Coconut Candy Bar Cake

This Coconut Candy Bar Cake is a delicious take on the Hershey's Mounds Bar. The cake is loaded with shredded coconut and coated in dark chocolate, just like the candy bar. 

 

The crumb on this cake is probably the most moist I have ever tried. It's packed with shredded coconut, which I'm sure ensures that the cake itself is super fluffy and fresh. 

The cake is filled with an amazing pecan, brown sugar, and coconut filling, the same filling you would use to make German chocolate cake. 

This cake is a three layer affair... coconut cake topped with coconut pecan, another layer of coconut cake topped with coconut pecan, and a final layer of coconut cake topped with dark chocolate ganache. 

Between the coconut in the cake and the pecan filling, if you are a coconut fan, this cake will satisfy your cravings. 

And if you love chocolate, you won't be able to get enough of the bittersweet chocolate ganache frosting. 

P.S. If you love chocolate cake, you must also give Black Forest Cake a try. 

How to Make a Coconut Candy Bar Cake:

First, make the batter for the cake by creaming together butter, granulated sugar, and neutral oil. Next, beat in vanilla and coconut extracts, four eggs, and five egg yolks. You can save the five extra egg whites for meringues or macarons. 

Finally, add flour, baking powder, and salt, alternating with coconut milk, and then fold in shredded coconut. Divide the dough among three eight inch cake pans. 

I had two matching light colored pans and one dark colored pan. The darker pan produced a darker exterior on the layer, but the interior crumb was no different than the layers from the lighter pans (great science experiment, right?). 

I used my favorite kitchen scale to weigh the batter for even distribution between layers. It was about 18 ounces of batter per layer. I love using my kitchen scale. It really saves on using and washing measuring cups. 

Once you have baked the layers, let them cool completely in the pan. While the layers are cooling, make the pecan and coconut filling. 

In fact, you can make the filling up to a week in advance and reheat it to soften it. 

I filled the cake and then wrapped it in plastic wrap to frost it the next morning (note the darker layer on the bottom from the darker pan). 

The last recipe you will need to make to complete this cake is the dark chocolate ganache. Once you've made the ganache, you will need to separate out a cup for crumb coating the cake. 

What is crumb coating? 

This is where you coat stacked layers of a cake with a thinner layer of frosting and refrigerate for about 30 minutes so that the final coating of frosting has a smooth canvas and does not pick up any crumbs from the cake. 

As you can see by the photo above, there are a lot of indentations and irregularities when you layer a cake, and you can fill them in with a crumb coat. I used a large piping tip to pipe the cooled ganache into the indentations and then spread the ganache evenly over the cake. 

Your final step is to pour the rest of the ganache over the cake to create a smooth and shiny coating. 

This is where the wheels fell off for me. Getting the consistency right while reheating the ganache for pouring it over the cake was my downfall. The final ganache was too thick to pour smoothly over the crumb coated cake and did not form a glassy finish. I had to use an offset spatula to spread the ganache, resulting in a not so glassy finish.

Clearly, the shiny finish shows off all of my flaws. I'll be working on this, maybe with smaller cakes, right? 

It actually looked better after it spend a couple of hours in the fridge, so don't despair. 

Coconut Candy Bar Cake Recipe Variations:

If you want to make this an Almond Joy cake, you could substitute almonds for the toasted pecans in the filling. 

To decorate the cake, you could purchase "fun size" Mounds Bars. You could also cut up full-sized Mounds Bars and place them on the cake. 

Another option could be to skip the pecan filling and make more ganache for filling the cake and studding it with almonds or Almond Joy or Mounds Candy Bars. 

Additional Recipe Tips:

For the coconut, buy one bag of flaked sweetened coconut. It has exactly enough for both the cake and the filling. 

For the coconut milk, be sure to remove it from the can and whisk it together before measuring because the solids and liquids can separate in the can. 

Each month The Cake Slice Bakers are offered a selection of cakes from the current book we are baking through. This year it is Zoë Bakes Cakes by Zoē François. We each choose one cake to bake, and then on the 20th we all post about our cake on our blogs. There are a few rules that we follow, but the most important ones are to have fun and enjoy baking & eating cakes!

Follow our Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest pages where you can find all of our cakes, as well as inspiration for many other cakes. You can also click on the links below to take you to each of our cakes. If you have a blog and are interested in joining The Cake Slice Bakers and baking along with us, please send an email to thecakeslicebakers at gmail dot com for more details.

The Cake Slice Bakers also have Facebook group called The Cake Slice Bakers and Friends. This group is perfect for those who do not have a blog but want to join in the fun and bake through this book.

