While I love me a good layer cake, sheet cakes have been calling my name lately. That’s where this chocolate caramel poke cake comes in.

The best part of this cake? The hidden pockets of homemade caramel!

With almost every bite, you get a delicious tunnel of the buttery caramel. It’s enough to have you coming back for seconds…and thirds!

There’s a reason I call this my most irresistible sheet cake recipe 🙂

The Star of the Show: The Homemade Caramel

I know that making caramel from scratch can seem intimidating if you’ve never tried it before.

I was convinced it was some complicated process that must require all kinds of special equipment. But the truth of the matter is, it doesn’t have to be complicated.

I make my caramel without a thermometer using just four ingredients, and a batch comes together in about 5 minutes. It doesn’t get much easier than that!

If you’re short on time you can use store-bought caramel, but I think it’s worth making the caramel from scratch.

Once you make it, it gets used in pretty much every aspect of the cake.

It’s spread on top of the sheet cake, added into the frosting, and used to decorate the top of the cake.

Key Tip for Making This Caramel: Add the Sugar Gradually

Whenever I make homemade caramel, I always feel like melting down the sugar is a little tricky!

My biggest tip when doing this is to add the sugar in gradually. I add about a quarter of a cup at a time.

This helps the granulated sugar liquify more quickly and minimizes clumping. It makes a world of a difference!!

I didn’t know to do that when I first started making caramel and used to just dump it all in at once.

The caramel will still turn out if you add all the sugar at once, but it takes a lot longer to melt down. It can also leave you with little lumps of sugar in your caramel.

My Secret Ingredient in This Fluffy Caramel Buttercream

I have one more thing to note about this recipe!

While the caramel in this buttercream gives it an amazing flavor, there’s one unconventional ingredient that gives it an incredible texture- egg whites. Or more specifically, pasteurized egg whites.

Egg whites are commonly used in other types of frosting. However, they’re hardly ever added to American buttercream.

But I swear, adding a tablespoon of pasteurized egg whites (the type that comes in a carton) and mixing the frosting on a high speed at the end makes the FLUFFIEST frosting. It also creates a silky-smooth mouth feel.

By using egg whites that have been pasteurized (heat-treated), they’re safe to add into your frosting without cooking them.

If the idea of adding egg whites into your frosting seems too crazy or you don’t have pasteurized egg whites on hand, you can omit them from the frosting.

However, if you have them, do yourself a favor and add them in! 🙂

This chocolate sheet cake bakes up pretty thick, so you need a relatively thick layer of frosting to get the cake to frosting ratio just right.

By fluffing this frosting up, you’re able to add a thick layer on top of your sheet cake without it being overpoweringly sweet.

Tips for Making the Best Chocolate Caramel Poke Cake:

• Mix your batter until it’s just barely combined. Over-mixing your batter can make your sheet cake denser and less tender.
• Properly measure your flour (spoon into the cup measure, then level) or use a kitchen scale to measure your dry ingredients.
• Use flower nails/heating cores to help your sheet cake bake more evenly and quickly.
• This recipe can be used to make about 24 cupcakes. Fill your cupcake liners about 2/3 full and bake for about 18 minutes in a preheated 350 F /175 C oven.
• You can also use this recipe to bake a 12×17-inch (half sheet) cake, but the bake time will be shorter. Bake for about 25 minutes at 325 F/ 162 C.
• If you want to make a chocolate layer cake, use my chocolate layer cake recipe to make 3, 8-inch cake layers.

Making This Chocolate Caramel Poke Cake in Advance and Storage Tips:

• Make your caramel ahead of time!! It can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 weeks.
• Make your sheet cake in advance and freeze it. This breaks the process up and makes it more approachable.
• Make your frosting ahead of time too or save any leftover frosting! It can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a month or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Be sure to give it a good stir once it thaws to get the consistency nice and smooth again.
• In an airtight container, this cake can sit out at room temp for a day, in the fridge for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to a month.

Let Me Know What You Think!

If you make this chocolate caramel poke cake recipe, I’d love to hear what you think of it! Please leave a rating and comment below.

Or if you share your creations on social media, be sure to tag me @chelsweets and #chelsweets so I can see your delicious creations!