Coffee Caramel and Hazelnut Poke Cake

You may have wondered, what is a poke cake? A poke cake is so-called because once it's baked you simply poke holes in it!

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Then you pour a delicious runny topping into the holes, and when the cake is fully finished you can't see the holes as they are covered with more topping.

Caramel Poke Cake

When you cut it, everyone gets to see the scrummy gooey filling in every slice.

Sticky, gooey caramel oozing from the cake and of course, the more holes you make the more filling there will be; but with that said don't go too mad or the cake might fall apart!

Now I'm not a one for cakes but Paul (the husband) does like a bit of cake! I never do much baking because I'm simply no good at it.

Amazingly my made-up recipe turned out really well, so if I can make this anyone can! It's really easy because it doesn't have to look 'posh' - yep can be as messy as you like with this one.

As this cake is so rich you really don't need a lot and served with ice cream this would make a rather nice dessert and it will go a long way.

Although if you have kids and a husband like mine don't expect it to be around for long before it gets eaten. The addition of just 60ml of coffee to the sponge mix made this cake really nice and moist.

Once it’s cooked, leave the cake in the tin, allow it to cool for a few minutes.

Meanwhile gently heat one of the tins of caramel but don’t let it get too hot; just until it becomes pour-able.

Now, poke holes into the cake using the end of a wooden spoon.

Pour the caramel into the holes and spread the rest over the cake. Now, before continuing put the cake in the fridge for about an hour so that the caramel sets.

Carefully remove the sponge from the tin; if you don't have a loose-bottomed cake tin you may have to turn it upside down onto greaseproof paper but it doesn’t matter what it looks like as it will soon be covered with the topping.

Put the cake onto a clean piece of greaseproof paper and spread the second (unheated) tin of caramel over the top of the sponge; if it’s used straight from the tin, you can spread it as it’s thicker than when warmed.

Scatter over the hazelnuts and gently heat the chocolate and the honey together. The honey will make the chocolate runnier which is what you want.

Chocolate Drizzle

The best way to heat chocolate is to put it in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water.

Once melted, dip a fork into the chocolate and using a left to right motion, drizzle the chocolate over the cake.

Make-ahead Poke Cake

This cake can be made the day before up to the point of adding the hazelnuts and melted chocolate, best to do that the day you plan to serve the cake. Oh, and it's perfect with ice cream!

Poke Cake Recipe