Banana Pudding Poke Cake

Super simple recipe to keep in your back pocket. Rather than using instant pudding, I opted for 2 boxes of cook-and-serve—I prefer the flavor and texture. I also doctored the cake and pudding—I added a teaspoon each of vanilla and almond extract and ¾ teaspoon of sea salt to both the pudding and the cake. I also sprinkled the completed frosted cake with flaky Maldon sea salt for crunch and to balance out all the sweetness. The banana flavor wasn’t very pronounced, so next time I’ll probably add a layer of banana slices under the cake batter before baking, and maybe another layer of fresh banana slices under the whipped topping.

I made the mistake of buying "cooked" pudding instead of "instant" ... but no worries, just used 1 package instead of two ... perfect!

I loved this idea, but used sugar-free ingredients. I used sugar-free cake mix, 2tsp of cinnamon, sugar-free short bread cookies, sugar-free vanilla and banana pudding, and mashed bananas... Yum!

I baked the yellow cake to a bit drier than I would for anything else so it had the ability to soak up the pudding without getting too soggy and falling apart. I’ll make this one again!

Okay I made this yesterday and you must make it a day ahead. Last night I was like it’s okay but today it’s so good!!! Next time I will use a name brand cake mix instead of a store brand. I added a 8 oz cream cheese (room temp) thanks to another review) to the pudding it has a curdled look but you don’t see that in the layers. also do a total of 4 cups of milk (measure it) because otherwise it’s too thick. I might even add a little more because it didn’t run down into the cake like I wanted. I sliced 3 bananas and put in single layer on top of the pudding then put the cool whip. I put cookies around the edges and added more than a cup of crumbs on top more like 2 cups. I let it totally cool down and I think that was a mistake it should have still been warm when I put the pudding on top and it just stayed on top instead of seeping into the cake. Very good!!!!!

I used homemade whipped cream and it was DELISH!!