Strawberry Poke Cake

5 from 1 vote

This irresistibly moist strawberry poke cake starts with a soft vanilla sponge soaked in homemade strawberry sauce and is finished with a luscious Chantilly cream topping and fresh strawberries!

Prep Time25

Cook Time35

Total Time1

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings:

Calories: 285kcal

Author: Katalin Nagy

Equipment

Ingredients

Vanilla Sheet Cake

300 g Granulated sugar
113 g Unsalted butter at room temperature
110 g Oil
3 Eggs at room temperature
240 g Greek Yogurt at room temperature
1 teaspoons Vanilla extract
375 g All purpose flour
½ teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Baking powder
1 teaspoon Baking soda

Strawberry sauce filling

600 g Strawberry puree Puree fresh or frozen strawberries (defrost first)
100 g Granulated sugar
1 tablespoon Corn starch dissolved in 2 tablespoons of water

Mascarpone Stabilized Whipped Cream

460 g Heavy cream 36% fat content, cold
150 g Mascarpone 41% fat content, cold
60 g Powdered sugar sifted

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Vanilla Sheet Cake

Preheat your oven to 175℃ / 350℉ (no fan) and grease a 9x13-inch / 22x33 cm pan or line it with parchment paper on the bottom and sides for easy removal.
In a large bowl, cream the room-temperature butter and sugar for a few minutes until light and fluffy. Next, add the oil, and then the room-temperature eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Then, mix in the room-temperature yogurt and vanilla extract.
Sift the dry ingredients—flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt—into the butter mixture. Gently fold them in with a rubber spatula until just combined. Be careful not to overmix the batter.
Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and smooth the top with an offset spatula. Bake for about 35 minutes at 175℃ / 350℉, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Be sure not to overbake it, as this can cause the cake to dry out.

Strawberry sauce

About halfway through the baking time, begin making the strawberry sauce by cooking the strawberry puree and sugar together for about 3 minutes. In a separate bowl, mix the cornstarch with water until smooth. Add a tablespoon of the warm strawberry sauce to the cornstarch mixture, then pour the cornstarch mixture into the strawberry-sugar mixture. Continue cooking for about a minute, stirring constantly, until the strawberry sauce thickens slightly.

Poke the cake

As soon as the sheet cake is done baking, take it out of the oven and use the handle of a wooden spoon to poke holes all over the top. Pour the strawberry sauce over the hot cake, making sure to focus on filling the holes. Set aside 1-2 tablespoons of sauce for later to use as decoration.
Let the cake come to room temperature before frosting.

Mascarpone Stabilized Whipped Cream

Place very cold 36% fat-content heavy cream and cold 41% fat-content mascarpone into a mixing bowl, along with the sifted powdered sugar. Use an electric hand mixer to whip the mixture for about 2-3 minutes until fluffy.

Assembling

Once the sheet cake has cooled to room temperature, spread the frosting on top. To create the marble decoration, place dollops of strawberry sauce on top of the frosting and gently swirl it into the whipped cream. For the finishing touch, pipe additional whipped cream on top and garnish with strawberries.
Serve the strawberry poke cake fresh. Any leftovers can be covered and stored in the refrigerator for 1-2 days.

Notes

Ingredient notes:

Measure your ingredients with a digital scale for accuracy.
All cake ingredients must be at room temperature to properly emulsify: eggs, butter, and yogurt.
Both the mascarpone and the heavy cream need to be high in fat. The low-fat versions won't whip up correctly because they contain more water.

Technique notes:

Baking this cake takes 35 minutes in my oven. However, you should focus on the texture, not the time. Apply the toothpick test (it should come out clean) to avoid overbaking your cake - that would result in a dry texture.
Chantilly cream is very easy to overwhip. When whipping, stop as soon as the mixture has reached a fluffy consistency (this will take 2-3 minutes) and early stiff peaks. It won't get stiffer after this point. In fact, if you overbeat it, it will only get runnier, and then it will break.

Nutrition