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This Orange Creamsicle Poke Cake is made with a homemade vanilla cake that’s soaked with a mix of sweetened condensed milk and orange Jello powder. It’s topped with vanilla whipped cream for the perfect orange creamsicle cake recipe!
Need more orange creamsicle goodness in your life? Whip up my Orange Creamsicle Ice Cream Cake next!
Orange Creamsicle Poke Cake Recipe
I hope you had a wonderful Easter weekend. Ours was relatively laid back and involved plenty of food, friends and celebrating the resurrection of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ! It was a beautiful day too – nice and warm. We took Jessie on a nice, long walk and then remembered that although we are excited about all the warm weather, she actually prefers winter. The sun is hot for her and she’s a spoiled indoor dog. 🙂 She does love a good walk though.
We also completed day 4 of my IVF shots (see my previous post: I won the infertility jackpot). So far things have gone pretty well. The first two days were a little more stressful because we hadn’t quite gotten the hang of mixing all the medicines and pulling everything into the syringes, but we’ve got it down pretty well now. The needles are small and the physical marks they leave behind are smaller. Emotional marks are yet to be seen, but so far all is well. We have a first monitoring appointment tomorrow to see how things are progressing.
I’ve been extra healthy recently in preparation for these couple of weeks, so sadly I didn’t get to eat a ton of this cake. I wanted to – creamsicles are definitely a fave – but I did get to taste it and it was delicious! Between my Orange Creamsicle Ice Cream Cake and this poke cake, it’s hard to decide which is more fun.
How to Make The Best Orange Creamsicle Cake
One thing I’ll say for this cake is that it’s super easy to make! The vanilla cake is homemade, but you could swap it out for a cake mix if you really wanted to. Making the homemade cake is quick – no creaming or anything. You don’t even have to pull out your mixer if you don’t want to. Just mix the wet ingredients and dry ingredients separately, combine them, then add some water. A couple bowls and a whisk! I’ll note that the final batter is quite thin, so don’t be alarmed. It bakes up lovely!
When the cake comes out of the oven, poke holes all over it. I use a knife sharpening rod, but you could also use a straw or the end of a wooden spoon or something similar.
The mixture that’s poured over the cake is a mix of sweetened condensed milk, water and orange JELLO powder. You want to be sure to heat the water so that it’s hot enough for the JELLO powder to dissolve before you add it to the milk. You could heat it in the microwave or over the stove, as long as it will dissolve the powder. We don’t want a grainy cake.
Pour the mixture over the cake and allow it to soak into the holes while the cake cools. I think this cake gets even better as it sits.
The topping is a light vanilla whipped cream. It goes great with the orange-flavored cake and whips up quickly. Spread it over the cake and then top it as you like. I decided to pipe some swirls of whipped cream over the spots where I thought slices would be cut and add a little orange candy slice to each. Simple and fun!
This cake just screams summer and reminiscing about childhoods spent eating creamsicles! If you love the flavor as much as I do, you’ll love this cake!
Watch How To Make It
Read Transcript
NOTE: Recipe updated 5/30/17 so that the orange mixture poured over the cake is a bit less thick. Some additional orange flavor was also added to the cake itself.
Orange Creamsicle Poke Cake
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 29 minutes
- Total Time: 59 minutes
- Yield: 12-15 slices
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
This Orange Creamsicle Poke Cake is made with a homemade vanilla cake that’s soaked with a mix of sweetened condensed milk and orange Jello powder. It’s topped with vanilla whipped cream for the perfect orange creamsicle cake recipe!
Ingredients
CAKE
- 2 1/2 cups (325g) all purpose flour
- 2 cups (414g) sugar
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup (240ml) milk
- 1/2 cup (120ml) vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tbsp orange zest
- 1/2 cup (120ml) water
- 1/4 cup (60ml) fresh squeezed orange juice*
ORANGE MIXTURE
- 3 oz package orange JELLO powder
- 1 1/4 cup boiling water
- 3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
TOPPING
- 2 1/4 cups (540ml) heavy whipping cream
- 1 cup (115g) powdered sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- Orange candy slices
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350°F (176°C) and prepare a 9×13 inch cake pan with non-stick baking spray.
2. Add the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt to a large mixer bowl and combine. Set aside.
3. Add the milk, vegetable oil, vanilla extract, eggs and orange zest to a medium sized bowl and combine.
4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and beat until well combined.
