Cinnamon Roll Poke Cake

Unfamiliar with poke cakes? Now’s your chance to get on board with the easiest, most delicious dessert idea ever. They all start with a box of store-bought cake mix (see, simple!), and are endlessly versatile. We've created countless flavor combinations (like our banana pudding poke cake, Boston creme poke cake, and grasshopper poke cake), but for this one I took inspiration from one of my favorite breakfasts—cinnamon rolls.

Fluffy, cinnamon sugar-filled cinnamon rolls are truly what dreams are made of, but I can’t always get it together to make them from scratch. And though they’re usually thought of as a breakfast food, they’re pretty much just cake in disguise anyway, and can be enjoyed from morning till night. This poke cake can help you skip all the finicky rolling and proofing, but still get all that delicious cinnamon roll flavor (including the cream cheese frosting!).

Here’s how you do it: Bake your store-bought cake mix in a 9x13 pan according to package instructions (usually 350° for 25-35 minutes). While it’s in the oven, make your filling. If your brown sugar isn’t perfectly fresh and soft (no judgment, ours too), try microwaving it with the butter until it dissolves before mixing it with the other ingredients.

Once your cake is cool, get to poking! This is where all the magic happens, but don’t worry about getting it exactly right. Aim to poke your utensil (the back of a wooden spoon works well, but use what you got) about 80% of the way through the cake, then pour in your filling. Spread it with a spatula to try and get it as fully into the holes, but again, perfection is not the goal here. I love this with cream cheese frosting, but you can go with a simple buttercream frosting or even just whipped cream if you want things less sweet.

Made this? Let us know how it went in the comments below.