Coconut Fudge Bundt Cake

For our Mother's Day this year, my sister made this cake for dessert. It looks like a big donut, doesn't it? It sort of tasted like it, too! 

It is a very rich, chocolate-y cake but the cream cheese filling adds just the right amount of contrast to the chocolate.  Then add the cream cheese frosting on top and it is a great combo of rich, dense chocolate and creamy sweetness in-between. So yummy! Everyone loved it and it was such a special treat. Us moms were not suppose to cook on Mother's Day since it was our day of pampering. Just look at all our wonderful presents:

Barbara decided she wanted this cake for Mother's Day because it's been one of her favorites for 20 years so she just decided to make it. (One of the those tried and true desserts) Similar to last year, I made our family favorite lemon cake for Mother's Day even though the moms were suppose to be relaxing. When it comes to dessert, we take that very seriously so it's worth the extra effort on our part to just make our favorite.  The husbands and children prepared dinner for us so that's pampering enough in my book. This year it was cold cut sandwiches and salads.

The fixings were wonderful.  Everything I love and nice variety of cheeses: havarti, provolone, swiss, pepper jack and cheddar.  Our meat choices were turkey breast, ham and roast beef.  

But then there was the breads... oh my!  The breads were incredible.

I loved all the breads and couldn't even decide what type to have.  I ended up having a half sandwich of the sourdough and half of the rye.  The breads were from a wonderful bakery in the Fremont neighborhood called Sea Wolf Bakers.  The bread was as much a treat as the cake for dessert.  Can you tell I'm a carb. lover? 

Considering our dinner was pretty light with just cold cut sandwiches, I think we all over-ate because the bread, the cold cuts and fixings were all so incredible.  To top it all off, we had four different homemade salads to choose from; a Caesar salad, a fruit salad, potato salad, and a soba noodle salad.  Thank you to Bruce, Jim, Bob, Joe, Cameron and Lauren for a feast-of-a-meal on Mother's Day.

And thanks to Barbara and Jim for hosting.  It was a very lovely Mother's Day for everyone.  Here are some fun photos of all of us. 

"Please braid my hair, Jennifer"

And she did.

"I love Grandma."

Barbara getting help serving dessert.

Barbara getting help opening her presents.

The perfect Mother's Day gift, "But First Coffee". 

And I liked all of my gifts, too.  Happy Mother's Day!

Filling

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1-8 ounce package cream cheese (softened)

1 egg

1/2 cup flaked coconut

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Cake

2 cups sugar

1 cup oil

2 large eggs

3 cups flour

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

2 tsp. soda

2 tsp. baking powder

1-1/2 tsp salt

1 cup hot water mixed with 3 tsp. of instant espresso powder

1 cup buttermilk

1 tsp. vanilla

1.  Make filling first.  In a mixer bowl, beat sugar, vanilla and cream cheese until smooth. 

2.  Then beat in egg, then add coconut and chocolate chips.  Set aside.

3.  Generously grease and lightly flour a Bundt pan.

4.  In mixer, combine sugar, oil and eggs.  Beat one minute on high.

5.  Add remaining cake ingredients, beat 3 minutes on medium. (Scrape bowl occasionally)

6.  Pour 2/3 of the batter into the greased, floured Bundt pan. (You want to fill it 2/3 full because the filling has a tendency to sink down into the batter so you are trying to get the filling into the middle of the cake.) 

7.  Carefully spoon the filling onto the cake batter and then top with the remaining 1/3 of the batter. 

8. Bake at 350℉ for about 1 hour  or until top springs back lightly when touched.

9.  Set on a rack and cool in pan for 15 minutes.  

10.  Remove from pan and cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 tsp. vanilla

3 cups powdered sugar, plus more as needed.

1.  With an electric mixer, beat soften butter and cream cheese for 2 to 3 minutes on medium speed, scraping bowl occasionally, until smooth and creamy.

2.  Stir in vanilla, then stir in powdered sugar.  Add more sugar, as needed, until frosting is a thick, spreadable consistency.

3.  Spread frosting onto cooled cake and sprinkled with coconut and chopped nuts, as desired. 

A less sweet version is this chocolate glaze you can make and drizzle over the top of the cake:

Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar

3 Tbsp. cocoa

2 Tbsp. butter

2 tsp. vanilla

1-3 Tbsp. hot water

Mix all together and drizzle over cake. 

Or

simply dust with powdered sugar over top of cake.