Healthier Samoas Cake

It was my sister's birthday this weekend, and I really wanted to make it special. So, what did I do? Cooked of course! I wanted to give her a beautiful, delectable cake that she would salivated over. Literally. Okay, maybe not, but still.
Ever since we were little girl scouts in our cute little brown vests, her favorite cookie has been the samoa. (Mine is a tagalong, in case anyone is curious, which you're probably not) Shortbread covered in caramel and toasted coconut, drizzled with chocolate...I'll admit, it's pretty yummy. (Still doesn't beat chocolate and peanut butter in my opinion thought!) So I decided I'd try and make a cake to rival that cookie!

It's not a super great picture, I know, but it truly doesn't do the cake justice. It is just an iPhone camera after all though, so be sure to reserve judgement until AFTER eating it.

And, bonus, you can eat more than one slice without feeling TOO guilty, because I decided to healthify it just a little!
Normally, a butter and sugar-laden cake dripping with dulce de leche, sweetened coconut, buttercream, and chocolate would certainly put a dent in your daily calories...I don't even want to know how many a single slice has. This, on the other hand, is in no way low calorie, but for a cake it's pretty darn good as well as having significantly less fat, calories and sugar than the traditional version.

Move over girl scouts, samoa cake is coming to town!

HEALTHIER SAMOAS CAKE

1 box sugar-free devil's food cake mix

1 can (12oz) diet coke

25-30 pitted dates, soaked in water

Pinch Salt

 2 T. Torani Sugar Free Caramel Syrup

1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

1.5 ounces dark chocolate

1/2 T. Light Margarine or Butter

1. Grease a Bundt or angel-food cake pan WELL and preheat oven according to package directions. You could also make it as a regular cake, but I think this looks more fun.
2. Mix cake mix and diet coke in a medium sized bowl until all lumps are gone. Pour into greased pan and bake as directed (it may take a few extra minutes than 'normal')
3. Meanwhile, put the dates, caramel syrup, a pinch of salt, and about 1-2 Tablespoons water in a food processor and blend well until there are no chunks and you get a thick, caramel-like paste. You may need just a bit more water, so adjust as necessary.
4. When cake is done, spread coconut flakes on a cookie sheet and toast in oven, about 5-7 minutes. Check on them frequently and "stir" or move them around often because the coconut will burn easily! You want it to get lightly tan but not too crispy
5. When cake has cooled, take it out of pan and frost using the date caramel you made. Then cover it with toasted coconut. Melt chocolate and butter in microwave 30 seconds, stir, and microwave in 10 second intervals until melted. Pour in stripes over cake, like on a samoa cookie.

That's it! The entire cake has about 2600 calories (like I said, it's not light by any standards), but compare that to this samoa cake, which has a whopping 7,850 calories for the entire cake!! That's a lot, so even a modest slice probably has 300-400 calories. My cake has only 1/3 the calories, so even with a pretty large slab you get about 200 calories and all the delicious flavor! Take that!