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With a few extra ingredients, this Better Than Sex Cake recipe turns a basic cake mix into a decadent dessert. The rich, caramel filled cake is complemented by a creamy whipped topping and crunchy toffee candy on top.
Featured With This Recipe
Looking for a dessert to impress without spending a lot of time or money? This Better Than Sex Cake is for you! My daughter requested this cake for her birthday for many years, and it became a family favorite. I love the flavors and textures in this cake. I also love it because it is so easy to make. It’s a great dessert when I’m having company over for dinner. We’ve had rave reviews since sharing it here on our website.
What is Better Than Sex Cake?
Better Than Sex Cake is a decadent chocolate poke cake that combines layers of moist chocolate cake, creamy whipped cream, rich caramel sauce, and a sprinkle of toffee bits. The result is a heavenly dessert with a combination of flavors and textures that will have you craving more.
Of course, the name of this cake is not exactly family friendly. In front of the kids we call it “Better Than You Know What Cake.” We have had many of our readers share with us what they call this dessert. Some people say they call it “Better Than Sex,” while others say they call it “Better Than Anything You Can Think Of.” Still others have told us they simply refer to it as their “secret weapon.” Whatever you want to call this delicious dessert, one thing is for sure: It’s easy to make, tastes incredible, and will leave everyone satisfied and smiling!
How to Make Better Than Sex Cake
You won’t believe that this sinfully delicious Better Than Sex Cake recipe starts out with just a regular box cake mix. In addition, you will need sweetened condensed milk, caramel ice cream topping, frozen whipped topping (Cool Whip) or homemade whipped cream, and Heath candy bars.
- Bake the cake according to the package directions. Make adjustments for altitude according to where you live. Once the cake has cooled for about 15 minutes, use the handle of a wooden spoon to poke holes evenly on the top of the cake. Poke the holes about half way into the cake, not all the way to the bottom.
- Stir the sweetened condensed milk and caramel topping together in a glass measuring cup or bowl. Pour the mixture evenly over the cake and into the holes. Cover the cake with plastic wrap and keep it in the fridge until you are ready to add the topping and serve.
- Just before serving, spread Cool Whip (thawed) or homemade whipped topping over the cake.
- Chop the Heath bars into pieces using a knife. Another option is to keep the Heath bars in the candy wrapper and pound it gently with a mallet to break it up into pieces. Place the Heath pieces evenly on the cake as pictured below.
- Keep leftover cake covered and refrigerated. It’s best to eat it within a couple of days, after that it tends to get soggy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Make Your Own Chocolate Cake Mix
Prefer to make your cake mix from scratch? We’ve got you covered! Make any kind of cake mix using our simple Homemade Cake Mix Recipe and make it a chocolate cake. After making the cake mix, just add eggs, butter, cocoa, and milk to make the perfect cake batter.
Better Than Sex Cake Variations
We have made this several different ways, we have even had a reader report that it is delicious with a white cake mix or yellow cake mix in place of the chocolate mix. If you can’t find Devil’s Food Cake mix, you can use a German chocolate cake mix or a regular chocolate cake mix instead.
You can also add any kind of chopped up candy bars on the top, but we prefer Skor candy bars or Heath bars. The crunchy toffee candy is so good! Here are some more great topping ideas: Butterfinger Bars, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, M&M’s Minis, Reese’s Pieces, Snickers Bars, crushed Oreo cookies or mini Oreos, Keebler Fudge Stripe Cookies, chocolate chips, peanut butter chips.
Heath and Skor Candy Bars are English toffee bars covered in milk chocolate. They are nearly identical in appearance, made with much of the same ingredients, and are even manufactured by the same company. The Hershey Company makes Heath Bars and also sells Heath Toffee Bits which are great for baking in cookies and as a topping on this cake. The Hershey Company also makes Skor Bars, which are marketed as “buttery toffee enrobed in milk chocolate.” There are no nuts in either bar, but Skor Bars have a more buttery flavor while Heath Bars taste a bit nuttier. They can both be found in most grocery stores.
Yes! You can make this cake a day before serving if needed, but add the whipped topping and Heath bar pieces just before serving. Store the pre-made cake in the refrigerator to keep it fresh.
Absolutely! However, don’t use the whipped cream that comes in a can. It melts quickly and becomes runny, and won’t work for this recipe. You can make your own whipped cream with heavy cream and sugar, and it will taste amazing!
