Samoa Cake

It's that time of year again ya'll.

Those sweet little gals are going to be standing in front of your local stores, malls, gas stations etc.

Girl. Scout. Cookies.

They deserve their own prayer. A moment of silence.

Whatever we do, we get more than one box a piece. We also mark our names on them, and vow to cut anyone that even thinks about snagging one. 

My favorite? Samoas. I believe they're called Caramel deLites or something like that. I refuse to call them by any other name.

And yes. I also refuse to share.

Just like this cake. 

You won't even have finished chewing before trying to utter "wow".

And I can't blame you. The picture is enough wow for me. I never even stopped for a sip of milk.

Ingredients:

2 cups cake flour

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup butter

1 cup cream of coconut

5 tbsp cocoa

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp baking soda

2 eggs, plus one yolk, beaten

2 tsp vanilla

Caramel:

1 cup sugar

1 + 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/4 tsp coarse salt

1/2 tsp vanilla

Frosting:

1/2 cup butter
1 tsp coconut extract

3 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup caramel

Toppings:
2 + 1/2 cup coconut (toasted if desired)

Caramel (remainders from frosting)

3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

3/4 cup white chocolate chips
1 tbsp whipping cream

Caramel Method:

1. Sprinkle sugar evenly on the bottom of a pot. Heat over medium heat. Watch carefully for the sides to start to liquefy. Using a spatula, gently scrape the sides into the middle of the pan. DO NOT OVER STIR. Repeat until all the sugar has melted. Once the mixture has turned to a nice golden caramel color, remove from heat and combine with cream, salt, and vanilla, mixing well. Place back over heat if the mixture becomes a bit too hard. Set aside and use once it has reached room temperature. 

Cake Method:

1. Combine flour, sugar, and baking soda.
2. Over medium heat, combine butter, cream of coconut, cocoa, and shortening. Slowly bring to a boil. While heating, pour milk and lemon juice in a cup. Let sit for about 3-5 minutes.
3. Once chocolate mixure has come to a boil, add to flour and sugar. Stir well. Add the eggs, and milk mixture. Mix well. Lastly, add vanilla, and stir for about 3 minutes.
4. Pour into a cookie sheet that is at least 1" deep, lined with foil. Bake for 20 minutes at 400, until tester comes clean.

Frosting Method:

1.  Bring butter, extract, and caramel to a boil in a pot over medium high heat.

2. Remove from heat, and add vanilla, and powdered sugar. Stir well. Set aside until cake is finished baking. Immediately once cake has been removed from the oven, poke as many holes in the top of the cake as you can, and pour frosting over the cake entirely, taking care to try to fill holes.**
3. Sprinkle coconut over frosting.
4. Pipe remaining caramel in thin lines over coconut.
5. Melt chocolates together with whipping cream, stirring well. Pipe thin lines over caramel and coconut.
6. Stick in the fridge for about 20 minutes or until toppings have firmed up.

Serve with a scoop of ice cream! Wow!

The toppings itself are enough to drool over. We have not even gotten to the cake yet. 

Drool. Drool. Drool.

**There will be some frosting that spills, so I recommend placing the cookie sheet over another layer of foil for easy cleanup.