My friend saw this cake in the magazine and we thought we’d give it a go.
This is a test run before her cute little daughter’s birthday.
With Valentine’s Day fast approaching you may want to make this amazing cake for your sweetheart!

To see the article online on Rachael Ray magazine:
http://www.rachaelraymag.com/Recipes/almond-joy-layer-cake

Ingredients

  • 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 stick (4 oz.) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
  • 3 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
  • 2 1/4 cups granulated sugar
  • 4 tsp. pure vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp. salt plus a big pinch
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 bag (14 oz.) sweetened shredded coconut (4 packed cups)
  • 2 cups sliced almonds
  • 3 cups heavy cream
  • 1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar

Start off by Preheating your oven to 325°.
Use two 8-inch-by-2-inch round cake pans.

Place your cake pan over the parchment paper and mark.
(bottom of the cake pan)

Cut and place parchment paper inside both cake pans.
Butter the parchment paper.

Bring 2/3 cup water to a boil, in a medium saucepan.
Whisk in the 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder until smooth.

Whisk in the butter 1 stick (4 oz.) unsalted cut into 8 pieces

We forgot to cut the butter, but that’s ok it’ll be just fine.

Whisk in the 3 oz. semisweet chocolate over low heat until melted.

Should take, about 2 minutes but since we forgot to cut the butter it was more like 4-5 minutes.

Almost there…

Remove from the heat.

Whisk in 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

We chose to use a separate bowl instead of the saucepan.

Add 2 tsp. vanilla and 1/2 tsp. salt.

Add 3 eggs.
Whisk in 1 egg at a time.
Beat it well after each egg addition.

Mixture should look like this.

In a large bowl, stir together the 1 1/2 cups of flour.

Add 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder.

Add 1 tsp. baking soda

Pour in the chocolate mixture until smooth.

Stir in 1 packed cup sweetened shredded coconut.

Mix it together.

Mixture should look like this.

Divide the batter between the two cake pans.

Bake on 325° in the lower third of the oven for 35 minutes or until firm in the center.

Let cool in the pans on racks for 10 minutes, then invert onto racks to cool completely.

You can find:How To: Almond Joy Layer Cake – Part 2

Let’s create something!