brown sugar coconut bundt cake with dark chocolate ganache #bundtbakers

Have you had your Girl Scout Cookies yet this year?

brown sugar coconut bundt cake with dark chocolate ganache | Brooklyn Homemaker

We got ours, shipped in from Texas a few weeks ago, fresh from one of Russell’s girlfriend’s daughters. He ordered a few different flavors, but of course our favorites are the coconutty caramelly shortbread Samoas. In my experience, these are most people’s favorite choice, unless they don’t like coconut (in which case they’re probably crazy and may need to be committed).

brown sugar coconut bundt cake with dark chocolate ganache | Brooklyn Homemaker

This month Kelly from Passion Kneaded is our Bundt Bakers host and, in the spirit of the season, she chose Girl Scout Cookies as our theme. It didn’t take me more than half a millisecond to decide my cake would be inspired by the incomparable Samoa.
Thank you Kelly!

If you love Girl Scout Cookies (and Bundt cakes) as much as I do, be sure you scroll down past the recipe to see all the other mouthwatering recipes the Bundt Bakers came up with this month!

brown sugar coconut bundt cake with dark chocolate ganache | Brooklyn Homemaker

Rather than recreating the Samoa in Bundt cake form, I decided to just let the flavors and ingredients of the cookie inspire, rather than dictate, the direction I would take my cake.

brown sugar coconut bundt cake with dark chocolate ganache | Brooklyn Homemaker

I just bought a classic 12 cup Nordic Ware Bundt, and wanted to show it off in all it’s beautiful glory so I decided not to cover up the outside of the cake with a thick layer of coconut and caramel.
Instead, I thought I’d try to mix some brown sugar and butter with sweetened coconut flakes and make a sort of “shell” to line the interior of the pan before pouring in the batter. This way the coconut and “caramel” would appear to be on the outside just like the cookie, but it would really be baked as part of the cake. For the body of the cake, I used brown sugar and coconut milk to help emphasize the flavors of the coconut shell.

brown sugar coconut bundt cake with dark chocolate ganache | Brooklyn Homemaker

Mere words cannot describe the otherworldly sublime aroma that filled my house while this cake baked.

brown sugar coconut bundt cake with dark chocolate ganache | Brooklyn Homemaker

When it came time to glaze the cake I went with a thick, rich, bittersweet dark chocolate ganache. I decided on dark chocolate over milk because, A) I personally prefer dark chocolate, and B) real Samoas have dark chocolate drizzled over them too.

brown sugar coconut bundt cake with dark chocolate ganache | Brooklyn Homemaker

Have you ever heard anyone refer to Samoas as Caramel Delites? I always assumed the two names were just regional variations on the same cookie, but it turns out that these are two different types of girl scout cookies and the difference depends on the bakery they come from. Samoas have a richer, darker caramel color and a higher caramel to cookie ratio with a dark chocolate drizzle. Caramel DeLites have a caramel that’s lighter in color and not as thick, so more of the cookie comes through in the flavor. They’re also, oddly enough, actually octagonal rather than round, and are drizzled with milk chocolate instead of dark.

brown sugar coconut bundt cake with dark chocolate ganache | Brooklyn Homemaker

I usually bring at least half of my bundt cakes to work with me every month to share with my coworkers, because a bundt cake is too big for me and Russell to eat on our own (as much as we’d like to). Unless I have a special occasion or celebration that calls for a homemade cake, I’m baking these cakes each month just for the fun of it and because I like the challenge of working within the group’s theme each month.

This time around, everyone LOVED the cake other than one coworker who doesn’t like coconut (lunacy). The one thing that seemed to be a point of contention though was the dark chocolate ganache. Some people, myself included, were crazy for the contrast of light sweet delicate cake and assertive rich dark chocolate, while others thought the dark chocolate was too strongly flavored and overpowered the cake. If you’re not a fan of dark or bittersweet chocolate you can definitely go with milk instead for a Caramel Delite affect, or you could even substitute a powdered sugar and cocoa glaze if you think ganache might be too rich for you.

brown sugar coconut bundt cake with dark chocolate ganache | Brooklyn Homemaker

However you want to glaze this cake is just fine. Dark chocolate, milk chocolate, or a thin cocoa glaze, it’s all going to be delicious. In the end it doesn’t matter anyway, because the real star of the show here isn’t the glaze, it’s the CAKE!!!

The outside of this cake has a sweet buttery chewy crunchy coconut caramel shell that really drives that Samoa flavor home. The interior of the cake is buttery, tender and impossibly moist with a perfect subtle hint of caramel thanks to brown sugar and a delicate touch of coconut. Oh man.

So good.

brown sugar coconut bundt cake with dark chocolate ganache | Brooklyn Homemaker

Brown Sugar Coconut Bundt Cake with Dark Chocolate Ganache

Adapted from Food Network

Coconut brown sugar mixture:
butter and flour for pan
2 cups sweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) melted unsalted butter

Cake:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup white sugar
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
6 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon coconut extract, optional
1 cup canned unsweetened coconut milk

Ganache:
4 oz good quality dark chocolate
1/2 cup heavy cream
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 F.
Generously butter and flour a 10 to 12 cup non-stick bundt pan. I recommend one of Nordic Ware’s cast aluminum pans because of their superior non-stick coating.  The coconut brown sugar mixture may stick to less non-stick pans or pans that are very intricately designed. Simpler is better in this case. Tap out excess flour and refrigerate.

