Creamy Almond Joy Recipe Cake

ALMOND JOY CAKE

Steps:

• Place the chocolate chips in a medium bowl. In a small saucepan heat 1 ½ cups heavy cream until just simmering. Pour heated cream over chocolate chips. Let sit for 1 minute and then stir until chocolate is smooth, melted, and well mixed.
• Set the ganache aside to cool and thicken while making and cooling cakes. The ganache will be ready to use when it holds shape and is spreadable (can take up to 2 hours). You can also speed up process by placing it in the refrigerator, just make sure to stir every 15 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 325ºF. Spray THREE 9 inch cake pans with cooking spray. Line each bottom with a cut-to-size parchment or wax paper circle. Spray again and set aside.
• In a large bowl place sugar, softened butter, and vegetable oil. Beat until well blended, about 2 minutes. Add the room temperature egg yolks, one at a time, beating well between each addition. Mix in vanilla, coconut, and almond extracts.
• In a separate bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add about ⅓ flour mixture to creamed butter mixture, beat well. Then add ⅓ buttermilk and beat well. Continue alternating between flour and buttermilk, beating between each addition, until all is added. Stir in the coconut and set the batter aside.
• In a separate bowl, with a clean, dry beaters, beat together egg whites and cream of tarter until stiff peaks form. Fold ¼ of beaten egg whites into cake batter. Then gently fold in the remaining whites until no streaks remain.
• Divide and spread batter between three prepared cake pans. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean (if using gluten free flour, it usually takes a few minutes longer to bake). Cool in pans 10 minutes and then turn onto wire racks to cool completely.
• In a medium bowl beat together cream cheese, powdered sugar, heavy cream, and extract until smooth and fluffy, about 2 minutes on high. Fold in whipped topping (or whipped cream) and coconut. Cover and store in refrigerator until ready to frost cake.
• Place one layer of cake on serving platter or cake stand. Spread a layer of ganache on cake and then a layer of coconut frosting. Sprinkle with about 1 tablespoon of toasted almonds. Repeat with second layer.
• Place third layer on top. Use remaining coconut frosting to spread over top and sides of cake.
• Transfer the remaining chocolate ganache to a microwave safe bowl. Heat ganache for 15 seconds, or until JUST pourable. Pour ganache on top and use an offset spatula to spread to sides, allowing it to drip down side of cake. Sprinkle ganache with remaining almonds. Store leftovers in the refrigerator, but serve at room temperature for best taste and texture.
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ALMOND JOY CAKE RECIPE

Steps:

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.

ALMOND JOY CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325°. Grease and flour two 9-in. round baking pans. In a large bowl, combine cake mix, buttermilk, eggs and oil; beat on low speed 30 seconds. Beat on medium 2 minutes. Divide batter between prepared pans. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 28-32 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely., For filling, in a large saucepan, combine marshmallows, sugar, milk and cornstarch. Cook and stir over low heat until marshmallows are melted; increase heat to medium and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Stir in coconut and almonds. Remove from heat; cool. Refrigerate filling until cold but still spreadable, about 45 minutes., Using a long serrated knife, cut each cake horizontally in half. Place 1 cake layer on a serving plate. Spread with 1/3 of coconut filling. Repeat twice. Top with remaining cake layer. Spread fudge frosting over top and sides of cake. Refrigerate until set, at least 1 hour. Garnish with coconut flakes and almonds if desired. Refrigerate leftovers.

ALMOND JOY® CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13-inch cake pan with cooking spray.
• Combine chocolate cake mix, water, eggs, and oil in a large bowl; beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth, about 2 minutes. Pour batter into the prepared cake pan.
• Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 26 to 31 minutes.
• Mix 1 cup evaporated milk, 1 cup sugar, and marshmallows together in a large pot; cook and stir over medium-low heat until marshmallows are melted, about 5 minutes. Stir in coconut. Pour coconut mixture over hot cake.
• Combine 1/2 cup evaporated milk, butter, and 1/2 cup sugar in a saucepan; bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Fold in chocolate chips and almonds. Spread over coconut layer.
• Cool cake until coconut layer and chocolate layer are set, about 30 minutes.

ALMOND JOY CAKE WITH CREAMY COCONUT BUTTER FROSTING

Steps:

• Butter and dust with flour 2 9x13 pans.
• Combine the first 6 ingredients for the Coconut cake Layer in a mixing bowl and beat on medium speed for 3 minutes.
• Pour into 1 of the prepared pan and bake for 30-45 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.
• Cool at room temperature for 15 minutes.
• Invert onto rack and brush 1/4 cup coconut rum over cooled cake.
• Let sit for 1 hour.
• Combine the first 6 ingredients for the Chocolate Almond cake Layer in a mixing bowl and beat on medium speed for 3 minutes.
• Pour into prepared pan and bake for 30-45 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.
• Cool at room temperature for 15 minutes.
• Invert onto rack and brush 1/4 cup almond liqueur over cooled cake.
• Let sit for 1 hour.
• Meanwhile cream butter, salt, and extracts, beating until light and fluffy. Add sugar gradually, beating after each addition. Add milk, beating until smooth. Beat in additional milk until desired spreading consistency is reached.
• Frost cooled cake and garnish with toasted coconut!