Calling all Coconut and Chocolate lovers: THIS moist and delicious Almond Joy Cake recipe is going to become your new favorite chocolate dessert!
I’ve always been a huge fan of all things chocolate & coconut, and lately we’ve been dreaming of making an Almond Joy Cake to combine rich chocolate cake with a sweet and flavorful coconut filling.
I’m so happy to report that this recipe was a hit at our house, and needs to be added to your “must-make” list as soon as possible.
Inspired by the candy bar, this fabulous homemade Almond Joy cake consists of decadent homemade chocolate cake layers, an amazing coconut filling, rich chocolate ganache, and a smattering of almond slices!
How to Make an Almond Joy Cake
The chocolate cake that we used in this recipe is one that you’ve seen often on our site–we LOVE it- our homemade Classic Chocolate Cake! This scratch recipe is rich, decadent, moist…everything that you could ever want in a chocolate cake.
However, it never hurts to have options, and we are lucky enough to have a few amazing chocolate cake recipes on our site (if I do say so myself)! So if you’d like to take a look, our scratch Devil’s Food Cake recipe as well as our Chocolate Sour Cream Cake are out of this world. I could never pick a favorite!
(Also, if you’re looking for a doctored chocolate cake mix recipe to use instead of scratch, we LOVE this one!: Chocolate Sour Cream Doctored Cake Mix.)
The World’s Best Coconut Filling
The next most important player in this Almond Joy Cake is the Coconut Filling! Some may even say it’s the most important….finding the perfect coconut filling can be tricky! But we’ve found it.
It is the perfect consistency for spreading on nice and thick, and the flavor is fantastic! It tastes just like the coconut filling of an Almond Joy candy bar or Mounds bar. Yum!
Rich Ganache Frosting
We added another layer of chocolate to this recipe with a Simple Spreadable Chocolate Ganache! This is a 2:1 ratio of chocolate to cream and makes a rich, surprisingly easy filling and frosting.
Ganache may sound fancy, but if you’ve never made it, don’t be intimidated. With just two ingredients, it’s just about the easiest frosting ever (and SO good).
It can be used as is, or you can whip it to create a smoother, slightly lighter consistency. You’ll want to let it cool and thicken a bit before whipping into a fluffier consistency.
Assembling the Cake
When it was time to assemble the cake, we spread a thin layer of ganache onto each layer and then followed with a layer of coconut filling!
The ganache as a filling is an optional step, but it takes our already chocolatey cake layers to a whole new level of decadence.
Plus, we have enough ganache to use as both a filling and a frosting and so why not? When in doubt, use more chocolate ;0)
Next, we frosted the entire cake with the ganache frosting. When ganache becomes cool, it will begin to set up.
If the ganache becomes too thick or firm while you are frosting the cake, just pop the bowl into the microwave for a few seconds at a time until it warms to a spreadable consistency.
How to get a smooth finish on a ganache-frosted cake
When I frost my cakes (whether buttercream or ganache), I apply a thin layer to crumb coat first, and then apply a thicker layer with a simple offset spatula.
Then, while rotating the cake on my turntable, I smooth the frosting with a bench scraper. This step alone with give you a nice, smooth look. However…
For a SUPER smooth effect to your frosting, chill the freshly frosted cake in the freezer for about 15-20 minutes or just until firm.
Then, heat your bench scraper (or spatula) in a pot of very hot water, dry off and glide it over the chilled frosting.
You may need to add a little fresh frosting here and there on stubborn places and then smooth over with the heated bench scraper. the ganache will melt just enough to give you a smooth finish.
Final Touches to the Cake
We topped off our ganache frosted cake with a layer of coconut filling and even more flaked coconut. We also pressed sliced almonds around the sides of the cake!
You can use sliced almonds in the filling also if you’d like! I love the look of the fluffy mound of coconut on top- I just want to dive in!
Almond Joy Cake vs. Mounds Cake
Mounds bars are basically the same as Almond Joy, minus the almond– and I love them both! If you’re feeling more like a Mounds Bar cake, you’re in luck. This cake can be that cake too.
To make a Mounds Cake instead, simply leave the almonds out of this recipe!
Now for one last look…. ahhh….
We hope that you enjoy this recipe! If you make our Almond Joy Layer Cake, we’d love to hear all about it! Make sure to leave a note or photo in the comments below!
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Almond Joy Cake Recipe
This Almond Joy Cake is amazing! Decadent chocolate cake layers with a thick and flavorful coconut filling, frosted in rich ganache.
