Caramel Pumpkin Poke Cake Recipe

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5 from 1 vote
Published: October 19, 2021Author: Kristen Hills
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Caramel pumpkin poke cake is the best pumpkin dessert. Make this holiday dessert recipe filled with the delicious pumpkin, caramel, and cinnamon flavors of Fall.
Caramel Pumpkin Poke Cake Recipe

You have just found your new favorite family dessert with this caramel pumpkin poke cake! This recipe will produce the most moist pumpkin cake you’ll have ever had. 

A slice of Caramel Pumpkin Poke Cake on a plate with cinnamon sticks

Since the holidays are coming up, oftentimes pumpkin pie is a great dessert to serve, however not everyone enjoys pie. So, consider serving this alongside it so everyone can enjoy a great holiday dessert. 

My picky eaters even love this dessert, even more than birthday cake! It truly is a crowd pleaser recipe, so it is perfect for your next get-together.  

Poke cakes are seriously the way to go! They always make the most moist and delicious cakes. For more great recipes try out thin mint poke cake, reese’s peanut butter poke cake, and chocolate turtle poke cake!   

Ingredients for Caramel Pumpkin Poke Cake

Ingredients You’ll Need For Our Caramel Pumpkin Poke Cake Recipe:    

  • Eggs
  • White sugar
  • Vegetable oil
  • Pumpkin puree
  • All-purpose flour
  • Baking powder
  • Salt
  • Baking soda
  • Ground cinnamon
  • Caramel topping
  • Cream cheese
  • Cool Whip
  • Powdered sugar
  • Chopped pecans

How To Make Our Caramel Pumpkin Poke Cake Recipe:

Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees. 

Then prepared your 9×13 inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray and set it aside. 

Eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin in a stand mixing bowl

Now, in a medium-sized mixing bowl mix together the eggs, sugar, oil, and pumpkin puree until it is nice and smooth. 

In another mixing bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon, and then add the wet ingredients into the bowl. 

Adding dry ingredients to wet ingredients

Mix it all together until it is well combined and there are no lumps. 

Pouring batter for Caramel Pumpkin Poke Cake into 9x13 pan

Then pour it into the prepared 9×13 inch pan and place it in the oven and bake it at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. 

When it is done baking, pull it out of the oven and let it cool down for about 10 minutes. 

Fork poking holes in baked cake

Then, take a fork and poke it into the cake all over. 

Caramel sauce poured on top of poke cake

Now take your jar of caramel and pour about ¾ of it on the cake and spread it out to cover the holes and let the caramel seep into the cake and let it cool completely. 

To make the frosting combine the cream cheese and powdered sugar in a bowl and whip it together until it is smooth. 

Cool Whip, Cream cheese and powdered sugar in a glass mixing bowl

Then add in the Cool Whip and fold it in until it is all blended completely. 

Caramel Pumpkin Poke Cake topped with chopped peacans in 9x13 pan

After the cake has completely cooled, spread the frosting over top and then top it off with the chopped pecans and then drizzle the remaining caramel over the top of the cake. 

Then just serve and enjoy! 

To Make This Poke Cake Recipe You Will Need:

  1. 9×13 inch pan (THIS is our favorite) 
  2. Nonstick cooking spray
  3. Medium mixing bowl (3)
  4. Spatula
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All the Homemade Caramel Sauce

I am not sure which makes this recipe more tasty, the pumpkin or the caramel, but both are amazing. You can even make your own caramel sauce to use in this recipe rather than buying a jar at the store. 

A really great recipe that you can use to make your own is from Allrecipes.com called Oh-so-easy caramel sauce. There is truth in the name too! Caramel is actually quite simple to make if you have the time. So give it a shot and let us know what you think!

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Serves: 20

Caramel Pumpkin Poke Cake Recipe

5 from 1 vote
Caramel pumpkin poke cake is the best pumpkin dessert. Make this holiday dessert recipe filled with the delicious pumpkin, caramel, and cinnamon flavors of Fall.
Prep Time 15 mins
Cook Time 35 mins
Total Time 50 mins
Print Pin

Ingredients

  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 ⅔ cups white sugar
  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • 15 ounces pumpkin puree
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 12 ounces caramel topping (we used Smucker's brand)
  • 8 ounces cream cheese
  • 8 ounces Cool Whip
  • 3 cups powdered sugar
  • ½ cup chopped pecans

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350°F.
  • Grease a 9 x 13 inch pan with non stick cooking spray.
  • In a mixing bowl, beat together the eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin.
  • Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, salt and cinnamon; add to wet ingredients, mix throughly and pour into prepared pan.
  • Bake at 350° for 30 to 35 minutes.
  • Remove from oven and let it cool for about 10 minutes. Take a fork and pierce the hot cake all over. Then pour 3/4 of the jar a caramel into the holes. Try and spread it around as evenly as possible. Let it cool completely.
  • For the frosting: beat together the cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth, then stir in the cool whip until all is blended well.
  • Evenly spread over the cake once it has cooled. Then sprinkle on chopped pecans.
  • Serve with a little drizzle of caramel on the top of the cake.

Video

Notes

  • This is a great dessert to make for Thanksgiving, especially if you have some people that don’t like pie.
  • You can use fresh pumpkin puree – you will need about a 3 pound pumpkin to make enough puree (about 2 cups) for this recipe.

