Pina Colada Sheet Cake

The frozen cocktail you order poolside, reborn as a cool, dripping-moist poke cake. It starts with a humble yellow cake, but the soaking is what transforms it: while the cake is still warm, you poke it full of holes and pour over a mixture of sweetened condensed milk and cream of coconut, with a splash of dark rum if you are feeling it.

Be patient as it soaks. That creamy coconut mixture seeps down into every hole, and the warm cake drinks it up to become impossibly moist and rich.

Crushed pineapple, juice and all, gets spooned over next, then the whole thing chills for hours so the flavors set and meld.

Just before serving, it is blanketed in pillowy whipped cream and a generous shower of shredded coconut. Cool, tropical, and tender, it tastes like vacation and feeds a crowd from one easy pan.

Pro Tips

• Poke the holes while the cake is still warm so it soaks up the coconut mixture; a cold cake won’t absorb it.
• Pour the soak slowly and in stages, giving it time to sink in rather than pooling on top.
• Chill at least a few hours, ideally overnight, so the cake fully sets and the flavors deepen.
• Toast the shredded coconut for the topping to add crunch and a nutty aroma.

Variations

• Skip the rum for a kid-friendly, alcohol-free version.
• Scatter toasted macadamia nuts over the top for extra crunch.
• Garnish with maraschino cherries and pineapple wedges for the full cocktail look.