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When I was little, my mom used to read me this Raggedy Ann and Andy book. It was one of my favorites. In this particular book, Raggedy Ann and Andy went to a carnival where they ate tons of hot dogs and cotton candy. Well, they ate so much that by the end of the book, they got sick. To me, I couldn’t imagine ever eating so much cotton candy that it would make me sick. Never.

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I think the moral of this book was supposed to be to not eat too much candy (or something like that) but obviously it did not have the intended effect on me. All I could do was think about cotton candy. Every time we went anywhere, if they happened to have some, that’s what I wanted. I think that book just created a monster.

Since spring was coming up and with all the pretty pastel colors everywhere, I decided what better way to celebrate that than by combining my love of cotton candy with cake. Sounds like a good reason, right?

This cake’s got a light cotton candy flavor plus a colorful white chocolate pudding soaked in, then topped with cool whip and cotton candy. Cuz who says you can’t cover an entire cake with cotton candy?

This cotton candy poke cake is really really simple. No, seriously it really is. The kids can put it together…and they’ll love it.

The cotton candy flavor in the cake comes compliments of Lorann’s Cotton Candy Flavoring, which you can find here. You don’t use much, just about a 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon.

Oh, and there’s a video on how to put it together later in this post, so don’t forget to check that out.

Plus, if you’d like a cute and free printable recipe card for this recipe, just enter your email below. You’ll get two sizes of recipe cards.

The first thing you’ll do is bake a white cake. You can use a box mix like I did, or you can bake your favorite vanilla scratch cake. Click here to get my favorite: Vanilla Bean Cake Recipe

Since this is a poke cake, you’ll need to watch your timing a bit, so once it’s baked, you’ll only need to let it sit for about 5 – 10 minutes. While it’s sitting, you’ll make your pudding mixture, add colors and stir just until marbled. You don’t want your pudding to set up, so do this right before you pour it over your warm cake.

Next you’ll poke holes in your cake with the end of a wooden spoon and pour over your pudding mixture. Chill for an hour, then cover with cool whip and cotton candy.

And here’s the video of how to put it all together:

And here’s the recipe:

Cotton Candy Poke Cake

This super easy cake has a light cotton candy flavor plus a colorful white chocolate pudding soaked in, then topped with cool whip and cotton candy.

Author: Kara Jane @ I Scream for Buttercream

Ingredients

1 box white cake mix or your favorite white cake recipe
1/4 - 1/2 tsp cotton candy flavoring
2 boxes white chocolate or vanilla instant pudding mix
3 cups milk
1 large container cool whip
1 package cotton candy
food coloring

Instructions

Prepare your cake batter according to the directions on the box or in your recipe.
Add in 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of cotton candy flavoring and mix.
Pour into a greased or sprayed 13 x 9 inch pan and bake according to the box or your recipe.
Let cool on a rack for only 5 -10 minutes.
While cooling, mix two small boxes of instant pudding mix and 3 cups of milk.
Add in the food coloring. You can use the colors of your choice. Just mix enough to marble the pudding.
Poke holes in the cake with the back of a wooden spoon and pour the pudding mixture over the top. Spread evenly.
Let chill in the fridge for about an hour, then cover with cool whip.
Top with cotton candy.

Recipe Notes

Store this cake in the refrigerator. It's also best to add the cotton candy shortly before you serve it.

Don’t forget, if you’d like to get a cute printable recipe card for this recipe, just subscribe by adding in your name and email below. You’ll get two sizes of recipe cards to download for the Cotton Candy Poke Cake.