This Cannoli Poke Cake is a lovely vanilla cake soaked with sweetened condensed milk and covered in sweet cannoli filling. It’s a moist, indulgent dessert that will rock your socks off!
Cannoli Poke Cake
Can you believe I’ve never made a poke cake before? I’ve been wanting to for forever, but never quite got around to it. Until now. And boy have I been missing out! This Cannoli Poke Cake is super easy to make and SO tasty!
If you don’t know much about poke cakes, they are basically a cake that’s baked, covered in sweetened condensed milk which soaks up into the cake, making it incredibly moist, and then usually topped with some kind of whipped topping. There are a ton of variations out there. The sky is the limit!
A friend requested something “cannoli flavored” for her husband’s birthday a while ago and since I’ve been wanting to make a poke cake for so long, it just popped into my head and I knew I had to do it!
There are so many ways to make cannoli’s – particularly the filling – and when done right, they are absolutely delicious!
The filling really is the best part – and that’s exactly what this cake is covered in. Get pumped!
The cannoli filling “icing” on this cake is one of those things that you just cannot get your finger out of. I was lucky any of it made it onto the cake.
And my small group felt exactly the same way! They were basically licking the sides of the pan where the topping was left behind – using their finger of course. So stinkin’ good.
One thing I did a little differently with this poke cake is that I didn’t use an entire can of sweetened condensed milk when pouring it over the cake. I didn’t want to the cake to be too soggy, but I wanted it to have the moist-ness and delicious-ness that the sweetened condensed milk gives.
But since it didn’t all go into the cake, and I hate wasting things, I put it into the cannoli filling.
Best. Decision. Ever.
It sweetened the topping up just enough and made it even harder to resist. Pure deliciousness.
Have you seen my Baklava Poke Cake? Or my Cannoli Icebox Cake? So yummy!
Update 6/10/14: One thing to note about the topping on this cake is that it is not like a traditional icing. It is meant to be more like cannoli filling. The texture is kind of like whipped cream at the soft peak stage. If you’d prefer it to be thicker, you can do one or both of these two things – leave the sweetened condensed milk out of the topping (as it thins it out a bit) and/or add up to about 3 cups of powdered sugar (which would thicken it). I chose to leave it thinner so that I didn’t dilute the cannoli flavor from the cheeses – I love that flavor! And though it’s thinner, it’s still plenty thick to be on top of the cake. I’ve made this cake a couple of times and it has sat out at parties and the icing stays in place. So it isn’t so thin that it runs or anything, it’s just not a traditional icing. I hope that helps, as I know many have been surprised the fact that it isn’t thicker.
You might also like
Cannoli Layer Cake
Cannoli Cheesecake
Cannoli Tart
Cannoli Icebox Cake
Baklava Poke Cake
Cannoli Stuffed French Toast
Cannoli Poke Cake
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: Box Directions
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 15-18 Servings
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
This Cannoli Poke Cake is a lovely vanilla cake soaked with sweetened condensed milk and covered in sweet cannoli filling. It’s a moist, indulgent dessert that will rock your socks off!
Ingredients
- 1 box white cake mix, plus ingredients on box
- 1 14 oz cans sweetened condensed milk
- 1 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
- 1 1/2 cup mascarpone cheese
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon, optional
- 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
- powdered sugar, for dusting
Instructions
Notes
Do consider straining the ricotta before using, especially if it’s a particularly watery brand. Also, when mixing together the ricotta and mascarpone cheese, DO NOT over mix it. If mascarpone cheese is over mixed, it becomes very thin.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Slice
- Calories: 429
- Sugar: 28.5 g
- Sodium: 144.5 mg
- Fat: 22.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 50.6 g
- Protein: 8.3 g
- Cholesterol: 75.7 mg
Keywords: cannoli cake, cannoli cake recipe, poke cake, poke cake recipe, cannoli recipe, cannoli cream recipe, italian christmas cake, italian dessert recipe, moist vanilla cake recipe, moist cake recipe
Filed Under:
Enjoy!
Cannoli topping modified from The Vintage Mixer.
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Can I make this cake without the cheeses cuz I have digestive issues but still want 2 Make this cake with all ingredients except the 2 Cheeses is it possible & Will it still be close in taste?Pleases let me know if it’s possible 2 Do without the 2 Cheeses.
