Samoa Cake

I don't know many people who claim that they don't love the famous Samoa Girl Scout cookies?  I found a recipe for a giant Samoa cake recently and I just couldn't resist.  I rarely make a cake for my own family - they typically get the scraps from cakes that I make for other people.  (Not that there's anything wrong with scraps.)  A couple of weeks ago, I decided that they deserved a cake of their own - for no particular reason.

I found the recipe on Betsylife.com and even though I deviated from her recipe slightly, it still produced a delicious cake. 

Samoa Bundt Cake
Brown Sugar Batter
1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar (The recipe suggested dark but I only had light.)
2 eggs
3/4 cup flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk (The recipe called for whole milk and I substituted 2% milk.)

Chocolate Batter
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons flour
1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg
1/4 cup oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup boiling water
1/2 cup milk

Frosting
1 can sweetened condensed milk (or Dulce le leche)
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 Tablespoons vanilla
1 cup butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups toasted coconut
1/2 cup melted chocolate chips

For the frosting: Place the unopened can on condensed milk in a crock pot and cover with water.  Cook milk on low for 8 hours.  Remove can from water and cool.  OR just buy a can of Dulce Le Leche and forget all the prep work.

I tried cooking the condensed milk overnight in my crock pot and since there is no way to check for doneness without opening the can, I undercooked it.  It really should have been darker in color and quite a bit thicker than it was.  Lesson learned - next time I buy a can of Dulche Le Leche.

For the brown sugar batter, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time.  Add milk alternating with dry ingredients.

For chocolate batter, beat oil and sugar until fluffy.  Add egg.  Add in milk, alternating with dry ingredients.  Add boiling water.

The batters were quite different.  The brown sugar batter was light and fluffy and the chocolate batter was dark and soupy.  Both batters tasted good so I decided to go ahead and go with it.

Grease a bundt pan well - really well.  Pour a little of the chocolate batter into the bottom of the pan.  Drop spoonfuls of brown sugar batter on top.  Repeat this process 2 more times until all of the batter is in the pan. 

 

 

 

Bake cake 50 minutes at 350.

Even though I had the bundt pan greased really well, the cake didn't come out of the pan very cleanly so I had to do a little patch work.







There are two ways to toast coconut, in the oven or on the stovetop.  I prefer the stovetop method because its easier to keep and eye on it and monitor how quickly it browns.  I put my coconut in a skillet and heated it to medium heat.  I continued to stir the coconut until it reached the color that I was looking for. 

For the frosting, beat condensed milk, (or dulche le leche) butter, powdered sugar, vanilla and salt.  Stir in 1/2 cup toasted coconut.  Chill for 1 hour.

I put a thin layer of frosting over the cake - mostly to cover up the patched areas and put the whole cake back in the refrigerator for an hour to set.

Frost cake with remaining frosting and sprinkle with toasted coconut.  Since my condensed milk didn't get quite thick enough, the frosting kept sliding off of the cake.  You can see in the picture that there is a puddle of frosting around the bottom of the cake.  (This is not necessarily a bad thing because the frosting was super delicious.) 

 

Melt chocolate chips in the microwave and them drizzle over frosted cake.  

The gigantic sized Samoa cake just cracked me up.  It was so big but it looked just like the cookie counterpart.

The cookie themed cake was a huge hit with my family.  Everyone loved the cake and raved about the frosting. 

This cake is going to have to be added to my list of favorite cake flavors.  I wonder if I could turn these into a cupcake?

Ciao!

Samoa Bundt Cake
Brown Sugar Batter
1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar (The recipe suggested dark but I only had light.)
2 eggs
3/4 cup flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk (The recipe called for whole milk and I substituted 2% milk.)

Chocolate Batter
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons flour
1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg
1/4 cup oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup boiling water
1/2 cup milk

Frosting
1 can sweetened condensed milk (or Dulce le leche)
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 Tablespoons vanilla
1 cup butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups toasted coconut
1/2 cup melted chocolate chips

For the frosting: Place the unopened can on condensed milk in a crock pot and cover with water.  Cook milk on low for 8 hours.  Remove can from water and cool.  OR just buy a can of Dulce Le Leche and forget all the prep work. 

For the brown sugar batter, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time.  Add milk alternating with dry ingredients.

For chocolate batter, beat oil and sugar until fluffy.  Add egg.  Add in milk, alternating with dry ingredients.  Add boiling water.

Grease a bundt pan well - really well.  Pour a little of the chocolate batter into the bottom of the pan.  Drop spoonfuls of brown sugar batter on top.  Repeat this process 2 more times until all of the batter is in the pan. 

Bake cake 50 minutes at 350.

For the frosting, beat condensed milk, (or dulche le leche) butter, powdered sugar, vanilla and salt.  Stir in 1/2 cup toasted coconut.  Chill for 1 hour.

Put a thin layer of frosting over the cake - mostly to cover up the patched areas and put the whole cake back in the refrigerator for an hour to set.

 Repeat frosting with remaining frosting and sprinkle with remaining coconut.

Melt chocolate chips in the microwave and them drizzle over frosted cake.