Seven Layer Bar Cake – layers of graham cracker crust, coconut chocolate chip cake layers, gooey coconut and pecan filling, butterscotch buttercream and a chocolate drip.

Seven Layer Bar Cake
I know it’s not a Monday, but I couldn’t wait (and I don’t think you could either) for this recipe to go live! Let me introduce you to my Seven Layer Bar Cake, also known as, my birthday cake.
This decadent, Seven Layer Bar Cake is inspired by the popular 7-Layer Bars (or Magic Bars, to some). A traditional 7-Layer Bar is made up of seven ingredients:
- Butter
- Graham crackers
- Sweetened condensed milk
- Butterscotch chips
- Chocolate chips
- Coconut
- Pecans

Turning 7-Layer Bars into Cake
To turn this classic treat into a cake, I used all the flavors to inspire elements of the cake.
- Butter – you’ll find this element everywhere! We have it in the graham cracker crust (like the bars do), in the cake layers, in the filling and in the buttercream.
- Graham crackers – to keep the crunch of the 7-Layer Bar, I incorporate a graham cracker crust at the bottom of each cake layer.

- Sweetened condensed milk – I originally thought about doing a sweetened condensed milk frosting, but after making it, decided it actually didn’t provide the flavor I was looking for. When we bake 7-Layer Bars, the sweetened condensed milk turns into more of a gooey, caramel layer and tastes nothing like SCM at all! I scraped the SCM frosting and decided on this gooey, caramel-like filling adapted from a Milk Bar recipe. I use a similar version of it in my German Chocolate Cake, but made a few changes in this one.
- Butterscotch chips – for the butterscotch element, I did my butterscotch buttercream from my Chocolate Chip Butterscotch Cake. It’s such a smooth and creamy consistency. You’re going to love it!
- Chocolate chips – for the chocolate chips, I added mini chocolate chips in the cake layers and then added a chocolate drip to the top of the cake.
- Coconut – I incorporated the coconut in the cake layers and the filling. However, rather than using raw coconut like most 7-Layer Bar recipes, I used toasted coconut. Always!
- Pecan – I also toasted the pecans and added them to the filling with the coconut.

Tips
- Plan ahead – because this cake has a lot of elements to it, plan ahead so you’re not trying to do everything within a couple hours.
- Toss the chips – before you add the chocolate chips to the cake batter, toss them in a tablespoon of flour. This ensures the chips don’t sink to the bottom of the cake pan as the layers bake.
- Room temperature ingredients – remember to always start with room temperature ingredients to get the best rise out of your layers.
- Use a sharp knife – make sure to sharpen your knife before you cut this cake. The graham cracker crust makes it a little harder to cut through than a normal cake.
- Coconut pecan filling – this mixture will be jiggly and not cooked through as a solid when it’s finished in the oven. Once it cools and you add the coconut and the nuts, the mixture will be slightly thicker and more stable to add to your cake.

I hope you love this cake as much as we did!

Video Tutorial
Make sure to check out my video tutorial below for tips on how to stack and decorate this cake.
I’m so excited to try this cake! I’m getting my ingredients together. Question-Where do you find coconut emulsion? Is this something you can make or substitute something?
You can find it at stores like Micheals, Walamrt, Amazon.
Excited to finish this one! Question about the filling, mine came out very gooey and oily, I’m not quite sure I got it right but I did everything exactly step by step. It took about twice as long to set as the recipe said though. Did I miss something? Or is it right?
It will be very gooey. Some ovens take longer than other so as long as you let it set, you should be fine!
how did you make the coconut cookie dough looking balls on the top of the cake.
With the left over filling, roll into small balls and freeze for 15 minutes and then place onto the cake.
I am trying this recipe today. I am currently making the filling and it is taking 3 times as long in my oven to even get it past liquid. It is finally starting to thicken and hopefully become gooey. I don’t know what I did wrong
Certain ovens might take longer.
I’m such a Cake By Courtney fan!!!!
But this filling is messing with me. The first batch looked like melted better. The second batch I cut down to half a cup of butter…and it looks better but nothing is jiggly, still all melted.
I’ll try a third batch. 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻
I really want to make this cake! It looks delicious! Have you ever tried making cupcakes from this recipe?
Not yet!
I love your recipes! Always a hit at my house. I’m making this for my husband’s birthday and the filling was very greasy with the full cup of butter. Is this correct? In your other similar filling recipes it’s 1/2 cup butter so just wondering about the ratio.
It’s right!
Can I use coconut extract instead of coconut emulsion? I am having a hard time finding it at the local stores.
Yes you can!
Looks divine. I’m gonna make it for our families Sunday get together. Do you think I can make the filling two days ahead of time?
yes keep it in the fridge.