Butterfinger Cake Recipe
This Butterfinger cake is the easiest poke cake you’ll ever make. Featuring a chocolate cake base and topped with caramel topping, Butterfinger candy, and Cool Whip, it’s the definition of a deliciously decadent dessert.
It’s true, everyone I know loves this Butterfinger cake recipe. Grown men swoon for it, and children polish their halos and change their vocabulary to “mother dear” for it. No cake I have ever had in a restaurant holds a candle to this indulgent poke cake.
This is the ultimate in decadence and guess what else? EASE! This is the easiest cake on earth to make. Never have you stopped a show with so little effort. All you have to do is bake the boxed cake mix according to the instructions, smear your cake with a sweet and addictive condensed milk and caramel topping combination, then add a thick layer of whipped cream and crushed Butterfinger crumbs. Just like that, you’re ready to enjoy a slice of your deliciously moist Butterfinger cake.
In case you didn’t know, I’m a big fan of poke cakes because they’re easy to make and mouthwateringly delicious. Here are some more of my favorite poke cake recipes: s’mores poke cake, Jell-O poke cake, pineapple poke cake, and Candy Corn poke cake.
Recipe Ingredients
- Devil’s Food Cake Mix (the cheaper the better, we want a good old coarse cake).
- Can of sweetened condensed milk
- Caramel topping
- Cool Whip
- Butterfinger candy bar
How To Make Butterfinger Cake Step by Step
Prepare cake mix and according to the package directions.
When it comes out, poke holes all in it with a fork or the handle of a wooden spoon, just like we did on the pineapple poke cake. Don’t stop until it looks like a swarm of four toothed mosquitoes attacked!
Pour the entire can of sweetened condensed milk into a bowl, add the caramel topping, and stir to combine.
How to Make it a Poke Cake
While the cake is still hot, pour the caramel/condensed milk all over the top and spread it around evenly. Then let it soak in. Oh my good lord almighty, this is gonna be good.
Sprinkle 3/4 of the chopped Butterfinger crumbs over the cake. Now let it cool a bit. I stick mine in the fridge at this point.
Once it is cooled, top with the whole thing of whipped cream and remaining Butterfinger bits. Refrigerate.
Now, you can eat this now but it really and truly should get good and cold before you do.
Alright so go ahead and eat a bit now if you have to, but just promise me you’ll have another slice once it cools. You may even need to have two or three slices once it is good and cold so you can make sure you are tasting it fully as it would be quite rude to serve something to others which you have not adequately tasted – for their own good, of course.
Storage
- Because of the whipped topping, you must store any cake leftovers covered in the fridge. They’ll last for up to 3 days.
- If you want to store leftovers in the freezer, I recommend freezing the cake without the whipped topping and candy crumbs for best results. Store the cake in the freezer in an airtight container for up to 3 months.
Recipe Notes
- Instead of the chocolate cake mix, you could use a yellow cake mix or fudge marble cake mix instead.
- Alternatively, substitute the Butterfinger candy bar for your favorite, whether that’s Snickers, KitKat, or Twix. You could even use a combination of your favorites. Just chop them up and sprinkle them on top!
- If you want to add an extra indulgence to your cake, drizzle it with peanut butter, extra , or some chocolate syrup.
- The Canadian and UK version of a Butterfinger bar is a Wunderbar.
Recipe FAQs
What is a poke cake?
A poke cake is a cake that is poked full of holes to allow icing, Jell-o, pudding, or in this case, sweetened condensed milk and caramel, to slide on through. By “poking” the top of the freshly baked cake the syrup or cream runs down into those holes, settles in there real good, and enhances the taste of the cake. Poke cakes gained popularity around the 70s when cake mixes were introduced.
What is the difference between Butterfinger cake and Better Than Anything cake?
The main difference between these two cakes is that Better Than Anything cake uses Heath bars rather than Butterfinger candy bars. But the rest of the recipe is basically the same.
Can I make this poke cake in advance?
Yes, if you want to assemble the entire Butterfinger cake recipe ahead of time, you can store it in the fridge for up to 3 days. However, the Butterfinger crumbs will lose their crunch after a day or so. Another option is to make the cake ahead of time and then add the toppings before serving.
Here are more delightfully easy cake recipes to bake:
Easy Birthday Cake Recipe From Scratch
Super Easy King Cake Recipe (WOW GOOD!)
An Easy Cheesecake Recipe With Cheesecake Topping Options
Peach Dump Cake Recipe (3 Ingredients Only)
Ingredients
- 1 box Devil’s Food Cake Mix
- 1 bottle caramel topping
- 1 can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 large tub Cool Whip
- 1 Butterfinger bar
Instructions
- Prepare the cake according to package directions. Immediately after removing the cake from the oven, poke several holes all over the top with a fork.1 box Devil’s Food Cake Mix
- Mix sweetened condensed milk and caramel together and pour it over the hot cake. Make sure to spread it over the entire cake. Chill well.1 bottle caramel topping, 1 can sweetened condensed milk
- After the cake has chilled completely, spread the Cool Whip over the top and sprinkle the crushed Butterfinger bar on top of the whipped topping.1 large tub Cool Whip, 1 Butterfinger bar
Nutrition
Oh.My.God. I think I need to sit down and weep a bit from happiness then go out and buy the ingredients for this cake! Butterfinger is my all-time favorite candy bar and cake is my all-time favorite dessert, which means this cake is a marriage made in heaven.
Give Stacey an enormous thank you hug and tell her she’s a girl after my own heart; we even have the exact same dishes!
Hello all from the 7 degree north.
Just wanted to know where to get the recipe to print.
Thank you and God Bless
Well I know this is a good one as I’ve already made it. I made the pizza and some more of them life altering pizza rolls last night just because I was in the mood to cook! How strange is that? I promised the lil’ girl at my Mother’s Dr. office I would make her a cake. Seems like I found one to make.
This looks awesome, can’t wait to try it. What size pan would I use, it looks like a 9×13 correct.
One other thing and I hate to nit-pick…but in the printed recipe you missed a step; the addition of 3/4 of the crushed Butterfinger bar to the cake before chilling is not in the printed recipe.
Thanks again for the recipe.
Can I just say how much I love reading everything you say?! Your recipes are great, but your personality comes through even better! You make me feel like I am in the kitchen with my best friend and she is telling me about her newest recipe! Thank you for that! It just makes cooking that much more fun! You are great! The site is great! The food is great! Is there some kind of award we fans can nominate you for????
Hi Christy–Girl…OMG! You have appropriately named this cake correctly –the part about the stampede 🙂 Made this one for Christmas Eve dinner for my family in BHM and it was the hit of the holiday weekend! Seriously. It does not disappoint. It is even BETTER (if that is possible–or if you have any left) the second day. Luckily I stashed a piece for myself for christmas day! Everyone asked for this recipe. It really is a homerun and soooo easy. THANK YOU so much for sharing!!! Happy New Year!!
I’m a Northern boy here and yes, I do bake a lot. One of our good friends lost his father a few weeks before his birthday. We weren’t sure whether to make a cake for him or not, but of course my friends bestowed upon me the honor of baking it. So I knew that our friend was obsessed with butterfingers and a fan of chocolate, so this cake just sounded perfect. AND IT WAS!!!! He loved it and I think it was just a nice sweet little pick-me-up when he was down.
So thank you so much for sharing the recipe
Ohmistars… I made this for my family *faint thud*. Thank you for sharing it. You’re a rock star 🙂