Make Chocolate Macaroon Cake
If you're a fan of chewy, chocolate macaroon cookies or are looking for a sophisticated dessert to serve for Passover, make chocolate macaroon cake. You can make a simple chocolate macaroon Bundt cake using a purchased cake mix. Spread a creamy, coconut filling into the cake to create a tunnel of macaroon flavor. Or make a dairy and gluten-free chocolate macaroon cake that relies on coconut oil, rich chocolate, and lots of shredded coconut.
Contents
Ingredients
Easy Chocolate Macaroon Bundt Cake
- 1 15.25-ounce (432 g) package German chocolate cake mix
- 3/4 cup (180 ml) water
- 2/3 cup (160 ml) vegetable oil
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 cup (40 g) flaked coconut for the cake
- 1 8 ounce (225 g) package cream cheese, softened
- 1/4 cup (50 g) granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup (20 g) flaked coconut for the filling
Makes one Bundt cake
Chocolate Macaroon Cake (Dairy and Gluten-Free)
For the cake:
- 1 cup (240 ml) coconut oil, melted, cooled, plus more for pan
- ¼ cup (25 g) unsweetened cocoa powder, plus more for pan
- 1 cup (140 g) skin-on almonds
- 8 ounces (226 g) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup (40 g) unsweetened shredded coconut
- 6 large eggs, room temperature
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (100 g) packed, light brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
For the ganache:
- 4 ounces (113 g) semisweet chocolate, chopped
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon light agave nectar or pure maple syrup
- Pinch of kosher salt
- ½ cup (120 ml) unsweetened coconut milk
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened coconut flakes
- 1 tablespoon sliced almonds
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
Makes 10 servings
Steps
Making Easy Chocolate Macaroon Bundt Cake
- Preheat the oven and prepare the pan. Turn the oven on to 325 degrees F (160 C). Take a 12-cup (3 liter) Bundt pan and thoroughly spray it with cooking spray. Or you could grease and flour it. If you're using a tunnel insert, you'll also need to spray or grease the insert.
- Mix the cake batter ingredients. Open one 15.25-ounce (432 g) package of German chocolate cake mix. Pour the powdered mix into a mixing bowl and add 3/4 cup (180 ml) of water, 2/3 cup (160 ml) of vegetable oil, and 3 eggs. Use a stand or hand mixer to beat the batter on low speed for 30 seconds. Turn up the speed to medium and beat it for 2 minutes.
- You may want to stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure that all of the mix is incorporated.
- Stir in the coconut and spread the batter in the pan. Add 1/2 cup (40 g) of flaked coconut to the batter and stir it until it's combined. Scoop the batter into the prepared Bundt pan.
- Place the tunnel insert in the pan and bake the cake. Set the greased tunnel insert into the Bundt pan, so the empty tunnel part is facing you. Put the cake in the preheated oven and bake it for 38 to 44 minutes. Insert a cake tester or toothpick in the center. If it comes out clean, it's finished baking.
- The tunnel insert will allow you to fill the cake with the coconut cream cheese filling once it's baked.
- Remove the tunnel insert and cool the cake. Take the cake out of the oven and immediately use a serrated knife to slice away the cake that's baked up and around the tunnel insert. Loosen the tunnel insert and lift it out. Let the cake cool for 10 minutes in the pan. Then turn it out of the pan and let it cool with the tunnel side down.
- It will take about one hour for the cake to cool completely.
- Combine the macaroon filling. Open one 8-ounce (225 g) package of softened cream cheese. Place it in a mixing bowl with 1/4 cup (50 g) of granulated sugar and 1/4 cup (20 g) of flaked coconut. Use a mixer or spoon to stir the filling together until it's completely combined.
- Fill the cake with the macaroon mixture and chill it. Once the cake has cooled completely, turn it upside down, so the tunnel is facing you. Spread the macaroon filling evenly through the tunnel. Turn the cake right side up and set it on your cake stand or serving place. Chill the cake for 10 minutes, so the filling hardens a little. Slice the cake and serve it.
- Consider drizzling the cake with melted chocolate or dusting it with powdered sugar before you serve it.
- Store leftover cake in the refrigerator.
Making Chocolate Macaroon Cake (Dairy and Gluten-Free)
- Preheat the oven and prepare the pan. Turn the oven on to 350 degrees F (180 C). Get out a 10-inch (25-cm) round cake pan and spray it with cooking spray. Or you could grease the pan and coat it with a little unsweetened cocoa powder. Cut a circle of parchment paper to fit the pan and place it in the bottom. Spray this with cooking spray too.
- Toast the almonds. Spread 1 cup (140 g) of almonds with the skins on across a baking sheet. Use a sheet with a rim, so the almonds don't slide off the pan. Put the pan in the oven and toast the nuts for 8 to 10 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and let the almonds cool. Turn the oven temperature down to 325 degrees F (160 C).