Ingredients
For the Classic Chocolate Cake Layers
- 2 cups (400g) sugar
- 2 3/4 cup (322g) all-purpose flour
- 1 cup (82g) unsweetened cocoa (lightly spoon into cup then sift)
- 2 teaspoons ((10g) baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon (2g) baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon (2g) salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks) (226g) unsalted butter, softened (do not soften in microwave) I cut the butter into 1 inch pieces onto waxed paper leaving on the countertop for 8 to 10 minutes it will still be quite cool when adding to the dry ingredients. If it becomes too soft, just refrigerate a few minutes
- 1/4 cup (54g) vegetable oil
- 4 large eggs at room temperature
- 1 cup (220g) milk
- 1 teaspoon (4g) vanilla extract
- 1 cup (220g) hot coffee, it can be instant or brewed
For the Coconut Filling
- 1/2 cup (121g) milk
- 1/2 cup (100g) sugar
- 2 1/2 cups (220g) sweetened coconut ( I used Bakers Flake Coconut)
- 1/2 bag (144g) mini marshmallows or 24 large (155g) marshmallows (the large one can be cut into small pieces for easier melting)
- 1 teaspoon (4g) coconut extract
For the Ganache Frosting
- 650 grams chocolate, chopped into small pieces (We used Trader Joe's Pound Plus Dark Chocolate which is 54% cocoa)
- 325 grams ( 1 1/2 cup) heavy cream
Instructions
For the Classic Chocolate Cake
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Grease and flour THREE 8 inch cake pans
- In a mixing bowl, add the dry ingredients: sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Whisk for 1 minute to blend.
- Add softened butter a few pieces at a time while the mixer is on low speed. Mix until the dry ingredients look like coarse sand and the dry ingredients are moistened. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl.
- In a separate bowl whisk the eggs, milk , oil and vanilla until blended.
- Method is important when using the Reverse Creaming Method. With the mixer on low speed, SLOWLY add approximately 1/2 of the egg mixture to the dry ingredients. Increase the speed to medium and mix for 1 1/2 minutes at medium speed. Don't mix above medium speed. Scrape the bottom and sides of bowl. Add the remaining egg mixture in 2 pourings, beating for 20 seconds after each pour. Scrape the sides and bottom of bowl.
- Slowly add the cup of hot coffee and mix another 30 seconds until blended. The batter will be very runny. Don't worry!
- Pour into 3 prepared 8" pans and bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes or until the center of the cake springs back to the touch and a toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool the cakes 10 minutes on a rack and then turn out of the pans.
- *Yields approx 9 cups of batter.
For the Coconut Filling
- In a saucepan over medium heat add the milk, sugar and marshmallows.
- Stir until the sugar is dissolved and the marshmallows are melted. It is a slow process because you don't want the milk to boil. Use the back of the spoon to press the marshmallow to the side of the pan while stirring to speed things along.
- Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the coconut and coconut extract.
- Allow to cool completely before spreading between the layers. It can be made in advance and refrigerated.
For the Ganache Frosting
- Put the chocolate into a heat proof bowl. Heat the cream until it just begins to boil, remove from the heat and pour over the chocolate.
- Let the mixture sit for 5 minutes before stirring. Stir until all the chocolate pieces have melted. You could also use an immersion blender or hand mixer to finish blending, making sure that all the chocolate pieces have melted.
- Allow the ganache to completely cool to room temperature. When you take out a spoon full and it holds its shape it is ready to spread on the cake.
- At this point you could also whip the ganache, for a lighter consistency ganache. Using a hand mixer or the whisk attachment of your stand mixer, begin on low speed gradually increasing to medium speed, whip the ganache approximately 1-2 minutes or until it has lightened in color and is smooth.
Assembly of the Cake
- When assembling our three layer chocolate cake, we spread the first and second layers with a thin layer of chocolate ganache followed by a layer of our coconut filling.
- After placing the third layer, we frosted the cake in chocolate ganache and topped off the cake with coconut filling followed by a generous mound of flaked coconut.
- We pressed sliced almonds here and there around the sides of the cake towards the bottom.
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Looks and sounds fantastic! My Mom would love this :-) I will add this to my To Do List :-) Love it!
Hi, Melissa! I am from Brazil and I follow your work, it is simply sensational. Thank you very much for sharing your knowledge, it has helped me a lot!
