Earthquake Cake

earthquake-cake1There have been far too many earthquakes causing damage and worry in the past couple of weeks and our hearts go out to those affected.

To change the focus a little – here is an Earthquake Cake, so named because the ingredients shift around during and after baking: the cream cheese mixture sinks into the cake, some of the pecans and coconut rise towards the top.

It’s an uneven and ‘deconstructed’ looking cake, but inside, it’s gooey and chocolatey and delicious! For those new to baking, it is very simple, as it uses a packet mix as a base, but if you have a favourite chocolate cake recipe instead, just substitute that.

Earthquake Cake

1 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 box chocolate cake mix
3 eggs
1 1/3 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
200g softened cream cheese
½ cup (100g) butter
2 cups icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup dark chocolate chips

Method:
Preheat the oven to 170C. Spray a 9×13 baking pan with non-stick spray. Sprinkle the coconut in an even layer in the pan followed by the pecans.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk the cake mix with the eggs, water and vegetable oil, then pour the cake batter over pecans & coconut.
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter and cream cheese together, then transfer to a 4 cup measuring cup and whisk or beat in the powdered sugar with a hand mixer until smooth, then stir in the vanilla.
Pour the cream cheese mixture in ribbons on top of the cake batter, then swirl with a knife and top with the chocolate chips.
Bake 45-55 minutes – the toothpick test won’t work for this cake because of the gooey chocolate and cream cheese; the cake is done when you can gently shake the pan and the centre of the cake no longer jiggles.