Earthquake Cake

Ready to shake it up? And by that I mean, we’re making an earthquake cake, so pun very much intended. Like Wacky Cake and my grandmother’s Texas sheet cake, this old-fashioned coconut chocolate cake with cream cheese is straight from my family’s recipe box. It’s fudgy, it’s coconutty. It’s easy to make with moist chocolate cake mix, a chocolate-coconut layer below, and a sweet cream cheese layer on top that cracks open when the cake is warm (hence the name “earthquake cake”).

The batter takes minutes to make, and the cake is ready to serve in under an hour. There is so much to love about this easy chocolate dessert.

What Is Earthquake Cake?

An earthquake cake is a quintessential potluck dessert from the 1980’s. It’s a fudgy, moist chocolate cake baked on top of a layer of shredded coconut and, traditionally, pecans. The cake batter gets dolloped with a sweet cream cheese mixture that cracks open after baking. My earthquake cake recipe replaces the pecans with chocolate chips, for a nut-free version. You can, of course, swap the nuts back in if you love your earthquake cake with pecans in it.

Recipe Ingredients

An earthquake cake is a cake mix dessert (in true 80s fashion). Here’s what you’ll need to make this recipe. See the recipe card below the post for the full amounts.

• Coconut – I recommend using sweetened, shredded coconut. You can use unsweetened if you prefer a less-sweet base layer.
• Chocolate Chips – Feel free to use semi-sweet, milk, or dark chocolate chips. Chopped chocolate is another option. If you’d like to make a more traditional earthquake cake, substitute chocolate chips with chopped pecans.
• Chocolate Cake Mix – Choose your favorite boxed chocolate cake mix. Don’t forget to pick up any other ingredients called for on the package.
• Cream Cheese – Use the cream cheese that comes in blocks, and not the spreadable tub kind. You’ll need to cut it up into cubes to make it easier to mix.
• Butter – Also cut into cubes. You can use salted or unsalted butter, whichever you prefer.
• Powdered Sugar – To sweeten the cream cheese layer while keeping the texture silky smooth.

What Kind of Cake Mix Should I Use?

I used a triple chocolate cake mix (because my name is Shelly, and I’m a chocoholic). But you can really make this recipe with just about any cake mix flavor. Other good options for a chocolate cake include Devil’s food cake, dark chocolate, and Swiss or German chocolate cake mix. Since this recipe, I’ve seen strawberry earthquake cake that uses a strawberry cake mix, and I’ve also used different boxed mixes to make carrot cake and pumpkin cake versions.

How to Make Earthquake Cake

Below is a visual step-by-step showing how to put together a super easy earthquake cake:

• Make the coconut layer. First, dump a mixture of coconut combined with chocolate chips into the bottom of a greased 9×13-inch pan.
• Prepare the cake batter. Next, prepare your chosen chocolate cake mix batter according to the package directions. Pour this over the coconut-chocolate base layer.

• Add the cream cheese layer. Melt cream cheese and butter together, then stir in powdered sugar. Drizzle the mixture over the cake batter, and smooth it out a little. Don’t worry if the cream cheese sinks in the batter. It’s working as it should!
• Bake the cake. Pop your cake into the oven at 350ºF for 45 minutes, until the edges are set. The center of the cake should still have a bit of wiggle. 

Watch This Earthquake Cake Come Together!

This video will show you how an earthquake chocolate cake comes together step by step:

Serving Chocolate Earthquake Cake

Allow the cake to cool a half hour or so before slicing. Serve your earthquake cake warm for a molten, gooey cake (which is glorious with a scoop of ice cream, just saying). Otherwise leave it to cool completely for cleaner slices. You can go as simple as enjoying a slice of earthquake cake as is, or enjoy slices topped with whipped cream or drizzled with fudge sauce or caramel sauce.

Expert Tips

• Don’t over-bake. With earthquake cakes, the easiest way to check for doneness is to go by eye. Look for set edges and a slightly loose center. The classic toothpick test will not work for earthquake cake, since a toothpick won’t come out clean even if the cake is ready! So use your judgment, but don’t leave the cake in too long, as you still want that nice, gooey middle.
• Embrace the imperfection. This cake isn’t exactly “pretty” when it comes out of the oven, but that’s an earthquake cake’s appeal! Besides, it’s what’s on the inside that counts, with its ooey-gooey, chocolate flavors.
• Make sure the baking dish is big enough. It’s best to use a 9×13 baking dish that’s at least 2 inches tall for this cake recipe so the batter doesn’t overflow in the oven.

Variations

Try these easy ways to make this gooey chocolate cake recipe your own:

• Chocolate pecan cake. It’s true, most earthquake cake recipes include pecans. My mom’s recipe even had nuts in it. I, however, am not the biggest fan of nuts in desserts, so I left them in the 80’s for this recipe. To make your earthquake cake with a traditional coconut-pecan base, simply swap the chocolate chips. You can also use almonds, hazelnuts, and walnuts.
• Oreo earthquake cake. Swap out the chocolate and coconut with crushed Oreo cookies. Assemble the rest of the cake as usual, sprinkling crushed Oreos on top before baking.
• Peanut butter. Melt a spoonful or two of peanut butter into the cream cheese mixture, and use peanut butter chips instead of chocolate chips.
• Strawberry earthquake cake. Trade the semisweet chocolate chips for white chocolate chips, and the chocolate cake mix for strawberry cake mix. You could also swirl the cream cheese mixture with strawberry syrup!

How to Store Earthquake Cake

• Refrigerate. Store this cake in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. I like to warm the cake in the microwave for a few seconds before serving, but that’s optional.
• Freeze. Freezing earthquake cake is as easy as wrapping it tightly in plastic wrap, either whole or in slices. Take your cake out of the freezer to thaw in the fridge before warming and/or serving.

More Chocolate Cake Recipes

• Flourless Chocolate Cake
• Perfect Chocolate Cake
• Chocolate Pound Cake
• Chocolate Lava Cakes