Equipment
stand mixer
2 9" round cake pans or 3-6" round baking pans, or a 9x13" baking pan
saucepan
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 boxed cake mix
- 1 cup flour
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ cup cocoa
- 1 teaspoon espresso powder optional
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup melted butter
- 2 cups full fat milk or light cream
- 2 Tablespoon vinegar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Chocolate Frosting
- 1 cup butter
- ⅔ cup cocoa
- ½ teaspoon espresso powder
- 2½ cups powdered sugar, or up to 3 cups depending on desired consistency
- 2 ounces evaporated milk, more or less, depending on consistency
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Coconut Pecan Frosting
- ½ cup butter
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
- 3 large egg yolks
- 6 ounces evaporated milk save remainder for frosting
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla
- 1 cup chopped pecans chopped coarsely
- 1½ cups shredded unsweetened coconut
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat oven to 350˚F. Grease baking pans with butter, or spray with cooking spray, then dust lightly with flour.
- In 2 cup measuring cup, add vinegar then fill to the 2 cup line with milk. Stir. It will begin to look appear curdled, but that is ok. Set aside.
- In a large stand mixer bowl, add boxed chocolate cake mix, flour, sugar, cocoa, espresso powder. Whisk to combine.
- Add in the soured milk mixture, eggs, melted butter and vanilla. Mix on low until just incorporated, then scrape down the sides.
- Mix on medium speed for 2 minutes, then divide evenly into prepared pans.
- Bake for 25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Set on wire baking rack to cool completely.
Chocolate Frosting
- In a large stand mixer bowl, add softened butter, cocoa, espresso powder and 1 cup of the powdered sugar. Blend slowly until incorporated. Mix in the vanilla and condensed milk and whisk on medium speed.
- Continue adding in the powdered sugar ½ cup at a time until frosting is smooth and to your desired consistency, and to your taste for sweetness. Add more powdered sugar and/or milk to achieve desired consistency.
- In a saucepan, combine brown sugar, butter, egg yolks, and evaporated milk. Stir and bring to a boil over medium heat.
- Stir consistently until mixture begins to thicken.
- Remove from heat, stir in vanilla, nuts, and coconut. Cool completely.
Assembly
- Place one cake on a serving platter or plate.
- Using a piping bag, or zippered bag with a corner snipped, pipe a thick chocolate frosting rim around the edge of the cake. Fill the middle with coconut pecan topping.
- Place second cake on top. Pipe chocolate frosting around the top of the cake and frost the sides. Fold the remaining topping into the center. Decorate with additional chocolate frosting as desired.
Notes
- You can use buttermilk in place of the milk and vinegar.
- *My preference is to line the bottom of each baking pan with parchment. Spray bottom on pan lightly, lay parchment cut to the size of the pan on top of greased layer, spray again and dust with flour. Tap pan to distribute flour.
- Use a weigh scale to distribute the cake batter between pans for more even baking.
- You can purchase canned coconut pecan frosting, or make it from scratch.
Nutrition
Calories: 752kcal | Carbohydrates: 80g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 48g | Saturated Fat: 27g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 14g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 142mg | Sodium: 497mg | Potassium: 402mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 59g | Vitamin A: 1054IU | Vitamin C: 0.5mg | Calcium: 159mg | Iron: 3mg