Ring of Coconut Cake

Rita Helfrich's Tunnel of Fudge Cake may be the most famous tunnel cake, but Ring of Coconut Cake from the 1971 Pillsbury Bake-Off is iconic as well. Coincidentally, it was also created by a Rita. Rita Glomb of Whitehall Pennsylvania envisioned a moist chocolate Bundt cake with a ring coconut cream cheese filling and a chocolate glaze. The recipe was very popular, and a few years later Pillsbury came out with a coconut macaroon themed Bundt cake mix. I like to think was inspired by Rita's.

Unlike the original Tunnel Cake which had its ingredients discontinued, the Ring of Coconut Cake is made with pantry staples and has withstood the test of time. Here's a picture of the one I threw together this week. We'll be eating it for a while because it's a big and rich cake, but it freezes well.

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Original Ring of Coconut Cake Recipe

This Ring of Coconut Cake recipe is based on the Pillsbury Bake-Off recipe, and the original instructions are a little loose. For instance, the cream cheese filling directions just say to put the ingredients in the bowl and mix. For the cake batter, you are not instructed to whisk together the dry ingredients separately, but rather add them all to the bowl with the eggs, sugar and oil. And it's the same with the glaze. Put everything in the bowl and beat until smooth. So I changed the recipe a little by pointing out how I mixed. I also added weights of ingredients. But for the most part it's true to the original chocolate Bundt cake.

Modern Versions

The Pillsbury Bake-Off cake influenced other bloggers to come up with their own versions, so I can't say it's "the best" and I definitely am not going to claim it as "my creation". I can tell you this one won't sink if you follow the directions. The cream cheese ring doesn't take up the whole cake (it's mostly chocolate) and you get a fairly large size cake. It's also less sweet than some of the newer versions. I liked the flavor and texture a lot and will make it again. I'm also going to try it using Nana's Famous Devil's Food Cake. It's very similar, but may or may not support the ring.

Coconut Ring Cake Cream Cheese Filling

Here are a few notes I took along the way. The Pillsbury Bake-Off version of the filling has chocolate chips. I did not add them.

• The coconut in the filling makes it bumpy and less dense. It's not super sweet, so if you want to add those chocolate chips go for it! I think milk chocolate chips would be great and will use those in my next one. I accidentally left them out.
• When making the cream cheese filling, be sure to really soften it. Don't hesitate to pop it in the microwave on defrost and heat at closely monitored intervals until mushy. And bring your eggs to room temperature as well. I recommend mixing the softened cheese, sugar, egg and vanilla, then stirring in the coconut and chips.

Chocolate Bundt Cake Batter

• Use a large mixing bowl for the batter. My 2-quart Pampered Chef Batter Bowl got the job done, but it barely held everything. Go with a larger mixing bowl if possible.
• Rita says that after beating the sugar, eggs and oil together you can add the other ingredients and beat for 3 minutes. I whisked my dry ingredients together before adding. Next time I'm going to stir in the cocoa, then the leavening agents and salt and then add the flour by itself last. It's good practice to whisk your dry ingredients together, but this cake has a lot of flour that needs to get blended in without overbeating, so as long as you make sure the leavening agents don't clump you should be able to add them directly to the batter.
• After adding the dry ingredients and the buttermilk, I heated the coffee in the microwave until it was very hot. Hot coffee added to cocoa based cake batter is supposed to bloom the cocoa powder and also get the leavening agents going. That said, I don't think the cake would fail if you used cold coffee or even water.
• Three cups is a lot of flour and if you don't measure it properly you'll get a dry cake. You won't go wrong if you weigh 375 grams. If you don't have a scale, aerate the flour by stirring it and fluffing, then spoon it into the cup and level. I also recommend using a softer flour like Pillsbury or Gold Medal.
• This applies to the cocoa powder. Too much cocoa powder could dry out your cake, so weigh 65 grams or measure very carefully by whisking out lumps and spooning into a cup.

Chocolate Bundt Cake Glaze

I loved this glaze! It was easy, not overly sweet and didn't call for expensive ingredients like cream or chocolate (which I love in ganache glaze). And for the glaze I did as I was told. I dumped everything in a bowl and stirred in the hot water. Just be sure to sift your powdered sugar and cocoa powder to avoid lumps.

Ingredients for Cake

Here's an ingredients family portrait. I was lazier here than for the Almond Butter Banana Bread and just put the whole package of some things instead of measuring them out. Also, the cocoa powder needs to be sifted. You can see how lumpy it is.

Steps For Making The Cake

Recipe