Second Piece Good

While pot lucks are not my favorite things - I do enjoy baking for them. Lots of people around to try my baked goods? Yes please! Our new small group from church was getting together for a dinner and I decided to give this poke cake a try. I've done Jell-O poke cakes before but not pudding. I baked the cake on Saturday when I had a little more wiggle room for time. Then Sunday came and we were bouncing from church to meetings to order pickups to flower seed planting and I snuck the pudding and frosting layer on there quickly. 30 minutes to wait for pudding to set?! Gah!!! I quickly tossed it in the fridge and whipped up the frosting and tackled a few more to dos while I waited for those minutes to tick on by. I ended up using much more milk in the frosting to make it very fluffy. I think the thick frosting would not have spread over the pudding plater that well. The pudding didn't really sink into the cake like I thought it would... maybe I should have poured it in more liquidy and not as set - either way - it setup in time for dinner and it was delicious. When we got home I even had a second piece!

Pudding Poke Cake
Ingredients
1 package yellow cake mix (regular size)
2 cups cold 2% milk
1 package (3.9 ounces) instant chocolate pudding mix
Frosting:
1/2 cup butter, softened
4 to 5 cups confectioners' sugar, divided
2/3 cup baking cocoa
2 tablespoons 2% milk
Optional: Chocolate sprinkles and miniature semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350°. Prepare and bake cake mix according to package directions for a 13x9-in. pan. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack.
Using the handle of a wooden spoon, poke holes in cake. In a small bowl, whisk milk and pudding mix 2 minutes. Immediately spread into holes and over top of cake. Refrigerate 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a large bowl, beat butter until light and fluffy, 3-5 minutes. Gradually beat in 2 cups confectioners' sugar, baking cocoa and milk until smooth. Gradually beat in enough remaining confectioners' sugar to reach desired consistency. Gently spread over cake. If desired, garnish with sprinkles and chocolate chips. Refrigerate until serving.