Nutrition

Calories: 412 kcal · Carbohydrates: 61 g · Protein: 4 g · Fat: 18 g · Saturated Fat: 12 g · Cholesterol: 47 mg · Sodium: 332 mg · Potassium: 123 mg · Fiber: 2 g · Sugar: 37 g · Vitamin A: 3544 IU · Vitamin C: 1 mg · Calcium: 72 mg · Iron: 1 mg

Equipment

  • 9×13-inch pan
  • Non-stick Cooking Spray
  • Medium Mixing Bowl (3)
  • spatula

Recipe Details

Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Slice of Caramel Pumpkin Poke Cake on a white plate

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  1. Alice MacDonald says:
    November 16, 2015
    This looks yummy, but is there anotherfrosting without cool whip, or could you substitute real whipped cream? Thanks.
    Reply
  2. Becky says:
    November 28, 2015
    My 13 year old daughter made this cake for our Thanksgiving meal. It was moist, delicious, and excellent! It will definitely be made again!
    Reply
  3. Lina says:
    March 20, 2016
    The best pumpkin cake ever!!! Everybody loved it!
    Reply
  4. Danielle says:
    October 12, 2016
    How much sugar is it supposed to be? When I pull up the recipe, it shows a question mark in the middle of where the sugar measurement is.
    Reply
    • Cyd says:
      October 13, 2016
      Sorry about that! It's 1 2/3 cups sugar. We fixed the recipe. Thanks for bringing that to our attention.
      Reply
  5. Heather says:
    October 14, 2016
    Can you use this for cupcakes? If so, would anything change?
    Reply
    • Cyd says:
      October 17, 2016
      Hi Heather. We have not made these into cupcakes, but it should work fine. You will need to watch them closely for the length of cooking time will probably be reduced. Let us know how they turn out!!
      Reply
  6. Lindsey says:
    September 28, 2017
    I made this last night, cooked it for 30 minutes and it was still not set in the middle. Any idea what went wrong?
    Reply
    • Cyd says:
      October 4, 2017
      We have not had a problem with this cake not setting up in the middle. I'm not sure what could have gone wrong.
      Reply
    • Jodie says:
      October 29, 2017
      Lindsey I am having the same problem I just went to take it out and it’s completely raw in the middle and I followed the recipe exactly.
      Reply
      • Avery says:
        October 25, 2019
        Same here. Wondering if it’s a high altitude thing? Maybe needed more flour? I’m going to try to bake it longer 🤞🏼
        Reply
  7. Laurie says:
    October 17, 2017
    For the frosting do you actually beat the cool whip with the cream cheese and powdered sugar?. Don't fold it in later?.
    Reply
    • Cyd says:
      October 19, 2017
      We have done it both ways. You can beat together the cream cheese and powdered sugar and after it is blended together well, beat in the cool whip.
      Reply
  8. Debbie Menconi says:
    October 24, 2017
    The pop up ads wont let me look at the recipe. 10/17
    Reply
  9. Susie says:
    October 27, 2017
    Yum
    Reply
  10. Ashley says:
    October 30, 2017
    My mom and I have both made this and its raw in the middle :( Looks so yummy.
    Reply
  11. Sally says:
    November 11, 2017
    If I want to make it with fresh pumpkin what is the amount of mushed pumpkin I should use ?
    Reply
    • Cyd says:
      November 13, 2017
      I did a little research for you on canned pumpkin and fresh pumpkin. Fifteen ounces of canned pumpkin is just shy of 2 cups (16 ounces would be 2 cups). A 3-pound pie pumpkin will likely give you enough puree for your recipe. Here are some good tips for using fresh pumpkin: Pumpkin math: After cooking and draining, this is about what to expect from a typical cooking pumpkin. 2-1/2 pound pie pumpkin = 1-3/4 cups puree 3-1/2 pound pie pumpkin = 2-1/2 cups puree 6 pound carving pumpkin = 2-3/4 cups puree 5 pound round pumpkin = 3-1/3 cups puree
      Reply
  12. Lois says:
    March 17, 2019
    Made this pumpkin poke cake for my husbands birthday party and it was too good to be true! I baked the cake for 25 minutes and it was thoroughly baked. Everyone loved it!!! I will definitely be making this again!!!
    Reply
  13. Brie Maya says:
    September 1, 2019
    This was delicious! Thank you for the recipe! I added some diced apple into the cake batter and subbed 1/2 of the vegetable oil with apple sauce. No problems with the cake cooking through for me. I will say though - I think one slice at a time is enough. So rich, but wonderful!! Thank you again. This may be my next pot luck dish at church. 😊
    Reply
  14. C. Anderson says:
    October 18, 2019
    I just made this based upon the written recipe, not the video and realized afterwards that the amount of powdered sugar for the frosting on the video is 2 cups and the written recipe says 3 cups. The frosting is VERY sweet. I thought it seemed like too much sugar so I did about 2.5 cups before I stopped adding it. I would not recommend doing more than 2 cups and correcting the written recipe.
    Reply
  15. Dianne JASKE says:
    March 20, 2020
    Instead of the confectioner's sugar, can I substitute a can of condensed milk?
    Reply
    • Cyd says:
      March 26, 2020
      I'm sorry, but we have never tried that substitution. So we aren't sure how well it would work.
      Reply
  16. Kristi Zahos says:
    October 1, 2021
    This was so easy to make and very delicious. I wish I would have put it in the fridge to make it last longer but I ate most of it myself. Very rich but too much for one person to eat alone. Will be making it for Thanksgiving for family gatherings. Thank u!🥰

    5 stars

    Reply
  17. Debby says:
    October 15, 2021
    Can this be made the night before using and put in the refrigerator?
    Reply
    • Momma Cyd says:
      October 18, 2021
      It should be fine if you make it the night before and put it in the fridge overnight. You will want to put it in a pan with a covered lid. (One that won't stick to the frosting)
      Reply
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