While on a search for a light but Easterly dessert, my friend Deb from Georgia suggested the following recipe. I thought it was perfect. The coconut and the chocolate complemented each other very well...and the best part as far as I'm concerned, is that both are island products....Cacao is grown on this island and chocolate is also being made on this island....not that the ones I used were, although I could have used local if they had been available to me.
I made the cake for our Easter meal and it turned out delicious.
See my notes below
Chocolate & Coconut Cake
1 Duncan Hines Devils food cake mix
2 cans of Cream of coconut (not coconut milk) found near liquor mixes
1 large cool whip
1 to 2 cups shredded coconut
Hershey syrup to drizzle on top if you want.
Bake cake as directed on box in 9 X 13 pan, while still hot from oven, poke with wooden spoon handle every inch or so. Then pour 1 can of coconut on top, wait a couple of minutes and pour second can on.
Cool in fridge. When completely cool top with Cool Whip, and sprinkle with coconut. Then drizzle just a small amount of chocolate on top or use chocolate shavings.
Sonia's Notes:
First, I could not find Duncan Hines Devils Food cake mix so I used Pillsbury and it was good - very light. I made the cake in a deep 9 x 9 Pyrex dish instead of a 9 x 13, so it was a bit thicker slice when cut in squares. Instead of 2 cans of coconut cream, although I did have 2 in my pantry, I used only one and thought that was plenty. The cake turned out very moist. I did not assemble the cake as explained above, I sort of layered the ingredients after serving the individual portions in clear glass bowls. I only sprinkled a bit of coconut flakes over the cream.... I think 1-2 cups would have been too much. We did drizzle with chocolate syrup and I topped it with a candied cherry.
SOURCE: Internet recipe - shared by Deb Rogers (Southern Belles ring louder)
Photo: Chocolate & Coconut Cake - the slight green tinge on the bowl is a reflection from the green charger I had placed underneath the bowl and dessert plate.

You must have missed the instructions. The recipe calls for:
"while still hot from oven, poke (cake) with wooden spoon handle every inch or so. Then pour 1 can of coconut on top, wait a couple of minutes and pour second can on"
In my notes, I mention that even though I had two cans of the coconut cream, I used only one for our cake. I felt one was enough.
Posted by: Sonia | May 13, 2009 at 03:40 PM
where does the cream of coconut go?
Posted by: hyuryhrtr | May 13, 2009 at 02:56 PM
Mahalo, Connie.....Funny, I hadn't used a cake mix in ages, but sometimes they turn out better than from scratch, and this one certainly did...It was quite moist and delicious. The coconut cream did not overpower the chocolaty taste...maybe because I used only one can of the cream...
To tell you the truth, I didn't assemble the cake as directed as I didn't have enough room in the fridge to sit it in. This way I could just keep Saran wrap on the cake w/o making a mess.... ;-)
Posted by: Sonia | April 14, 2009 at 06:54 AM
I love how you got creative on the cake assembly, I need to remember to think outside of the box when creating normally traditional desserts...presentation makes all the difference in the world, thank you.
Posted by: connie | April 13, 2009 at 08:51 PM