Samoa Cake tastes like the beloved girl scout cookie in bundt cake form with a tender cake full of chocolate flavor covered in a caramel frosting and lots of toasted coconut. A drizzle of caramel sauce and chocolate sauce makes it even harder to resist.
Samoa Cookies- The Best Girl Scout Cookie!
We’re coming up on Girl Scout Cookie season which I look forward to every year. Samoas are my favorite cookie period. They are single handedly responsible for turning me from a coconut hater into a coconut lover.
Seriously, for the first 30+ years of my life I would not eat anything with shredded coconut.
And then I had a samoa cookie. And my life changed.
How could I have missed out on so many years of samoa cookie eating?
For those days when there are no samoa cookies to be had, it can be fun to flavor other desserts with that fabulous coconut, caramel, and chocolate flavor combination. Even oatmeal.
Chocolate Cake Batter
I used my favorite chocolate cake batter for this Samoa Bundt Cake. The texture is soft, tender, and velvety and it stays tasting fresh for days. I find this cake tastes just as good 4 days later as it did the day it was baked.
Caramel Buttercream
I covered the cake in a generous layer of a simple buttercream flavored with jarred caramel sauce. Then to finish it off, lots of toasted coconut, more caramel sauce, and some hot fudge sauce.
A slice of this cake is pure heaven y’all!
★★★★★
What readers are saying
I love to bake cakes, and this recipe is one of the best recipes I have ever tried! The cake turns out so nice and moist and the flavors are awesome. Thanks so much for sharing this recipe – it’s a keeper for sure!
Recipe Tip-Measure the Flour Correctly
In order to get a moist cake, it’s important to measure the flour correctly. First fluff it up in the bag or container. Then use a large spoon to gently scoop the flour into a dry measuring cup. Overfill it slightly and then run the back of a knife across the top to get rid of the excess.
Reader Suggestion
One of my lovely readers suggested using salted caramel sauce instead of regular caramel sauce. It’s a great idea!
How To Store
This cake can be stored at room temperature either wrapped well or in an airtight container for 3 days. Any longer than that and I recommend refrigerating it.
More Bundt Cake Recipes
- Peanut Butter Bundt Cake
- Cheerwine Bundt Cake
- Southern Praline Bundt Cake
- Italian Cream Bundt Cake
- Toffee Bundt Cake
- Hummingbird Bundt Cake
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Watch a quick video for this recipe below.
Samoa Bundt Cake
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1 (16-ounce) package light brown sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 (8-ounce) container sour cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup hot water
Caramel Frosting
- 3/4 cup butter (1 1/2 sticks)
- 1/4 cup jarred caramel sauce
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons heavy cream or milk
Toppings
- 1 1/2 cups sweetened shredded coconut, toasted
- Caramel Sauce
- Hot Fudge Sauce
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease and flour and bundt pan (or use baking spray).
- Melt chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl (heat at 20 second intervals) until smooth when stirred. Set Aside.
- Beat butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer until blended well, about 5 minutes.
- Beat in eggs one at a time.
- Beat in melted chocolate just until blended.
- Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt.
- Add flour mixture to batter, alternating with sour cream, beating at LOW speed just until blended after each addition.
- Slowly, with mixer on LOW speed, add hot water.
- Stir in vanilla.
- Pour batter into prepared Bundt pan.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 55 to 60 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool 10 minutes in pan then remove cake from pan to cool completely.
- To make frosting, beat butter and caramel sauce until creamy. Gradually beat in powdered sugar. Beat in enough heavy cream to get to desired consistency.
- Spread frosting on cooled cake.
- Sprinkle toasted coconut on cake and drizzle with caramel sauce and hot fudge sauce.
Notes
Nutrition
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Origianlly posted January 13, 2016.
Sharing this recipe with the Weekend Potluck.
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This cake looks great! I’d love to make it for a holiday dinner but I am curious about the accuracy of the recipe based on some of the comments:
Why does the ingredients list say “1 (16 ounce) package light brown sugar” if it is not a whole package? It is supposed to be 2 cups or 16 oz weighed out on a scale? It is really important for bloggers to correctly write their recipes out for their readers. 🙂
Can you confirm what the correct measurement is? It looks too good not to make.