The cheeses are what give it that cannoli flavor. You can leave them out, but then you basically have a vanilla cake with a little bit of cinnamon and chocolate chips.
Will the icing thicken up in the fridge after icing the cake? My icing cave out a bit runny so I’m hoping it will thicken up after sitting in the fridge.
★★★★
It may thicken a little bit. Be careful not to over mix the topping, since mascarpone cheese can get watery if over mixed. Did you drain your ricotta well, too?
I’ve made this cake every year since 2016 to accompany my New Years Eve feast, and I’ve never had a mishap.. and I’m prone to kitchen mishaps, especially on holidays. I’ve never needed to do any special straining of the ricotta, and I just use the regular ricotta in the dairy aisle. I just pour the little bit of liquid at the top into the sink before I dump it in the bowl. My grocery store just has one little tub of marscapone cheese in the special cheese section by the deli and I don’t know if it even corresponds with the amount listed in the recipe, but I’ve always used it and it’s been perfect. Some years I’ve remembered to bake the cake and let sit overnight with the sweetened condensed milk, sometimes I forgot and just had it in the fridge for an hour or so. I was fine both ways. I always have extra cannoli frosting left over and I put it on the plate with the cake slices I serve.. and we have a little cake with our delicious frosting. People asking about the mixer needed.. before getting a kitchenaid stand mixer for my wedding, I just used my hand mixer. Now i use my kitchenaid just to have the excuse to use it. Either way works. I love this recipe. Perfect every time.
★★★★★
So glad to hear you’ve been enjoying it for so long!
I just made this and it turned out perfect. Not too thin at all but i only added like a quarter cup of the condensed sweetened milk only because i dont have a huge sweet tooth. The taste is spot on. Im positive its going to be a big hit. Im wondering if people that have a issue with it being watery are not whipping it enough. Its watery at first, but thickens up as you blend it. Thank you for the recipe.
★★★★★
So glad to hear you enjoyed it!
Hello,
Mascarpone cheese is not readily available where I live, Blue Mountains NSW Australia, can I substitute cream cheese? Would it need adjusting to be similar to Mascarpone?
Kind Regards,
Michael
You can just replace it with additional cream cheese.
This was SUPER amazing as is with ALL your recipies. For entertaining purposes, I’m assuming I can also make a Poke cake in a large Springfiorm pan? In case the sides get sloppy I can just cover with extra icing. Thoughts.?
I haven’t ever tried a poke cake in a springform pan. If you’re using the full recipe it we need to be a larger pan to hold all the cake batter. I would think it would be OK, although some of the moisture might seep out a little bit. I’m glad you enjoyed it!!
Do you cool cake before putting the condensed milk over it.?
★★★★★
You could really do it either way. I’d probably suggest adding when it’s warm though.
My husband doesn’t like ricotta, is there anything I can substitute with?
Yes, you could just use more of the mascarpone cheese, or use cream cheese.
Made this tonight for a church potluck tomorrow, I doubled the recipe and added a bit almond extract to the cake batter before baking it. The cannoli filling was smooth, creamy and delicious. I will definitely make this again!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
The first time I made this cake, it was HEAVEN! Now, had to figure out how to make it into cupcakes! My husband cooks at the moose lodge on Fridays, and wanted it for dessert there. Didn’t get around to that, but I did make them for the moose lodge picnic today. First batch, I made per recipe, using a fork to punch the holes into the cupcake. Tasted great, but a bit “wet”. So, my second batch, I just made the cupcakes, and used the filing for the frosting and sprinkled the mini chips on top. Had my husband, daughter and her friend taste test them. They all liked the all, but said for cupcakes, the second batch was better. So, sent them all over to the picnic. 42 cupcakes. My husband said people went bonkers over them! One guy wanted to buy them all, but the only let him buy 8! LOL! They also sold them for $1.00 ea. Will be making them for the next bake sale there at the end of Sept. Thanks for a great recipe,a nd the inspiration for the cupcakes!
Wonderful! I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed the recipe!
LOL! I just had someone order a cake for their birthday! They call it a “A slice of heaven to die for!”