Mix brown sugar and coconut together until well distributed. Pour melted butter over the mixture and toss to combine. Press into prepared bundt pan and refrigerate while you prepare the rest of the cake.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder.
Cream the butter and sugars together using a stand mixer or hand mixer until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, scraping the bowl after each addition. Once incorporated, stir in the extracts and the coconut milk and beat until combined. Slowly beat in the dry ingredients in three additions just until the mixture is smooth. Do not over mix.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan up to about 3/4 of the way full. If your pan is smaller than 12 cups, you may have batter leftover. Bake until a cake tester comes out clean, about 70 minutes. Cool cake 20 minutes before turning it out onto a wire cooling rack. Cool completely on the rack.

Once cake is completely cool, make the ganache.
Chop chocolate into small pieces and place in a small heat proof bowl. Heat heavy cream in a small saucepan just until it begins to simmer. Pour cream over the chocolate, add a pinch of salt, and let sit for 2 minutes so the heat from the cream can melt the chocolate. Add the vanilla and stir or whisk until smooth and free of lumps. Before the ganache cools, pour it over the cake in a thick even stream.

Cake will keep, well covered and air tight, for 2 to 3 days at room temperature.

brown sugar coconut bundt cake with dark chocolate ganache | Brooklyn Homemaker

Check out all these drool worthy Girl Scout Cookie inspired cakes! I can’t handle this much delicious in one place!!!

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BundtBakers

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Interested in learning more about us? #BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. You can see all our of lovely Bundts by following our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated after each event on the BundtBaker home page here.

If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send an email with your blog URL to foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com. If you are just a lover of Bundt baking, you can find all of our recipe links by clicking our badge above or on our group Pinterest board.

73 comments

  2. Once again, you have outdone yourself, Tux! My first thought when I saw the buttery coconut piled in the bottom of your Bundt pan was, “Brave man!” But, like you, I should have had trust in the Nordic Ware. They just don’t stick, do they? Thank goodness. I will be making this cake. And soon! P.S. I will be using dark chocolate too. Dark chocolate is the best.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. haha! I know! I was sure at least some of it would stick even after buttering and flouring the pan but I went ahead with it anyway and figured I could rework the recipe if it was a fail. But Nordic Ware knows what they’re doing!

      Like

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    1. It’s all a facade Cheryl! I can’t take photos in my kitchen because I don’t have any natural light in there so I have a collection of backgrounds and surfaces to photograph on in another room with better light! I can’t have real marble and tile in the kitchen so I pretend with props!

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  22. This cake looks pretty amazing, Tux. Perfect in the likeness of a Samoa! I’m with you, how could anyone NOT LOVE COCONUT?! And I’ll keep the dark chocolate glaze. I wish I were your coworker….I’d love to sample your cakes each month! : )

    Liked by 1 person

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  24. Absolutely stunning Bundt Cake, Tux!! Love the outside crispy shell you made, and I would definitely go for the dark chocolate ganache!! ;-) We don’t have the Girl Scout cookies here, but I also loved the theme :-) See you again next month!

    Liked by 1 person

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  25. Tux, this bundt is gorgeous…of course I expect nothing less from you. The coconut shell you create was genius. I love Samoas! Unfortunately, where I live there are not too many girl scouts nowadays, so I heavily rely on the Keebler elf for my cookie fix xD …but next time I’m craving samoa, I am definitely trying this out. Have a wonderful weekend!

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  27. I have been going through girlscout cookie withdrawals this year. Remember how the internet told us we could order them online? Huge lie.. You have to KNOW a girlscout to be able to order them. To quote you- I can’t even handle all these awesome photos of sugary goodness. Your recipe looks amazing. Also- Love the blog! Pinning immediately! :) – Sarah

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Thank you so much!!!
      That’s crazy! I had know idea you had to know a girl scout to order online! I wonder if you could just type in a random common name and hope a girl scout comes up? Jane Smith would get so many orders this year!!!

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  30. There are people who don’t like coconut? What’s there not to like? Lunacy, indeed. I love what you did the with the coconut-crust! I would be so afraid that it would stick. Pretty sure that if I try it, it will stick.
    I’m glad you enjoyed the theme. Your cake looks delicious as usual.

    Liked by 1 person

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  31. What can I say! I just loved the recipe, the pictures and how brave you were including the coconut in the pan…so I couldn’t help having a look at your hummus recipe as well…hehehe

    Liked by 1 person

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  32. What a wonderful bundt! I’ve never tried any of the girl scout cookies but have heard about samoas. I’ve never really liked the idea of them. After seeing this and reading your description I really want to try some!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Thank you! I definitely have always like samoas best, but to be honest the older I get the less I crave them. They’re a bit sweeter and drier than I like now, but when I was a kid I couldn’t get enough!!! Luckily the cake was just sweet enough and anything but dry!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  35. I should definitely make more bundts. I have a lovely french kouglhopf mould. Thanks for sharing and this pics are excellent!

    Liked by 1 person

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