Hi Melissa and BeBe, New cake sounds fabulous. I’m baking for a party this weekend. Heatwave and very warm evenings are in the forecast. I haven’t made or used Ganache before. Certainly sounds easy, fancy name makes it even more appealing. Using Dark Chocolate should bring ’em to their knees. :-D I think I know the answer to my question but always good to hear it from the experts. My question: This is a very “fudgy” frosting, yes? Previously, when needing a “fudgy” frosting, I’ve used a recipe that has butter, sour cream, confection sugar. It even has 1/2 cup Hot H2O in the recipe. So, better to use Ganche vs risking an unstable / melting frosting for a 3-layer cake that will be served on a warm evening? Thank you again for all assistance. :-) Lisa G.
Me again :-) I should also ask: Can I make it ahead? Can I freeze it? If making ahead, does it become “spreadable” by just letting it sit on the counter until room temperature or … Looking forward to hearing from you. :-) Lisa G.
Hi Lisa, Yes, this is a “fudgy” frosting. I used Trader Joe’s Pound Plus dark chocolate that has 54% cocoa. The chocolate you use should be at least 54% cocoa to set up property. This is chocolate and cream so it also will soften in warm weather but I think it will hold up longer than the recipe you are using. The ganache can be frozen, it can also be refrigerated for at least a week, probably longer. If refrigerating, it will become quite firm so let it sit on the counter until it can be rewhipped with a whisk……same process if frozen. Hope all goes well.
Dis looks delicious, can’t wait to try it, thanx Melissa, more grease to your elbow.
I love it!! Thanks Melissa for such delicious recipe!
Can’t wait to try!
I am hesitant about the chocolate ganache icing. Since there is NO sugar in it, I feel that first bite will be disappointing, or even a little bitter. Why isnt it sweetened some❓
Hi JJ, Ganache is two ingredients, chocolate and heavy cream. For a sweeter result you could make ganache using milk chocolate. Dark chocolate uses a ratio of 2 to 1 chocolate to cream. If using milk chocolate or white chocolate, you will need to use a 3 to 1 ratio of chocolate to cream so it will set up properly. This cake would also be good if frosted with a chocolate buttercream.
This cake looks delicious with all the chocolate cake layers, coconut filling, rich ganache, and a smattering of almond slices! Its perfect for a small celebration of my grandparents anniversary. They both are found of chocolate and coconut. This will make their day. But i want it to be less sweet., can i do something about it. Do give your suggestions please as i am going to make it very soon. Thank You for the recipe.
Hi Richa, I think you could reduce the sugar by half in the coconut filling recipe. I have not tried this but I think it would be fine. You could also use your favorite chocolate buttercream recipe that has less sugar instead of using ganache.
I made these into cupcakes (it made 35) and they were sooooooo delicious! I cut out a holein the cupcake, added the coconut filling (I didn’t use the coconut extract), replaced the top, topped with whipped ganache and sprinkled toasted chopped almonds and sweet coconut flakes all over. OH my! I could have eaten all of them! My guests said they were the best cupcakes they have ever had! Thanks a million for this recipe!
Hi Natalie, The cupcakes sound divine, such a great idea! Thanks so much for posting this alternate way to use the recipe!!
hey
the cake looks amazing, i would like to try it soon
thank you for sharing
PLEASE tell me what kind of milk are you using in the coconut filling, is that sweet milk, can milk,
Hi Betty, I used whole milk for the filling recipe. I think you could use reduced fat milk if you like. I have not tried using canned milk.
Hi Melissa,
thanks for sharing the recipe :) will definitely make :) can we replace milk with low fat skim milk ?
thanks for sharing these lovely recipes.just wondering if i could bake the whole quantity of batterbin one 9 inch pan and then cut it in three layers_I find it hard to have all these extra pans for storage reasons.would it bake well???
Hi Samaresh, My first choice is full fat milk, but you could use low fat milk.
Hi Anastasia, I don’t recommend it unless you have experience baking in a deep cake pan? Many bakers have difficulty with deep pans because it takes so long to bake and get the center done that the outside edges of the cake are over baked and tough. If you decide to bake in a deep pan, you could try adding bake even strips to the outside of the pan to help with more even baking. What size cake pans do you have? You could cut the recipe in half for a smaller cake.
I made them into cupcakes. OMG huge hit at my house! Can’t wait for my coworkers to try them. Thank you!
Hi Reini, Wonderful! I so happy to know you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for your review.
Hello there,in the cake can I replace the butter with shortening? Thanks!
Hi Yuna, I think it could be done but I have never tried it so I am not sure how it will affect the flavor. Click on the link below for more information.
https://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/2016/11/16/shortening-vs-butter-in-baking
re: three 8″ pans ….