Thanks!!
Use the entire 16-ounce box in the cake batter. And if you are unsure if your pan is big enough, place it on a baking sheet to catch any overflow.
I was wondering the same thing. I purchase BIG bags of brown and powdered sugar so I weighed out 16 ounces. I hope that works; coming out of the oven soon!
This was the most amazing cake in the end. Made for my husbands birthday and he’s the only one who normally likes cake in our house, but the whole family devoured it and said best cake ever! Read all comments before making, remembering a few saying sticking to bundt pan so sprayed extra well. Still stuck but after trying to figure what to do came up with trifle bowl and broke the cake up into pieces making 2 layers- cake, frosting, coconut, chocolate and caramel drizzle, pushing the cake down before adding next ingredients. Amazing! Thanks for the recipe can’t wait to make again!
I’ll be honest, I’ve weighed out ingredients for my bread baking by adding it by actual cups and it’s all the same.
I’ve found the same using a “Liquid” measuring cup vs a “dry” ingredient measuring cup.
Also when measuring out dry ingredients do not scoop the measuring cup into you storage container/bag. It compacts and you get more than you need. Spoon it out into your measuring cup then leve with the flat side of a butter knife.
Absolutely delicious! Not too complicated, and perfect instructions. I’ve made it twice now, and everyone loves it. Thank you for sharing it.
So glad you enjoy it Kim! 🙂
Made this for my husband’s birthday, and it was the best cake I’ve ever made! I made a few adjustments for high altitude, because we live in Wyoming at 6000 feet. I increased oven temperature to 375, decreased baking soda by 1/8 tsp, and increased the hot water by 2 Tbsp. It turned out perfectly. My sister-in-law requested it for her next birthday.
So happy it turned out well for you Brittney!
wooow just woooow !! the cake is soo freaking delicious i wasn’t expecting that it would be tasty at this point <3 it was so good that after tasting it i didn't hesitated to come back and leave a comment !! all my friends and my family loved it so much it was a BIG HIT !! i will definetly make this again and again .. this cake is my new favorite cake thank you so much for the recipe xo xo ! i highy recommend it guys really <3 <3
so happy everyone enjoyed it! It is one of my all time favorite cakes!
I made this today and what a disaster. Please correct the brown sugar amount listed. It calls for one 16 oz. pkg. Since I keep my brown sugar in a large container, I measured 16 oz. on my kitchen scale. What a disaster. Not only did the cake overflow and make a mess of my oven, it also fell and was pretty much inedible. The recipe should read 2 cups firmly packed brown sugar. After reading some of the other comments, it seems that I’m not the only one that this may have happened to. And we were sooooo looking forward to having this for Sunday family dinner 😖
So sorry it did not work out for you Phil. Most likely the pan you used was too small. 16 ounces of sugar measured on a scale, if measured correctly would be the same as 16 ounces from a box.
As a precaution when making Bundt cakes, it is always a good idea to place the bundt pan on a rimmed baking sheet in case there is overflow.
I just made the same mistake with the sugar! Against my better judgment I followed the recipe as written and Used a whole 16 oz bag of brown sugar! The batter was so sweet it felt like it was burning my mouth. Upon baking, it bubbled over (thankfully I had a large pan underneath) and eventually fell. Tastes great- I was surprised that the cake isn’t too sweet- but overall an unfortunate MESS! I remade the entire recipe using 2 cups firmly packed brown sugar and being careful not to over mix. My bundt pan was soaking in the sink from round 1 so I divided the batter into three 9″ round pans. Baked for about 22 minutes. Did thin coating of frosting between the layers. Perfection! I will definitely be making this again!
Maybe a silly.question.
If making this a day in advance do I refrigerate it with frosting on and all?
Yes, refrigerate the whole thing. Hope you enjoy it!
