White Chocolate Gingerbread Poke Cake

 White Chocolate Gingerbread Poke Cake: moist spice cake filled with creamy white chocolate pudding and topped with whipped cream. The perfect dessert for the holidays!

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What are your favorite Christmas flavors?

Personally, when it comes to desserts — any time of year — I’m pretty easy to please. Mint, chocolate, ginger and spice, cranberry…. it’s all good. And some combinations of those flavors are pretty fantastic, too.

So I was thinking about gingersnaps, and some White Chocolate Hazelnut Truffle Stuffed Gingersnaps I made for a cookie contest some time ago (yes — they won!), and I realized I had never made gingerbread.

I’ve also never made gingerbread men, but those are crunchy and the only reason to eat most crunchy cookies is the icing. Am I right?

With this cake, there are so many more reasons.

I didn’t want the flavor of the cake to be too overwhelming, so I reduced the molasses significantly and a few of the spices. You can tell by the color that there’s still enough molasses in it to give it that deep, rich flavor so characteristic of gingerbread.

The cake itself is super moist, but the white chocolate pudding just takes it over the edge. It is so luscious, and the creamy, silky pudding complements the rich, spiciness of the cake so incredibly well.

And, obviously, you need some whipped cream on top of that.

Now, I made the gingerbread and the white chocolate pudding from scratch, but there are some easy shortcuts if you don’t have quite the time or energy to do that.

You can always swap out the homemade gingerbread with a boxed spice cake mix or a vanilla cake mix with the molasses and spices added in. You can also swap out the homemade white chocolate pudding for a box of instant white chocolate pudding, and it would be just as awesome.

I used regular frozen (thawed) whipped topping — I guess I ran out of steam! But if you want, you can always use real whipped cream instead.

Looking for more decadent poke cake recipes? You might like Better Than Sex Cake, too! Also, be sure to try White Chocolate Dipped Gingersnaps. They are soft, chewy gingersnaps dipped in sweet white chocolate! Christmas dessert doesn’t get any more quick and easy than this Christmas Poke Cake! 

Did you make this? If you snap a photo, please be sure tag me on Instagram at @julieseatsandtreats or #julieseatsandtreats so I can see your yummy treat!

 

5 from 7 votes

White Chocolate Gingerbread Poke Cake

A moist scratch-made spice cake topped and filled with homemade white chocolate pudding and whipped cream — the perfect dessert for the holidays! Check the post for some easy shortcuts.

Prep:30 minutes mins

Cook:35 minutes mins

Total:1 hour hr 10 minutes mins

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Ingredients

Gingerbread:

• ▢ 1 cup butter softened
• ▢ 1 cup sugar
• ▢ 3 eggs
• ▢ 1/3 cup molasses
• ▢ 3/4 cup hot water
• ▢ 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• ▢ 1 tsp ground ginger
• ▢ 1 tsp baking soda
• ▢ 1 tsp cinnamon
• ▢ 1/2 tsp salt-+
• ▢ 1/4 tsp nutmeg

White Chocolate Pudding:

• ▢ 4 large egg yolks
• ▢ 1/2 cup sugar
• ▢ 1/4 cup corn starch
• ▢ 1 1/2 cups milk I use 1%
• ▢ 1 tsp vanilla
• ▢ 2 tbsp butter
• ▢ 1/4 cup white chocolate chips
• ▢ Whipped topping or whipped cream
• ▢ caramel sauce optional

Instructions

Cake:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and lightly grease a 9×13 pan.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine butter and sugar. Beat until smooth and fluffy. Add eggs and beat until smooth.
• Turn the mixer on low and add molasses and hot water gradually, mixing until combined.
• Add the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg and beat until smooth and combined. Spread into prepared pan and bake for 28-30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Set aside.

Pudding:

• In a medium pot, combine egg yolks, sugar and corn starch. Whisk in milk and heat over medium heat, cooking and stirring until thickened, about 3-4 minutes.
• Remove from heat and stir in vanilla, butter and white chocolate until smooth.
• Using the end of a wooden spoon, poke holes into the cake (careful not to go quite to the bottom) about 1″ apart. Spread warm pudding over the cake, making sure to fill all of the holes. If there’s some sitting on top, that’s fine.
• Chill at least 4 hours or overnight. Top with whipped topping or whipped cream and caramel sauce if desired.

Nutrition Information

Calories: 274kcal (14%), Carbohydrates: 35g (12%), Protein: 3g (6%), Fat: 13g (20%), Saturated Fat: 7g (44%), Cholesterol: 93mg (31%), Sodium: 235mg (10%), Potassium: 145mg (4%), Sugar: 21g (23%), Vitamin A: 435IU (9%), Calcium: 51mg (5%), Iron: 1.2mg (7%)

© Julie's Eats & Treats ®

We are not dietitians and recommend you seek a nutritionist for exact nutritional information. The information in the nutrition box is calculated through a program and there is room for error. If you need an accurate count, I recommend running the ingredients through your favorite nutrition calculator.

Cake recipe adapted from Taste of Home’s Complete Guide to Baking.

Pudding recipe adapted from Real Simple.

More Christmas baking recipes you might like!

Easy Cinnamon Roll Bites

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White Chocolate Hazelnut Truffle Stuffed Gingersnaps