I was planning to use my 2 cake pans + 1 pie pan (and trim it to a round shape before frosting). As it happens, though, all of my pans are 9″! Can I still pull this off? There’s no way I can get three 8″ pans in time, as I’m making it today.
Hi Jen, This recipe makes 9 cups batter. Batter amount charts suggest 5 cups batter for a nine inch round 2 inch deep pan……the recipe would be fine for your 2 pans. Is making a two layer cake an option? You could increase the recipe by 1/2 giving you approx. 13 cups batter, will your mixing bowl hold that much batter? I am not sure about the pie pan, they often have slanted sides and is it deep enough to give you the height you need. Below is a link to a Batter Chart…these amounts are only guidelines
http://fromkarenskitchen.com/tips/party_cake_batter_amounts_baking_times_2inch_pan.php
Thank you, BeBe! I measured 1/3 of the batter into each of the two 9″ pans. They cooked perfectly. Then I split the remaining 1/3 of the batter into some mini bundt pans so I could have some coconut-free options available (I used 3 bundts, but should’ve used 4).
That chart you linked is very helpful! Thank you, again!
Hi. This cake looks delicious and I can’t wait to make it for some Almond Joy lovers. Only thing is they do not like coffee and can taste coffee of any amount in recipes even if they don’t know it’s an ingredient. What can I use as a substitute for the coffee and still maintain the richness? Will hot coco work? I know it’s an odd question and people sometimes have a hard time understanding non-coffee drinkers. LOL. Thanks for the advice in advance.
Hi Maiden, You can replace the cup of hot coffee with a cup of hot water, and the cake will be fine. I haven’t tried it, but hot cocoa should work also. I don’t know that it would add to the flavor. This recipe uses the Reverse Creaming Method, if you are not familiar with that method, below is a link to Melissa’s video.
https://www.mycakeschool.com/blog/reverse-creaming-method-of-mixing-a-cake-video-tutorial/
650 grams is over a pound of chocolate. Is this accurate?
Yes, It is over a pound.
Hi. This is an AMAZING cake. As stated in the recipe, It is moist and delicious! I didn’t say the name of the cake when I asked a friend to do a taste test. Her comment – “it tastes just like an Almond Joy or Mound”! My husband said it’s the “best chocolate cake I’ve made, and don’t change a thing”. I’m not a coffee drinker but I had some espresso powder in the pantry and decided to try it and added one teaspoon to the hot water. To my surprise, there was no coffee flavor at all. Thank you for the awesome recipe.
@Deb- Thank you so much for your review of this cake! I’m so glad that you all loved it! xoxo
This cake turned out awesome as a mounds cake (left out the almonds). I ended up using semi sweet chocolate chips (54%) because it was all I could find in our rural area. I also ran out of vanilla mid preperation so used 1/4 tsp vanilla and 1/4 tsp almond extract. My husband shared some of it with his coworkers and one who’s wife is a “professional baker” said his wife’s mounds cake sure doesn’t taste like this and requested the recipe!
I did end up with a ton of ganache leftover, so could have probably gotten by with half of what the recipe called for, but I used it to make some delicious truffles.
Hi Melissa, Loved reading your review and how you made the recipe work with substitutions you needed to make. I am thrilled that everyone loved the cake. Thanks so much for taking the time to post your experience.
Hi BeBe, do you think we can substitute coconut milk for the regular milk in the filling?
I’m going to try and make this cake for my dad this weekend :) thank you!
Hi Celeste, I have not tried using coconut milk so I cannot speak from experience, though it seems that it would work. Hope you will enjoy the cake.
Hello BeBe. Thank you so much for this recipe. I’m going to try it soon. I do have one question please.
Do I need to be concerned about refrigeration because of the milk in the filling? I’m a cake artist and need to leave my cakes out for several hrs while decorating. They will probably be covered with fondant.
Thank you in advance!
Helen
Hi Helen, This cake recipe does need refrigeration because of the coconut filling. If it did not have this filling, and had only ganache, it could be left out approximately 2 days, kept in a cool place, then refrigerated. But, or course, to have an almond joy cake you need the coconut filling. If you do make the cake as written, when ready to serve, you should remove the cake from the refrigerator about 2 hours before serving so it can be warm a bit.
Can you use 2 9in pans?
Could not find 8 inch
Hi Susie, You can bake this in two 9 inch round pans that are 2 inches deep. This recipe makes approx. 9 cups of batter. A 9×2 inch pan holds 5 cups. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes, keep an eye on it. It will be done when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. Below is a cake batter chart you will find helpful.
http://fromkarenskitchen.com/tips/party_cake_batter_amounts_baking_times_2inch_pan.php