Every year I make the trip home to spend Christmas Eve with my Mom, specially since it’s her birthday. I found this recipe months ago and since my husband doesn’t like coconut (!!!!!!) I decided her Day was the day to make it. So in just over a week, I’ll be enjoying what looks like a great treat with her, while my husband gets the kids ready for the trip to the In laws Christmas ? Day! Thanks for sharing!!
Hope you have a wonderful Christmas Eve and birthday with your mom Jenn. And that everyone enjoys the cake. Your husband doesn’t know what he’s missing!
This chocolate cake is a perfect go to cake . Any icing would go perfectly on it.
I agree. I love the texture of the cake. It is very versatile.
I agree with Lee’s post. I love frosting…lots of frosting on a cake, but this is the first chocolate cake I have tried that is absolutely moist and delicious without the frosting. Don’t get me wrong. The frosting is also yummy. I have made this cake three times and I get rave reviews on it. It also gets attention by how pretty it is. It is one of my new favorite recipes!
I’ve made this cake twice and I agree it is wonderful. However it will not come out of the bundt pan in one piece. The top sticks. I even tried a new Bundt pan the second time. Any suggestions? I totally slathered the pan with a spray. I was able to piece it back together and no one was the wiser.
Try coating the pan really well with shortening. Sometimes it works really well.
Does this cake need to be kept in the fridge? I was planning on making this for a bake sale and won’t have a way to keep it refrigerated.
My husband was in the mood for chocolate and I’m lazy so I used store bought cake and used the rest of the ingredients for the frosting and topping. (The cake part is just there to hold the frosting on – hello? I’m a HUGE frosting person.) I have died and gone to heaven. Next time I will actually make the cake from scratch, but the rest of it makes this cake a winner in my book. I know what cake I want for my birthday next year. Samoa cake.
Exactly Jenn! It’s all about the frosting. 🙂
So glad you enjoyed it!
Loving the information on this web site, you have done outstanding job on the content.
This cake is AMAZING!! And WE think it tastes better after being refrigerated a few days. Thank you soooo much for sharing.
So glad you enjoyed it Kami!!
O.M.G. It´s awesome
I made this cake yesterday for my son’s birthday. The coconut allowed for a quick simple job icing. The cake was easier to prepare than I expected, looked fantastic, and tasted delicious. The cake received rave reviews from everyone.
This is awesome! I am very much looking forward to testing this out! Thanks for sharing!
Could you substitute caramel dipping sauce for the caramel sauce just using more half and half?
I’m not sure how that would work Lorrie.
So I’m baking this cake as I type for Motherms Day and am very sad to see that it has baked over the sides of my pan. I thought it looked like a LOT of batter in the bowl and then in the bundt pan. Hoping it’ll still turn out but not sure how everyone gets it to fit in their pans…as far as I know mine is just a regular standard bundt pan. Fingers crossed…..
I have a Pampered Chef stoneware bunt pan it fit perfectly. This is the second time I have made this cake the first time it was a big hit!
Thank you so much for the recipe! I tried it last night and it was a HUGE HIT! My family loved it! Mainly my mother in law who is a big Samoa fan! I was hardly any work, which was great for me since I was trying to knock it out while my daycare kids were running around! One thing I thought was missing (and please understand I really really enjoyed this cake), was the crunchiness of the cookie. So I made a graham cracker crumble (same sort of crumble you make for pies), and half way though baking (about 15 minutes), I took the cake out and sprinkled the crumble on top of the cake. It was more of like molding the crumble, than sprinkling it. Then I popped it back in the oven for another 20 minutes. That way when the cake was cooled and I flipped it, there was a nice layer of crumble on the bottom! My mother in law said that really added to the flavor, and gave it that crunchy texture you get when eating the cookie! I will defiantly be making this cake again! Thank you again for the recipe!
Thanks so much for leaving your feedback Amy! And that was genius to add crushed graham crackers to the cake. I will have to give that a try. 🙂
I made this for an event this evening and everyone loved it. One guy said, “I was not having a very good day until I ate your cake!” Thanks for sharing!
This is the most delicious cake I have ever made! Everyone that tastes it, loves it!! Thanks for this recipe!
Yay! So happy ou enjoyed it! 🙂