Taste the rainbow with this super cute & easy to make Unicorn Poke Cake!

I know I’m supposed to an adult and everything, but some days you need to act like a kid a little bit. Be silly. Have fun because it’s awesome. Eat desserts that remind you of your favorite rainbow unicorn emoji. It’s all about balance. Work hard, enjoy life harder. This Unicorn Poke Cake it all about fun and magic and everything you loved as a little kid!

This cake is so great for birthday parties or just because you want to eat the best cake around. The layers of colored cake, pudding, and whipped topping make each bite moist and creamy. (I really hate the work moist by the way, but it’s true for this cake.) I don’t know a single unicorn loving kid out there that wouldn’t squeal with delight at this cake.

The best part about this cake it that you can customize it for any celebration. Use green, pink, and yellow for spring or Easter. Use red, white, and blue for 4th of July. Try green, red, and white for Christmas. How about red, yellow, white, and black for a Mickey Mouse themed party. Or black, purple, green, and orange for Halloween. The possibilities are endless! My favorite thing about this cake is that no one knows just how cool the cake they’re about to eat is. It’s all hiding under that fluffy topping.  Have fun and treat yourself to a little magic!

Hungry for More?

Serve up some Unicorn Ice Cream alongside your Unicorn Poke Cake.

Love poke cakes? My Mom’s Best Ever Coconut Cake is the bee’s knees!

Unicorn Poke Cake

Prep Time: 15 mins    Cook Time: 35 mins    Yield: 12 to 15 servings

Ingredients:

1 package white cake mix (plus ingredients to prepare – substitute milk for the water and melted butter for the oil)

Electric Blue food coloring

Electric Green food coloring

Egg Yellow food coloring

Magenta food coloring

Purple food coloring

One 3.4 ounce package instant vanilla pudding mix

2 cups milk

One 8-ounce tub whipped topping (or 3 cups homemade whipped cream)

Star sprinkles

Silver sprinkles

Directions: 

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9-inch by 13-inch baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.
2. Prepare the cake mix according to package directions, but substitute milk for the water and melted butter for the oil for the amounts listed. Mix the cake ingredients together with a hand mixer.
3. Portion the batter evenly into 5 bowls. Add 1-2 drops of food color into each bowl, one color per bowl. Mix in the food coloring until the batter is completely colored. If you want a more intense color, add 1 more drop of food coloring and mix to combine.
4. Using the same spoons you used to mix the colors, place dollops of the colored cake batter all over the prepared baking dish. Use different colors all over the pan.
5. Run a knife through the batter a few times to swirl the colors together a bit. Do not over mix, you want the colors swirled not mixing together.
6. Bake according to the cake mix package directions, about 34 to 38 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
7. Carefully remove the cake from the oven and set aside to cool slightly.
8. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the vanilla pudding mix and 2 cups milk for 2 minutes until the pudding thickens.
9. Use a wooden skewer (or any small-ish round instrument you have in the kitchen) to poke holes all over the top of the warm cake. Pour the pudding over the top of the cake and use a rubber spatula to spread to pudding evenly over the cake.
10. Place large dollops of whipped topping over the top of the pudding and use a rubber spatula to spread the whipped topping evenly over the pudding, covering the top of the cake completely.
11. Sprinkle the star sprinkles and silver sprinkles all over the whipped topping.
12. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Notes:

If you prefer, you can absolutely make a homemade white cake and color the batter and finished the cake per the directions above. If you want to keep things easy and use a boxed mix, you’ll get no judgment from me. Birthdays are hard enough to put together as it is.

You can make this cake up to 24 hours ahead of time and it’ll still be great! Be sure to wait and add the sprinkles at the last minute so they don’t melt. Be sure to check out more recipes before you go!