More Poke Cake Recipes
What makes this Better Than Sex Cake so moist and delicious is poking holes in the cake and pouring a caramel sauce over the holes. We call this a “Poke Cake”. Try some of our other delicious poke cake recipes!
Raspberry Lemon Poke Cake – Raspberry Lemon Jello Poke Cake is a cold, refreshing treat! You’ll love this moist, tangy lemon and raspberry flavor with light pudding frosting.
Pumpkin Poke Cake – This Pumpkin Poke Cake is a deliciously rich and ultra moist cake with a creamy, crunchy topping. Every bite tastes like fall!Piña Colada Poke Cake – This Piña Colada Cake is bursting with coconut and pineapple. The topping on this cake is simple, yet so delicious. It is the perfect summer dessert!
4th of July Poke Cake – This 4th of July Cake is the perfect chilled dessert for your Independence Day celebrations. It is so fun with the red, white, and blue colors inside.
Better Than Sex Cake
Video
Equipment
- 9×13 Cake Pan
- Wooden Spoon
- Hand Mixer
- Mixing Bowls
Ingredients
- 15.25 ounces Devil’s Food Cake Mix
- 14 ounces sweetened condensed milk
- 12.25 ounces caramel flavored topping
- 8 ounces frozen whipped topping thawed
- 4 Heath or Skor candy bars chopped
Instructions
- Bake cake according to package directions for a 9×13 inch pan. Cool for about 15 minutes. Using the handle of a wooden spoon, poke holes into the cake.
- In a small bowl, combine sweetened condensed milk and caramel topping. Slowly pour caramel mixture over the cake, letting it sink into the holes.
- Let cake cool completely (I usually cover it and put it in the fridge until I'm ready to serve it). Top cooled cake with whipped topping.
- Decorate the top of the cake with chopped candy bars. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.
i made this cake for my workplace, i work in a hospital as the head cook for patient breakfast and the cafeteria, so i found this recipe totally by accident and loved the name, and therefore i made it!! It was a complete hit with everyone!! They loved it, so sweet and moist.. Will definitely make again
One of my most favorite cakes ever. After I pour the sweetened condensed milk and caramel mixture, I put it back in the oven for 5 minutes to set those toppings a little more. It makes it more gooey and less runny. And everyone fights to scrape the sides of the pan to get the caramelized goodness.
If I wanted to use homemade caramel, what recipe would work for this cake.
You could use the recipe for caramel sauce from our dessert sauces post: https://www.favfamilyrecipes.com/3-dessert-dipping-sauces/#wprm-recipe-container-20039
Hi so I recently made your BETTER THAN SEX CAKE for my friends bday WITH A FEW INTERSTING CHANGES FOR A EVEN MORE AMAZING TASTE ..SO I STARTED with the devils food cake mix, MIXING accord. then I added a pckg if dry instant choc pudding,2 eggs and water and baked accord. FOLLOWED BY ;
poking the holes on top of the cake,carefully pouring the combined condensed milk and caramel sauce covering entire cake, I let it set then as for frosting I combined whipped butter ,powdered sugar and finely chopped candy bars together then spread over entire cake the sprinkled with CHUNKS OF HEATH SKOR AND BUTTERFINGER CANDY BARS THEN DRIZZLE CHOC.AND CARAMEL SYRUP FRIDGERATE ,THANK YOU SINCERELY Giselle
There are tree nuts in both Heath and Skor bars. Toffee in America generally always has almonds or nuts of some sort.
This cake looks so rich and decadent. I love how easy it is to make. Putting on my to do list for tomorrow!
My mom made this and it is perfection!
This cake makes a great dessert for any occasion and is always one of the first one to go! So yummy!
Is there anything more you could want in a cake?! I don’t think so! This has such amazing ingredients and flavor. YUM!
I’m not a cake eater, but I am going to make-adding pecans in the mix
The title of this recipe couldn’t be more accurate! SO GOOD!!!
This cake is amazing and so easy to make.
Oh man, this was amazing! I have room in my mouth for any dessert with a crushed up Heath bar.
This is called “Earthquake Cake” in a cookbook I have.
Earthquake cake has coconut flakes, pecans and cream cheese, usually. 😊
Can you make this the day before and refrigerate overnight?
You can, although I would recommend waiting to frost and top the cake until right before you serve it. Otherwise it may be too soggy.