, 2013 at 9:49 pm (10 years ago)

    This looks incredible, Julie! I love, love, love coconut, and this frosting might be life-changing.

    Reply
  5. A_Boleyn
    October 28, 2013 at 10:28 pm (10 years ago)

    I’ve heard of this cooked 7 minute frosting before and one day I’ll give it a try. Even though I’m quite adventurous about a lot of desserts, cakes are still something I hesitate in diving in to. I’m more likely to do cupcake versions of cake but sometimes, cupcakes just don’t ‘cut it’. πŸ™‚ The combination of chocolate and coconut, of course, sounds like a great one.

    Reply
    • Julie Ruble
      October 28, 2013 at 10:32 pm (10 years ago)

      You’d be an excellent cake baker!! BTW, this one isn’t 7-minute frosting, although it is cooked. In 7-minute frosting, you cook egg whites and sugar together. This one’s almost a thickened milk frosting! It’s the weirdest thing, but SO fantastic. I think it’d be good on cupcakes, too!

      Reply
  6. Dina
    October 31, 2013 at 2:17 pm (10 years ago)

    it looks delish!

    Reply
  7. Barbara | Creative Culinary
    November 1, 2013 at 2:21 pm (10 years ago)

    My daughter lives in a condo and has a galley kitchen. We recently did a mini kitchen makeover to free up some counter space and it was amazing what a few simple changes made. Our favorite? We created a spice rack on the one empty bit of wall space above her sink; some plain metal pieces were attached to the wall and then we put all of her spices into spice containers with magnetic bottoms and clear tops. She can see all of them right in front of her and it opened up a ton of cabinet space as well. Clutter was her demon; keeping your space free of clutter makes for a much more enjoyable working environment…so I’m onboard with your tips!

    We’ve helped several of her friends do something similar so thought I would share this project. Simple IKEA metal frames and Container Store spice jars. She loves it!

    http://www.creative-culinary.com/wp-content/uploads/after-sink-faucet-spices.jpg

    LOVE this cake…seriously have to make it soon. I might have to add booze. πŸ™‚

    Reply
  8. vanillasugarblog
    November 1, 2013 at 8:39 pm (10 years ago)

    That frosting!
    I am such a coconut-junkie!
    This paired with an ice cold glass of milk–oh I would be in heaven.

    Reply
  9. Jenny @ BAKE
    November 8, 2013 at 9:00 am (10 years ago)

    I think that I’d forgotten some of the joy of cooking in the busy-ness of life, I loved your point about pouring a drink and enjoying the process. I’m going to make time this weekend to do just that. This cake looks incredible too.

    Reply
  10. Haley @ The Girly Girl Cooks
    November 13, 2013 at 6:13 pm (10 years ago)

    Wow! This cake is the combination of everything I love….chocolate cake and coconut! This will definitely be loved by everyone in my family πŸ™‚

    Reply
  11. Tiffany
    November 13, 2013 at 7:32 pm (10 years ago)

    Looks delicious! Do you store the cake on counter at room temp after it’s frosted?

    Reply
    • Julie Ruble
      November 13, 2013 at 8:43 pm (10 years ago)

      I stuck mine in the fridge, just in case. But I do let it sit out for 25 minutes or so before eating so the frosting will be soft πŸ™‚

      Reply
  12. Sam Ponce
    November 15, 2013 at 8:51 am (10 years ago)

    This recipe sounds amazing and your tips are fantastic; I always start baking with a clean kitchen but I never prep… Gonna start though! I’ve got one question: when you poke the cooked cake with your wooden spoon, do you go all the way through the cake or just about half-way? I don’t mind repeating recipes to get them right, but thought I’d ask about this step! Thanks so much for sharing!

    Reply
    • Julie Ruble
      November 15, 2013 at 8:55 am (10 years ago)

      Thanks, Sam! I was pretty indiscriminate about my poking, but I’d say I went about 3/4 of the way through the cake — almost all the way down but not quite. Hope that helps πŸ™‚ You’re gonna love the cake!

      Reply
  13. Kathy
    November 18, 2013 at 5:58 pm (10 years ago)

    Oh My Goodness!!! My husband and I just cut this cake and it is divine. Thanks so much for sharing the recipe.

    Reply
    • Julie Ruble
      November 18, 2013 at 6:13 pm (10 years ago)

      Yay! I’m so glad to hear that, Kathy!!

      Reply
  14. Suzanne S
    November 19, 2013 at 10:03 pm (10 years ago)

    I made this recipe for a girls get together and it was divine! Everyone loved it. I also shared my thoughts on it and one of your pictures on my blog with a link back here. Thanks for all of the great recipes!

    Reply
    • Julie Ruble
      December 19, 2013 at 8:39 pm (10 years ago)

      Thank you, Suzanne! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!

      Reply
  15. Ali R
    April 20, 2014 at 3:23 pm (10 years ago)

    In the sauce ingredients when you say 1 tbs of cocoa, are you talking about powder cocoa?

    Reply
    • Julie Ruble
      April 20, 2014 at 6:24 pm (10 years ago)

      Yes, cocoa powder.

      Reply
  16. T
    February 24, 2017 at 10:34 am (7 years ago)

    When I made the chocolate sauce, it seized when I put the powdered sugar in! What did I do wrong? Did I add the sugar too quickly?

    Thanks!

    Reply
    • Julie Ruble
      February 24, 2017 at 2:24 pm (7 years ago)

      Hi T! Sorry that happened! You can potentially thin it out by heating it with a little more milk. It might be that the sugar all at once made it too thick? I’d say try gradually next time, and feel free to adjust the ratios of milk and sugar to make it sweet enough AND thin enough. Hope that helps!

      Reply

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