Our choices for January 2022 were ~

Pear-Cardamom Cake

• All That's Left Are The Crumbs
• My Recipe Reviews

Coconut-Candy Bar Cake

• Karen's Kitchen Stories
• A Little Bit of All Right

Joconde (Almond Sponge Cake)

• A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Camille Cooks
• Amandie Bakes

Coconut Candy Bar Cake

Yield: 16 slices

Author: Karen's Kitchen Stories

Prep time: 2 HourCook time: 1 HourTotal time: 3 Hour

This Coconut Candy Bar Cake is a delicious take on the Hershey's Mounds Bar. The cake is loaded with shredded coconut and coated in dark chocolate, just like the candy bar.

Ingredients

For the Cake

• 200 grams (2 cups) sweetened flaked or shredded coconut
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 450 grams (2 1/4 cups) granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup neutral oil such as canola or vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoons coconut extract
• 4 large eggs, room temperature
• 5 large egg yolks, room temperature
• 280 grams (2 1/3 cups) all purpose flour
• 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup coconut milk

For the Pecan Filling

• 200 grams (1 cup loosely packed) light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup evaporated milk
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 200 grams (2 cups) sweetened coconut flakes
• 180 grams (1 1/2 cups) pecan pieces, lightly toasted

For the Ganache

• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 450 grams (1 pound) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

Instructions

To Make the Cake

1. Heat your oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Grease 3 8-inch round cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper. Spray the parchment with spray oil.
3. In a food processor, pulse the coconut for about 30 seconds.
4. In the bowl of a stand mixer, using the paddle attachment, cream the butter on high for one minute. Scrape down the bowl.
5. With the mixer on medium, add the sugar, oil, vanilla, and coconut extract, and beat for about five minutes until light and fluffy.
6. Lower the speed to medium low and add the eggs and egg yolks, one at a time, until each is incorporated.
7. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
8. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the bowl of the stand mixer and mix on low until incorporated. Add 1/2 of the coconut milk and mix on low. Repeat with 1/3 of the flour mixture, the coconut milk, and the rest of the flour.
9. Fold in the coconut.
10. Divide the batter among the cake pans and tap the pans on the counter to remove any air bubbles.
11. Bake the cake layers for 25 to 35 minutes, until a tester comes out clean.
12. Cool completely in the pans on a wire rack.
13. Turn out the cake layers and place one on a wire rack on a parchment lined quarter sheet pan.
14. Spread half of the pecan filling over the cake layer, spreading it all the way to the edge. Place the next layer over the filling and repeat with the rest of the filling. Top with the third layer.
15. Coat the cake with 1 cup of the cooled ganache (it should be a spreadable consistency) for a crumb coat.
16. Rewarm the rest of the ganache to pourable consistency and pour it over the cake. Once the frosting has set, move the cake to a serving platter.
17. Fill a piping bag with a small star tip with leftover ganache and pie the top and bottom with with "shells" (optional).
18. Refrigerate until ready to serve

To Make the Filling

1. In a medium saucepan, over medium low heat, mix the brown sugar, butter, evaporated milk, vanilla, and salt.
2. Cook, stirring until smooth, about 3 minutes.
3. Turn off the heat and stir in the coconut and pecans.
4. Let cool for 10 minutes.
5. You can use this immediately or store for up to a week in the refrigerator. Re-warm slightly before using.

To Make the Ganache

1. In a medium saucepan over low heat, bring the cream to a slight simmer. Turn off the heat and add the chocolate.
2. Stir and let sit for 3 minutes.
3. Whisk everything together until smooth and uniform.
4. This mixture can be stored at room temperature for up to two days. Re-warm in the microwave or over simmering water (such as a double boiler).

Nutrition Facts

Calories

799.36

Fat (grams)

50.70

Sat. Fat (grams)

25.25

Carbs (grams)

76.80

Fiber (grams)

8.53

Net carbs

68.28

Sugar (grams)

50.64

Protein (grams)

12.02

Sodium (milligrams)

295.12

Cholesterol (grams)

151.61

https://www.karenskitchenstories.com/2022/01/coconut-candy-bar-cake-cakeslicebakers.html

Karen's Kitchen Stories

cake, chocolate, ganache, coconut

Dessert

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If you are a bread baker, be sure to check out Zoë's other books, Artisan Bread Baking in Five Minutes a Day, and Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day. I own both and love them. I'm also intrigued by Holiday and Celebration Bread in Five Minutes a Day. I may have to add it to my shopping cart.