Diced! Dessert Bracket: Banana Pudding Poke Cake

I announced earlier that in honor of March Madness, I decided to create a dessert bracket with 16 styles of desserts. I’ve invited 16 great chefs to each take a category and make a recipe to enter into battle. I ranked the 16 based on my view of which was the favorite and like any bracket, the favorites are matched against the lower seeds. I won’t give you my seeding because I do not want to artificially impact your choices.

I will post a pairing each week on Wednesday and Thursday and open the polls for voting. The polls will be open from Thursday until the following Wednesday (before the next pair posts). The winner of each matchup with the most votes will move on to the next round and the chef will produce another recipe for their new matchup. The overall winner will receive any prizes I can acquire. To date the winner will receive:

• Dodo Book for Cooks
• A beautiful Bamboo Cutting Board with a Butterfly Motif, graciously donated by competitor Lindy (The Kozy Nook)

This week’s pairing is:

Cake (Non-Chocolate Varieties) vs. Cookies (Non-Chocolate)

Today we have Stephanie from The Blonde Lawyer with a delicious looking non-chocolate cake…

This cake is so simple and delicious, I absolutely love it as a go-to dessert.  My favorite thing about this cake: it starts with a boxed cake mix! Now don’t get me wrong, I love a good from-scratch cake… I also love one that I can throw together in almost no time at all.

The first time I made this, I took it to work and had to hide a piece so that I actually got some.  It was a HUGE hit!

Banana Pudding Poke Cake

Ingredients:

-1 boxed yellow cake mix

-ingredients to make cake mix

-2 boxes instant banana pudding mix

-4 cups milk

-1 tub Cool Whip, thawed

-about 20 Nilla Wafers, crushed

-1-2 bananas (not required, but highly recommended)

Directions:

1. I know this is a tough one, you may need to reread this several times: make the boxed cake mix. Tough, I know.  Bake as directed on the box.
   
   
2. While the cake is baking, make your pudding and let it set for just a few minutes until it starts to thicken.
   
3. When the cake is done, pull it out and let it cool for just a couple of minutes.
4. Poke holes all over the cake with the end of a wooden spoon (or some similarly-sized utensil).
   
5. Pour pudding mix all over the cake, making sure to get it into all of the holes. Use the back of a spoon or a spatula to spread it out evenly.
   
6. Put the cake in the refrigerator and let cool completely.
7. (Optional) Spread sliced bananas all over the top of the cake. This is better if you are going to be serving the cake at a function/party where you know it will all get eaten in one day, otherwise your bananas will start to get a little brown. If you’ll be eating it over a few days, I’d recommend putting a slice of banana on top of each slice of cake when you cut it.
8. Spread thawed Cool Whip all over top of cake.
   
9. Sprinkle crushed Nilla Wafers all over the top.
   
10. Dig in and enjoy!
    

Hope you enjoy this cake as much as I do!

Borrowed this recipe from the wonderful blog The Country Cook.