Diet Coke Poke Cake 232 Calories

Admittedly, I don't spend much time on pinterest.  However(!) several of my good friends do and they post most of their pins to facebook.  While I'm quickly scrolling down my news feed to find out what's going on in the realm of my facebook friends, I see all these delicious things that grab my eye.  One of them happened to be a poke cake.  The original recipe wasn't appetizing to me as it called for banana jello.  Blech!   But an idea was born.

Chocolate Diet Coke with Butterscotch Pudding Poke Cake

Ingredients:

• Diet coke (or diet sprite if you're using yellow or white cake mix)
• Cake Mix
• Instant Pudding (careful they aren't kidding!)
• Cool Whip

Now you can play around with different variations in as far as flavors but you can also check nutrition labels and have this for way less calories than you might think.

My cake part is a diet coke cake (DCC), so I used no eggs and no oil.  If you are unfamiliar with a diet coke cake, it is just cake mix and a can of diet coke mixed together.  I know you will be skeptical but trust me.  Just dry cake mix and diet coke.  (Those who are already familiar with the DCC are shaking their heads in agreement)

Pour into a baking pan and follow the baking directions on the box based on your pan.   I used a 13 x 9 pan and instead of greasing it as suggested, I just sprayed some non calorie spray.  

Once your cake is done (toothpick comes out clean) then it is time to take it out and poke some holes.  You can use anything the size of a wooden spoon, ie you want your holes to be rather large so the pudding can get in there.  I used the end of a Sharpie.  (Yes, I did wash it before I did this)

The DCC is amazing by itself but let's take it a step further and add pudding after it is baked!  Now here is where I messed up by my messup will be a learning experience for you.   I made the instant pudding and waited 2 minutes for it to set.  Now, the box says 5 minutes so I figured I was safe with 2.5 minutes but after 1 minute I turned around and had PUDDING!  So here is my hint to you, use a little more milk or watch that sucker like a hawk.  You don't want to pour it on while it is just pure liquid but full fledge pudding won't drip into the holes so you want a nice middle ground.

Spread the pudding around evenly and refrigerate until set.  Then just top with cool whip and wallah!

Here is the nutritional breakdown and how I got it down to 232 calories per slice.  The cake is so moist and delicious and really hits the spot for a sweet craving.  Also, as you can see, it is extremely easy to make.