- You should be able to smell the almonds and they should be dark brown once they've finished toasting.
- Heat the coconut oil with the semisweet chocolate. Place 8 ounces (226 g) of chopped semisweet or bittersweet chocolate into a medium bowl. Stir in 1 cup (240 ml) of melted coconut oil and set the bowl over a saucepan with simmering water in it. Stir the mixture until the chocolate melts. Turn off the heat.
- Don't let the bowl actually touch the simmering water.
- Grind the almonds with the salt, cocoa, and shredded coconut. Put the cooled, toasted almonds into a blender or food processor. Add ¼ cup (25 g) of unsweetened cocoa powder and 1 teaspoon of kosher salt. Blitz the mixture until the nuts are finely ground. Add ½ cup (40 g) of unsweetened shredded coconut and pulse the mixture two or three times, so it's mixed into the almonds. Set the mixture aside.
- Beat the eggs. Crack 6 large eggs into a large mixing bowl. Use a stand mixer with a whisk attachment to beat the eggs on medium speed. Beat them for 20 seconds, so the eggs are beaten and you can't see streaks of egg yolk.
- You'll get more volume from whisking the eggs, if they're at room temperature.
- Whisk in the sugars and vanilla. Turn off the mixer and add ½ cup (100 g) of granulated sugar, ½ cup (100 g) of packed, light brown sugar, and 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract. Turn the mixer on to high speed and whisk the wet mixture for about 2 minutes.
- The mixture should look thick and pale once it's whisked long enough.
- Beat in the chocolate mixture. Take the whisk attachment off of the mixer and put on the beater (paddle) attachment. Turn the mixer on low speed and add the melted chocolate mixture. Keep mixing until the chocolate is incorporated.
- Add the ground almond mixture and spread the batter in the pan. Stir in the ground almond mixture with the mixer on low speed. Turn off the mixer and scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Spread the cake batter into the prepared cake pan.
- Bake the cake. Put the cake in the preheated oven and bake it for 35 to 45 minutes. Poke a tester into the center of the cake. If it's finished baking, it will come out clean (but it may look oily). Remove the cake and let it cool in the pan for 15 to 20 minutes.
- Don't worry if the cake falls a little in the center as it initially cools.
- Cool the cake and remove it from the pan. Take a butter knife and run it around the sides of the cake. Flip the cake out of the pan and onto a wire rack. Slowly peel the parchment paper off of the cake and let the cake finish cooling completely.
- You can make the cake up to one day before assembling it. Put it in an airtight container at room temperature.
- Preheat the oven and make almond-coconut clusters. Turn the oven on to 350 degrees F (180 C). Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and mix together 2 tablespoons of unsweetened coconut flakes, 1 tablespoon of sliced almonds, 1 teaspoon of granulated sugar, and 1 teaspoon of agave nectar on the sheet. Put the baking sheet in the oven for 4 minutes. Take the sheet out of the oven and let the mixture cool completely.
- You can break or chop the almond-coconut mixture into smaller pieces or clusters.
- Make a chocolate ganache. Place 4 ounces (113 g) of chopped semisweet chocolate, 1 tablespoon light agave nectar or pure maple syrup, and a pinch of kosher salt into a medium bowl. Heat ½ cup (120 ml) of unsweetened coconut milk in a small saucepan until it bubbles gently. Turn off the heat and pour the coconut milk over the chocolate mixture in the bowl. Let it sit for 5 minutes.
- If you don't want to make your own ganache, you could purchase chocolate frosting.
- Beat the chocolate ganache and spread it on the cake. Use an electric mixer with beater attachments to beat the chocolate ganache on medium speed for about 6 to 8 minutes. The ganache will become thick enough to spread over the cake. Scoop the ganache onto the cake and use an offset spatula to spread it evenly over the cake. Sprinkle the top with the almond-coconut clusters.
- Refrigerate any leftover chocolate macaroon cake in an airtight container.
Things You'll Need
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Digital scale
- Bundt pan
- Rubber spatula
- Serrated knife
- Hand or stand mixer with whisk and beater attachments
- Baking sheet
- Offset spatula
- Small saucepan
- Parchment paper
- Mixing bowls
- Prep bowls
- Wire rack
- Cake tester or toothpick
- 10-inch (25-cm) round cake pan
- 12-cup (3 liter) Bundt pan
- Cooking spray
- Bundt tunnel insert
Tips
- If you don't have a tunnel insert, you can spread half of the chocolate cake batter in the Bundt pan, spread the filling in the middle (not touching the sides of the pan), and spread the rest of the chocolate cake batter over it. Bake the cake as directed.
