Samoa Girl Scout Cookie Cake – layers of chocolate cake, chocolate ganache, shortbread cookie crumbs, shortbread cookie frosting, and a toasted coconut caramel filling.
Samoa Girl Scout Cookie Cake
If there’s one cake you absolutely need to try, this is the one! In fact, Ryan gave it the number one spot on his cake list (and he’s one of my toughest critics, so that should tell ya something right there).
Like many of you, the Samoa Girl Scout cookie is my favorite of the bunch. I look forward to it every March! And I’ve been wanting to make a Samoa cookie cake since I did my Mint Chocolate Chip and Cookie Cake last year (another favorite Girl Scout Cookie).
Inspiration
When I start thinking about new cakes, my first goal is always to make a cake that tastes great! I hope to put together flavor and texture combinations that will WOW you. Since there’s so much going on in the Samoa cookie itself, it was important to be to capture all those same flavors and textures in the cake. In my mind, I broke down the cookie into the four parts – chocolate, shortbread, coconut and caramel. I then thought about how best to build the cake with so many flavor and texture elements. In my opinion, building the cake like a Milk Bar cake was the only way to go.
The Milk Bar style of cake is unique because you stack it inside acetate paper, and there’s no outer coat of frosting. The acetate helps support the cake and all the different layers of filling and frosting. After you stack the cake, you then refrigerate or freeze it to set and stabilize. When you’re ready to serve, you just remove the acetate paper and have this beautiful, naked cake look.
Flavors and Textures
One of the reasons I love this cake so much is because of all the flavors and textures going on. You have bittersweet chocolate cake and chocolate ganache, salty and buttery shortbread cookie crumbs, silky shortbread frosting, and then a crunchy and chewy toasted coconut caramel filling. It’s the best of everything, if you ask me. Just make sure to get all the flavors and textures in every bite. Your mouth will thank you!
One thing to note is that this cake cuts best when chilled a little bit. See my notes in the assembly section of the recipe about how to store and serve the cake.
I also link the Milk Bar website so you can see pictures and further instruction on how to build this cake. Some people think it looks a little intimidating, but I actually think it’s a great cake for beginners because there’s no decorating involved. Yes, it has a lot of elements, but if you spread out your baking over the course of a few days, it won’t feel so overwhelming.
I’m so excited for you to try this cake, and hope you love it as much as we do over here at the Rich house.
Big hugs and kisses!

I started making this cake tonight… holy cow my house smells AMAZING! I cannot wait to assemble it tomorrow. It will be perfect for my hubby’s b-day.
Yay! Hope you loved it!
Quick question, (THIS LOOKS AMAZING!! BTW) When you make the recipe for the shortbread cookie crumbs, is it enough for the cookie crumb layer as well as the 1 1/4 C needed for the frosting?
Yes it is.
I’m feeding a lot of people, so I wanted to do an 8-inch cake. Can I use 8 inch pans for this? and should I one and a half everything?
You can one and a half the recipe and use a half sheet baking pan and an 8-inch cake ring.
In the process of making this, can’t wait to try it!
One question: In the directions for the “Shortbread Cookie Frosting” it says to “combine the butter and powdered sugar and cream” but there doesn’t seem to be “cream” in the ingredient list.
Thanks!
It just means to cream, as in beat, them together.
How much cream is supposed to be in the frosting? It is the the directions but not the ingredients.
When it says “cream” in the instructions, it means cream as in beat the butter and sugar together.
what size cake ring do you use?
It’s a 6″ cake ring
I’m curious… do you ever do any of your Milk Bar inspired cakes in regular cake pans? I’d like to make a bigger cake so I’m considering just using my pans instead of a cake ring and going for more if a semi-naked look.
I haven’t personally, but I know many people have. They just end up frosting the entire cake because the edges don’t like up like they do with the cake ring.
Hi, this looks amazing! Is there anyway to make the caramel filling in advance? Tks!
Courtney, I loved this cake! I made only one tiny change – I used hot coffee instead of hot water for the cake other than that I followed your recipe and it did not disappoint! The plastic folder worked perfectly too by the way! It’s a lot of steps but worth it…absolute delicious & impressive looking to boot! 😊
This is the third cake of yours I’ve made and my favorite so far! But they’re all so good!! Your site is officially my go to now. Thanks for sharing!!!
That just made my day!
My daughter was wanting a trifle for her birthday, and I was really wanting to try this recipe, so I combined my thoughts with yours, and man was it good!
Here’s how I layered the trifle:
-chocolate cake, broken in small pieces
-a layer of salted caramel mouse
-a layer of your shortbread cookie crumbs
-a layer of your coconut caramel mixture
-your chocolate ganache
-repeat layers
The caramel mousse was so good with all of the other elements, and didn’t make the cookie bits get soggy like a pudding might! I would also think the caramel mousse would be great as a cake filling!
Sounds amazing!
Is this a 6 inch cake? If so, could you make it into an 8 in?
You can. Just use a half sheet pan and an 8-inch cake ring. I would double all of the filling ingredients as well.
This cake is so yummy! The instructions where great. I have made this 2 times and I am having a hard time cutting it because the coconut layer is hard to cut through. I have made sure the cake is deforested and at room temperature. Any suggestions?
Don’t cook your caramel as long next time. That could be why its getting too hard.
Hey Courtney! This cake is sooo goood! Do you think this could be made as a 7 inch cake? I’ve made it before as directed (4 inch), but it was too yummy we ran out in like 5 seconds lol and now my family has requested I make a bigger one haha
Yes just double everything. And use a 1/2 sheet pan for the cake.
Is the corn syrup measurement correct in the coconut filling? I don’t think that 2 teaspoons corn syrup is 41 grams…probably 2 tablespoons. Trying to decide which to go with… thank you!
It is 2 teaspoons. It was an error and we will fix it!