With all the flavors of the holiday, this easy Gingerbread Eggnog Poke Cake with gingerbread crumble is easy and delicious!

Which is your favorite holiday flavor? Pumpkin? Gingerbread? Eggnog? Something non-traditional? We took two classic holiday flavors today and made a quick and easy poke cake dessert that you will LOVE serving to holiday guests.

It’s pretty enough for a Christmas dinner dessert, but also easy enough for lazy December weekends when you just need a taste of the holidays.

Why you’ll love this cake:

starts with a cake mix so it’s easy
added seasonings jazz up the cake mix flavor
drizzled with eggnog
topped with homemade whipped cream
crunchy gingerbread streusel on top

ingredients for gingerbread eggnog poke cake

What is a poke cake?

What is a poke cake and why is it called that? A poke cake is a cake traditionally 9×13 size. After baking the cake, you poke holes in the top, then pour over a liquid such as soft pudding, condensed milk, or in this case, eggnog!

The liquid you pour over is usually somewhat sweet and it makes the cake unbelievably moist while adding flavor too.

For this recipe, you can use your favorite store bought brand of eggnog, or use homemade eggnog.

How to Make Gingerbread Eggnog Poke Cake

Although this cake uses a box cake mix that is traditionally 9×13 size, we used a 9×9″ cake pan. This allows the cake to bake up a little thicker than usual. You can use 9×13 if you’d like.

Prepare. Preheat oven to 350º Fahrenheit and spray a 9″ square inch pan with cooking spray.
Mix. Whisk together cake mix with spices in a large mixing bowl. In another bowl, use a whisk to mix the oil, water, molasses, and eggs until combined. Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and mix until combined.
Bake. Pour the batter into pan and bake at for 35-40 minutes, or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the centre of the cake comes out with only a few crumbs.
Cool, then poke. Remove the cake from the oven, put the pan on a wire rack and cool for 10 minutes. Poke holes in the warm cake halfway through with a large meat fork, about an inch apart.

Pour. Drizzle the warm eggnog over the cake very slowly, making sure it goes into the holes. Make sure the eggnog is warmed and thin enough, so that it easily enters the holes. Pour right in the center, so that way it will start to soak in and run to the edges of the pan to continue soaking in.
Chill. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours or overnight.

The frosting is simply a mixture of whipping cream and powdered sugar. Whip using a high powered mixer until you have stiff peaks. If you’d like something faster, use frozen whipped topping instead.

Gingerbread Crumble

What really kicks the flavor of this cake up is the crunchy gingerbread crumble that is on top. It’s a homemade mixture of equal amounts of oats, flour, brown sugar, melted butter and candied ginger. You’ll bake it up, then crumble it over the top of the cake.

If you don’t want to do this step, you could easily crumble some crushed gingersnaps on top of the cake too. Either way, don’t forget the caramel drizzle!

How to Store This Cake

Because of all the dairy in this cake, it should be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 4 days. You can also freeze this cake in an airtight container for up to 4 weeks.

Gingerbread Eggnog Poke Cake

5 from 4 votes

With all the flavors of the holiday, this easy Gingerbread Eggnog Poke Cake with gingerbread crumble is easy and delicious!

Servings 12

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 45

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Ingredients

1 box white cake mix (15.25 ounce size)
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
½ teaspoon allspice
¼ teaspoon cloves
1/3 cup canola oil
½ cup water
2 tablespoons molasses
3 large eggs

For the soak:

1 cup eggnog warmed

For the frosting:

1 cup whipping cream
1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar

Gingerbread Crumble

2 tablespoons quick cook oats
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons melted butter
2 tablespoons candied ginger
caramel syrup (for drizzling on top)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350º Fahrenheit and spray a 9" square inch pan with cooking spray.
Whisk together cake mix with spices in a large mixing bowl.
In another bowl, use a whisk to mix the oil, water, molasses, and eggs until combined.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and mix until combined.
Pour the batter into pan and bake at for 35-40 minutes, or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the centre of the cake comes out with only a few crumbs.
Remove the cake from the oven, put the pan on a wire rack and cool for 10 minutes.
Poke holes in the warm cake halfway through with a large meat fork, about an inch apart.
Drizzle warm eggnog over the cake, making sure it goes into the holes. Make sure the eggnog is warmed and thin enough, so that it easily enters the holes.
Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours or overnight.
Whip the whipping cream and confectioners sugar in a bowl with an electric hand mixer until stiff peaks form.
Spread whipped cream on top of the cooled cake.

Make the ginger crumble:

Mix together the oats, flour, brown sugar and butter. Spread on a 9×13 baking sheet. Bake in an oven (preheated to 350º Fahrenheit) for 10 minutes.
Sprinkle the cooled ginger crumble over the cake and drizzle with caramel topping.
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Notes

The calories shown are based on the cake being cut into 12 pieces, with 1 serving being 1 slice of cake. Since different brands of ingredients have different nutritional information, the calories shown are just an estimate. **We are not dietitians and recommend you seek a nutritionist for exact nutritional information.**