A couple of days ago, I got my hair done.
This was because I cannot make the platinum blonde and dark brown roots ‘do look cool, no matter how many times I see it on runway models and in fashion magazines. I just look like an old hag. Also, because I’m going to be promoting and selling my cookbook on QVC this month (!!!!). If you haven’t, mark your calendars for May 11!
ANYWAY.
In the middle of the appointment, my awesome stylist Heather put me under one of those orb heat thingies. This is obviously not a technical term, but can you blame me? I can barely put my hair in a ponytail without looking like a charity case.
And as I sat there reading my magazine, I suddenly fell asleep. This would be fine to anyone else, because no one else had a traumatic past experience of sleeping in front of other people like I did. But when Heather gently woke me up a little later, I nearly leapt out of the seat screaming “I’m awake! I’m awake!” and immediately searched for any cameras in sight.
You see, when I was in the eighth grade, my class went on a field trip to Ashland, Oregon for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. I was rooming with my three besties and all was well in the world. Well, I’ve never been a night owl and I’ve always had a desire to go to bed early, which makes me a terrible sleepover buddy since I’m always the first to fall asleep.
Unbeknownst to me while I slept peacefully, my friends were taking funny pictures of each other… and of me sleeping. I did not know this until weeks later, when my friend had her film developed and brought the photos to school to show us. And then, as she flipped through the photos, she landed on one of me. There I was, laying on my side, mouth open wide, sound asleep with wet hair looking like a displaced sea creature. All my friends laughed and laughed and told me that I didn’t even wake up when the flash went off and I just sat there mortified. Like, I was more mortified seeing my gaping mouth while I was unconscious than the time I wore Happy Bunny shirts unironically and than the time I was obsessed with a Swedish pop band that no one else seemed to care about.
And then they proceeded to show my crush this awful picture and he laughed and laughed because preteen boys don’t make supportive boyfriends and I felt like I could shrink into the ground or back to the underwater world from which me and my fishy lips came from.
So this has cursed me from falling asleep anywhere public, like on airplanes or in busy hair salons. I’ll rest my eyes, but the second I start to feel sleep coming on, I’ll coax myself out of the impending sleep because I’m afraid I’ll fall asleep for real and everyone will see my gross face and take pictures. UGH.
So yeah, I was traumatized and that’s the story. Aren’t you glad you know this part of my past and current psyche? Don’t answer that.
Anyway, can we talk about this gorgeous Oreo Poke Cake? It is phenomenal. I know I say that about a lot of my desserts, but girlfran’, this stuff rocks.
It starts with a dark chocolate cake that you bake and poke a bajillion holes into with a wooden spoon or skewer. Honestly, either way works, but I prefer using the handle of a wooden spoon because bigger holes = more pockets of gooey goodness. Once your cake is covered in holes, you’ll pour on a delectable mixture of sweetened condensed milk and hot fudge sauce. You can’t see me, but right now I’m making the Macaulay Culkin Home Alone face.
Top off this glorious creation with some cookies & cream whipped cream and some crushed Oreo cookies for good measure. Oh! And then drizzle some chocolate sauce all up in that business, because more chocolate never hurt nobody. The only caveat is that you have to let it set for awhile in the fridge – trust me, it tastes SO much better if you wait! It soaks up all of that glorious sweetened condensed milk/hot fudge mixture and really develops a wonderfully rich chocolaty flavor.
Nothing about this cake is embarrassing, except perhaps the number of slices I consumed. Oops.
- 1 box dark chocolate cake mix, plus ingredients on back of box
- 1 (3.4 oz) box dry instant Oreo pudding mix (if you cannot find this, simply use instant chocolate pudding mix)
- 1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
- ½ cup hot fudge sauce, at room temperature
- 1 (8 oz) tub Cool Whip, thawed
- 1 & ½ cups coarsely chopped/crushed Oreo cookies, divided (I used the Oreo Minis & roughly chopped them)
- Chocolate syrup
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Liberally grease a 13x9" baking pan with cooking spray; set aside.
- In a large bowl, prepare the chocolate cake batter according to package directions. Stir in the dry instant pudding mix to combine. Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan and bake for approx. 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean or with moist, not wet, crumbs. Cool completely.
- Once cooled, poke holes all over the surface of the cake with the handle of a wooden spoon or a skewer. In a medium bowl, whisk together the condensed milk and hot fudge sauce until smooth. Pour this mixture evenly over the surface of the cake, taking care to fill the holes with the mixture.
- Fold ½ cup of the coarsely crushed Oreo cookies into the Cool Whip topping; spread over the entire cake. Top evenly with the remaining coarsely crushed Oreos and drizzle with the chocolate syrup. Refrigerate covered for at LEAST 6 hours, preferably overnight, before cutting into pieces to serve.
Super chocolaty and packed with Oreo and delicious cookies & cream flavors, this poke cake is a must-make for any chocolate cookie lover!
Have a super sweet day!
xo, Hayley
YES. PLEASE.
Can’t wait for QVC!! Woo hooo…. and oreo with hot fudge in cake form! I want the whole pan!!
Eek, thanks girlfriend! <3
Getting mortified at sleepovers is pretty much a rite of passage. One time, a girl stabbed her nightstand with a steak knife and convinced me there was a serial killer loose in the neighborhood.
Oreo poke cakes should replace shame at sleepovers.
Annie, OMG. I totally laughed out loud at your weird sociopathic sleepover buddy stabbing her own nightstand, haha!
I was the girl who fell asleep 1st at sleepovers too-one time this resulted in peanut butter all over myself and my sleeping bag. Which was pretty mortifying and made preteen Kayle PISSED OFF. So I feel your pain.
This Oreo poke cake looks good enough to nearly eradicate all traumatic middle school memories—SO MUCH OREO DELICIOUSNESS
Oh my gooooosh, I would be so mad! Thankfully none of the sleepover girls ever did that to me!