5. Slowly add the water and orange juice to the batter and mix on low speed until well combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to make sure everything is well combined.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 28-30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs.
7. Remove the cake from the oven and poke holes all over the top of the cake.
8. Add the JELLO powder to the boiling water, then stir until the powder dissolves completely. You don’t want it to remain grainy.
9. Add the orange mixture to the sweetened condensed milk and mix until well combined.
10. Pour the orange mixture over the top of the cake, allowing it to soak into the holes. Let cake cool completely.
11. To make the whipped cream topping, place the heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar and vanilla extract into a large mixer bowl. Whip on high speed until stiff peaks form.
12. Spread the whipped cream over the top of the cake and top with swirls of frosting and orange candy slices.
13. Refrigerate the cake until ready to serve. Cake is best for 3-4 days.
* Be sure to use a fresh orange for the juice, not store-bought juice. Store-bought juice has additional sugar and other things added that will affect the way the cake bakes.
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 413
- Sugar: 45.4 g
- Sodium: 223.1 mg
- Fat: 15.9 g
- Carbohydrates: 64.1 g
- Protein: 5 g
- Cholesterol: 49.4 mg
Enjoy!
This was absolutely fabulous! It tasted just like a Creamsicle, and let’s be honest, who doesn’t love a Creamsicle?!? Thanks so much for this wonderful recipe!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
This is a long shot, but I’ve loved every recipe of yours I’ve made, so I hope there’s a way to do this! But do you happen to have an orange creamsicle cupcake recipe?! I’d love to use your recipe if you do!!
I’m so glad to hear you enjoy the recipes! Unfortunately I don’t have a Creamsicle cupcake at the moment. Sorry!
Finally! I’ve been looking for a recipe I used to make for a pineapple upside down cake and for over 40 years now nothing has worked. When I made your Orange Poke Cake I was just over the moon when it turned out to be just like that old recipe I’ve been searching for. BEST CAKE EVER
Now as for the Orange Creamsicle part – oh my – I’m in heaven. I did change the topping to an Orange Glace instead of whipped cream but this is a keeper for sure!
I forgot to mention that I topped it with Mandarin Oranges – just heavenly.
So glad you enjoyed it!
Made this today. Used half regular sugar half Splenda to just lessen the sugar content. Also used sugar free jello and that turned out fine; was thicker then the photos even with warming it up but still went well with the cake. I made some candied orange peel to add to the decorations instead of the candy orange gummies. Husband and toddler loved it. The dog was also happy it was a non chocolate dessert so he could clean our plates.
I have been asked to make a birthday cake and it HAS to be orange cake and orange icing and has to be decorated like a birthday cake. Would this recipe stand up as a 3 layer – 8 inch cake? I’m leaning on no, but you would know what the consistency of the cake is and how well it would hold up. Thanks!
Yes, it would work. I’ve used it as a layered vanilla cake here. This orange version would be fine. You could also still poke the layers and drizzle them. The topping would even work to frost the cake, if you wanted. Alternatively, I have these Orange Cream Cupcakes and it could be doubled to make an 8 inch layer cake as well.
Thank you!! You are awesome!! Absolutely love your recipes, I’ve only used maybe 10 lol!! Thanks again!!!
I’m of the “quick and easy boxed cake mix” crowd along with a couple of the other ladies.
What are your thoughts on using a lemon cake mix? Also, thoughts about using mandarin oranges on top instead of orange candy slices? And one more thing, what if you used evaporated milk rather than condensed? It wouldn’t be as sweet but it is thinner. Thanks!
The lemon cake mix would totally depend on your taste preference. It’ll definitely add lemon flavor to the cake. Mandarin slices should be fine. And you’re right that evaporated milk would be thinner and less sweet. That wouldn’t be my preference but you could try it.
Not sure why but the whipping cream cme out very liquidy. I followed the instructions. Any suggestions?
The whipping cream for the topping? It’s made to use for making whipped cream, so if whipped at a high enough speed when cold, it should make whipped cream. Did you include the powdered sugar? That’ll keep it thick and from wilting.
Hi, Lindsay I just found your website and I see alot of wonderful recipes so now I have alot of recipes to try I want to thank you for opening your website to all of us. Again thank you . May our Heavenly Father watch over you and place his healing hands upon you. GOD BLESS YOU. Sincerely, Carolyn
Garcia