Spooky Graveyard Halloween Poke Cake
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This spooky graveyard Halloween poke cake is colorful, easy to make and fun! Also known as “Ghosts In The Graveyard” cake, this easy dessert is perfect for Halloween parties, potlucks. Your family will love this creepy and fun cake!
Table of Contents
Why We Love Graveyard Halloween Poke Cake
- Great For First Time Bakers – This type of cake is great for beginner bakers as the decorations are simple and don’t have to be perfect to still be fun. This is a great cake to make with the kids.
- Cake Mix To Make Things Faster – Cake mix makes this cake quick and easy, so you can focus on the fun Halloween decorations.
- Fun For A Party – This colorful cake looks so fun on any party table or at any potluck. Friends and family will all want a piece!
Ingredients For Graveyard Halloween Poke Cake
Find the full printable recipe with specific measurements and directions below in the recipe card.
For The Cake
- devil’s food cake mix – You can use any chocolate cake mix. A white cake mix can also be used, but the colors don’t show up as well in a yellow cake mix.
- water
- oil vegetable, olive or any cooking oil
- eggs
- instant white chocolate pudding mix can use vanilla or cheesecake also, or any white colored pudding. Could also use a spooky color like orange or green pudding if they have a speciality flavor that works.
- milk
- food coloring green and orange, regular or gel food coloring
- whipped topping like Cool Whip
- chocolate sandwich cookies like Oreos
- semisweet chocolate chips – can swap milk chocolate chips or dark chocolate chips
For The Decorations
Use as much or as little decorations as you like!
- Milano cookies for headstones, or vanilla wafers
- Halloween marshmallows pumpkin, ghoust and black cat, Peeps candy
- candy pumpkins
- Halloween sprinkles
- gummy worms
Cake Mix Note
This recipe was developed with a 15.25 ounce cake mix. Some of the cake mix brands have been decreasing the size to 13.25 ounces. You can use a 13.25 ounces box of cake mix with this recipe but make sure to add the ingredients to the mix if different, and use the bake time on the packaging.
How To Make A Graveyard Halloween Poke Cake
Making The Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9×13 baking dish.
- In a large mixing bowl add the cake mix, water, oil and eggs. Mix well until combined and a smooth batter forms.
- Pour the cake batter into the prepared baking dish. Bake the cake in the oven for 30-35 minutes. A toothpick should come out clean with no batter when inserted into the center.
- Bake the cake for 30-35 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool in the pan completely.
- Once cool, poke holes in rows into the cake with the handle of a wooden spoon or a chopstick.
- Add the instant pudding and milk to a medium sized bowl. Whisk the mixture until fully combined and smooth, then add food coloring until the pudding is your desired color. Add the pudding onto the cake using a spatula or a butter knife to spread the pudding and push it into the holes.
- Top the entire cake with the whipped topping, using a knife to smooth it across the top.
- Crush the chocolate sandwich cookies into crumbs, including the cream centers. Spread the cookie crumbs evenly over the top of the poke cake.
The chocolate sandwich cookies (Oreos) can be crumbled into crumbs in the food processor. You can also place the cookies in a zip-top bag and crush them gently with a rolling pin or using a heavy canned food item like soup or tomatoes.
Adding The Decorations
- Place the chocolate chips in a small microwave safe bowl. Melt the chocolate chips in 30 second intervals at half power until smooth, about 2-3 minutes. Place the melted chocolate into a ziploc bag and snip off a tiny corner.
- Break the bottom off of each Milano cookie. Use the melted chocolate to write R.I.P., boo or even a date onto the Milano cookies to resemble tombstones.
- Decorate the top of the cake with the sprinkles, candy pumpkins, marshmallows and the tombstone cookies. Set the cake in the fridge to chill for at least two hours. Enjoy!
Variation Ideas
Swap The Pudding Flavor Or Color– Any white instant pudding can work in this recipe. You can also use pre-made pudding, like pudding cups. You will need about 4 1/2 cups of pudding total. You can also use any Halloween colors for the pudding. Green, purple, orange, red and white all work well for Halloween.
Use Other Cookies For The Headstones- Milano cookies work really well in this recipe because of their shape, but other cookies can be used. Lorna Dune cookies, Chessman cookies turned backwards, vanilla wafers, vanilla sugar wafers, or Golden Oreos can all be used as headstones easily.
Swap In Other Halloween Candies – Any Halloween candies can be used to decorate the top of this graveyard. Gummy bugs, candy corn, candy eyeballs, candy zombie hands. Get creative with your decorations!
How Long Will This Halloween Poke Cake Last?
Expect this Halloween poke cake will last for about 4-5 days if stored in the refrigerator, though it will taste best if eaten within three days. I recommend covering it with plastic wrap.
This cake can be made up to a day ahead of time for a party and will still taste fresh. I recommend adding the marshmallows and gummy candies to the top right before serving so they taste freshest.
I don’t recommend freezing this cake. The pudding doesn’t defrost easily, and the decorations tend to get messed up really fast if you try to freeze it. This cake is best if eaten fresh.
More Halloween Desserts
Spooky Graveyard Halloween Poke Cake
Ingredients
For The Cake
- 15.25 ounce devil's food cake mix
- 1 ¼ cups water
- ½ cup oil vegetable, olive or any cooking oil
- 3 large eggs
- 3.3 ounces instant white chocolate pudding mix can use vanilla or cheesecake also
- 2 cups milk
- food coloring green and orange
- 8 ounces whipped topping like Cool Whip
- 25 cookies chocolate sandwich cookies like Oreos
- ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips
Adding The Decorations – Use As Much Or As Little As You Like!
- Milano cookies for headstones
- Halloween marshmallows pumpkin, ghost and black cat – Peeps candy
- candy pumpkins
- Halloween sprinkles
- gummy worms
Instructions
Making The Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9×13 baking dish.
- In a large mixing bowl add the cake mix, water, oil and eggs. Mix well until combined and a smooth batter forms.
- Pour the cake batter into the prepared baking dish. Bake the cake in the oven for 30-35 minutes. A toothpick should come out clean with no batter when inserted into the center.
- Bake the cake for 30-35 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool in the pan completely.
- Once cool, poke holes in rows into the cake with the handle of a wooden spoon or a chopstick.
- Add the instant pudding and milk to a medium sized bowl. Whisk the mixture until fully combined and smooth, then add food coloring until the pudding is your desired color. Add the pudding onto the cake using a spatula or a butter knife to spread the pudding and push it into the holes.
- Top the entire cake with the whipped topping, using a knife to smooth it across the top.
- Crush the chocolate sandwich cookies into crumbs, including the cream centers. See notes. Spread the cookie crumbs evenly over the top of the poke cake.
For The Decorations
- Place the chocolate chips in a small microwave safe bowl. Melt the chocolate chips in 30 second intervals at half power until smooth, about 2-3 minutes. Place the melted chocolate into a ziploc bag and snip off a tiny corner.
- Break the bottom off of each Milano cookie. Use the melted chocolate to write R.I.P., Boo or a date onto the Milano cookies to resemble tombstones.
- Decorate the top of the cake with the sprinkles, candy pumpkins, Halloween marshmallows and the tombstone cookies. Set the cake in the fridge to chill for at least two hours. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Did You Make This?
I would love to see it! Share your thoughts with me in the comments below!
