Chocolate Macaroon Birthday Cake

I mentioned a while back that we made two delicious cakes for my mom's birthday.  The first was this awesome sour cherry-chocolate chip bundt cake, and the second was this chocolate-coconut beauty.  This cake was definitely my mom's favorite...going to go out on a limb here and say it was all the chocolate!  This cake gets serious chocolate flavor from cocoa powder, a chocolate glaze, and freshly brewed espresso - the finished cake doesn't taste like coffee, but just has a deeper flavor.  All that chocolate is paired with a coconut-meringue filling that really tastes like the inside of a Mounds bar!  This cake is seriously delicious, but it is also a lot of work.  I think we dirtied at least five or six bowls, so don't try this one alone -- you'll want to save this cake for a time when you have a baking partner or two to divvy up the work (and the dishes!).

Chocolate Macaroon Birthday Cake (adapted from Vintage Cakes)
Makes one tube cake, serving 10 or so

4 eggs
1 tsp salt, divided
2 cups sugar, divded
1 T vanilla, divided
2 cups sweetened, shredded coconut
2 cups plus 1 T flour, divided
1/2 cup cocoa powder
3/4 hot coffee or espresso
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup softened butter
2 T oil

For the glaze:
1/2 cup heavy cream
4 ounces chocolate chips or chopped chocolate

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a large tube pan and set aside.
2. Separate the eggs.  Place the yolks in a small bowl, and the whites in a mixing bowl.  Add 1/2 tsp of the salt to the whites, and beat with an electric mixer or stand mixer until the whites form soft peaks.  Add 3/4 cup of the sugar in a steady stream, with the mixer running.  Continue whipping until the egg whites form firm peaks.
3. Transfer 1 cup of the beaten egg whites to a small bowl.  Fold in 1 tsp vanilla, all the coconut, and 1 T flour.  Set aside the coconut filling and the remaining meringue mixture.
4. In a small bowl, whisk together the cocoa, hot coffee, and sour cream.  Set aside.
5. In another bowl, sift together the remaining 2 cups flour with the baking powder and remaining 1/2 tsp salt.  Set aside.
6. In a large mixing bowl, mix the remaining 1-1/4 cups sugar with the butter, oil, and remaining 2 tsp vanilla.   Beat on high speed for give minutes, scraping down the bowl frequently.  Beat in the egg yolks, two at a time.
7. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour and cocoa mixtures in alternating additions (flour-cocoa-flour-cocoa-flour).  After each addition, mix until just barely blended.  Fold in the reserved egg white mixture (the portion without the coconut).
8. Spoon half the batter into the prepared pan.  Spread evenly to the sides.  Drop spoonfuls of coconut filling on top of the batter, trying to keep it in a ring around the center of the cake without touching the sides of the pan.  Top with the remaining batter, and spread evenly.
9. Bake 45-50 minutes, until a tester comes out with moist crumbs attached.  Let cool to room temperature before removing from the pan.
10. When the cake is cool, prepare the chocolate glaze.  Heat the cream until just steaming, and then pour over the chocolate chips.  Let sit for minute or two, and then slowly whisk until the mixture is smooth and glossy.  Let cool until slightly thickened but still a bit warm, and then pour over the cooled cake.

Lighting the candles...

...and blowing them out!


Bring your favorite chocolate dessert to Roxana’s Home Baking#ChocolateParty and win amazing prizes from OXO, Calphalon, Keurig, Imperial Sugar, Honey Ridge Farms and Land O Lakes® Butter!