Special Earthquake Cake

This earthquake cake is a chocolate cake loaded with coconut, pecans, cream cheese and chocolate chips. A super gooey and delicious cake that ALWAYS gets rave reviews!

Looking for something a little different to serve at your next gathering? This chocolate earthquake cake is filled to the brim with goodies and starts with a cake mix which means it’s super easy to make.

Gooey, rich, and delicious! This Earthquake Cake is full of chocolate, pecan, and coconuts and is an explosion of flavor with each bite!

Earthquake Cake
I love a cake that’s instructions are: throw in everything but the kitchen sink. This Earthquake Cake is one of those classic cakes and really lives up to its name!

It has gooey tunnels of goodness all around it which are filled with a chocolate and cream cheese surprise! From the outside, it looks just like your normal cake, but with each and every bite you have the addition of the cream cheese mixture, melty chocolate chips, coconut, and pecans!

Let me first start by saying that this earthquake cake is not the prettiest cake out there – but what it lacks in looks it makes up for in flavor! This is one fabulous cake loaded with pretty much everything you can imagine – chocolate, pecans, coconut AND cream cheese. It also happens to be super easy to make!

HOW TO MAKE EARTHQUAKE CAKE
This earthquake cake starts with a layer of shredded coconut and chopped pecans. Not a pecan fan? Try almonds or walnuts, or you can omit the nuts altogether if you’re baking for people with allergies.

INGREDIENTS
For the cake:

• Cooking spray
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 cups whole or 2% milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

For the filling:

• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, at room temperature
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons shredded, sweetened coconut, divided
• 1 1/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips, divided
• 1 cup chopped pecans, divided

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Make the cake: Arrange a rack in the middle of the oven and heat to 350°F. Coat a 9x13-inch baking pan with cooking spray and set aside.
2. Whisk the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl.
3. Whisk the milk, eggs, oil, and vanilla together in a medium bowl until smooth. Pour into the flour mixture and stir with a spatula until the batter is just combined and no streaks of flour remain; set aside.
4. Make the filling: Place the powdered sugar, cream cheese, butter, and vanilla in a large bowl and beat with an electric hand mixer on medium speed until smooth, about 2 minutes.
5. Sprinkle 1 1/2 cups of the coconut, 1 cup of the chocolate chips, and 3/4 cup of the pecans over the bottom of the prepared baking pan. Pour in the cake batter. Dollop spoonfuls of the cream cheese mixture into the cake, then use two forks to swirl and spread the cream cheese slightly.
6. Bake until the center of the cake springs back when pressed lightly, the edges pull away from the sides of the baking dish, and a cake tester comes out with only a few moist crumbs, 45 to 50 minutes. Immediately sprinkle the hot cake with the remaining 2 tablespoons coconut, 1/4 cup chocolate chips, and 1/4 cup pecans. Set aside to cool on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes. Cut into squares.

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