Ya know those neapolitan candies made with sugar, coconut, sugar, coloring, and more sugar?
Well I absolutely LOVE them. I have loved them since I was a kid. And more recently I was dreaming of a cake that tasted like those candies. I day dreamed about making a neapolitan cake for months, and I finally did it.
And let me just say, it was marvelous!
The top layer was strawberry, the middle was chocolate, the bottom layer was coconut, and it was covered with chocolate ganache. It was a cake fit for a king.
I kind of cheated, with the strawberry and coconut layers. I used a boxed mix of white cake, divided it and then added my special goodies. You can do that or make it from scratch, whatever you have time and patience for. For the chocolate layer, I made 1/2 a recipe of my fave chocolate cake, Hersheys special dark cake. Yum-my! You can use that recipe or split a box of chocolate.
You'll need 3 cake pans the same size, or bake them at separate times.
Here is the recipe: (as I remember it. You know I never measure things. Sorry)
for the pink and white layers:
one box of white cake mix prepared and divided into 2 parts
1/2 cup strawberry jam
1 tsp. strawberry extract
red food coloring if desired
1 cup flaked, sweetened coconut pulsed in a food processor until fine
1 tsp. coconut extract
Mix the strawberry jam and strawberry extract into one part, color with red coloring if desired. Pour into greased 9" round cake pan. Set aside to bake with the other cakes.
Mix the coconut and coconut extract into the other part of white cake, pour into greased, 9" cake pan. Set aside and make chocolate layer.
for the chocolate layer:
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour
1/3 cup Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa
3/4 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup veg. oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 boiling water
Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in large bowl. Add egg, milk, oil, and vanilla; beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into greased 9" cake pan.
Bake all 3 cakes for 30-35 minutes or until cooked through. Let cool in pans for 10 minutes before transferring to wire racks. Let cool completely. Layer the 3 cakes on top of each other.
For the ganache:
16 oz chocolate chips (real ones)
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
4 Tbs. butter
Put chocolate chips in a bowl and set aside. Heat the cream and butter on medium heat just until boiling. Immediately pour over chocolate. Let sit for 5 minutes. Whisk until well combined. At this point it may be thick enough to pour over the cake. Test it to see how fast it drips. You want to wait until it is thick enough to make a good thick coating on the cake.
Pour half of the ganache over cake and spread over side with scraper or basting brush. After the "crumb coat" is done, pour the rest on the cake and allow to drip over the sides.
Refrigerate until firm.
Enjoy!
