Samoas Chocolate Pudding Dessert {Coconut + Caramel}
This samoas chocolate pudding dessert is rich and delicious! The coconut crust, caramel, chocolate pudding and cream (plus more toasted coconut!) make for one tasty dessert!
Hold on to your hats, because this elegant, over-the-top recipe is going to blow you away.
A combination of so many to-die for flavors: coconut, chocolate, cream cheese and caramel, it is an absolute showstopper.
Classic Samoas Flavors
If you are familiar with the old-school Girl Scout samoas cookie (or Caramel deLites), these flavors should look familiar.
Coconut + chocolate + caramel come together in this layered dessert that also gets a boost from a graham cracker-toasted coconut crust and a no-bake cheesecake layer.
If you’re wondering if this dessert is rich? Yes, yes it is. Is it sweet? Yes, yes it is.
Don’t go into this expecting the caloric equivalent of kale salad. This is meant to be an all-out, in-your-face dessert. And it makes no apologies for being just that.
The Samoas Chocolate Pudding Dessert Layers
While this finished dessert definitely gives off some intense vibes, it comes together more quickly than you might think.
Layer 1: a buttery graham cracker toasted coconut crust that bakes for about 10 minutes so it sets up perfectly crust-like.
Layer 2: caramel sauce. Storebought or homemade is totally appropriate here. You’ll want about 1 cup (or a 10-ounce jar).
Layer 3: chocolate pudding. Again, you can go the homemade route or mix it up from a box. This recipe calls for 4 cups of pudding. I use this homemade recipe, adapting it just slightly by increasing the cocoa powder to 1/4 cup and using semisweet chocolate chips.
Layer 4: a simple no-bake cheesecake layer which consists of cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla and heavy cream.
The Final Layer
And don’t forget the final most important layer(s).
More toasted coconut.
More caramel sauce.
And a beautiful drizzle of hot fudge sauce. Why? Because it’s absolutely the right thing to do.
An Epic Dessert
Once assembled, the layered samoas chocolate pudding dessert needs to chill so the pudding and cream cheese layers can set up just a bit.
To serve, you can scoop this dessert out with a spoon, casserole-style. Or, cut it into squares and plate nicely.
Small servings are just fine. Remember: it is rich. It is decadent. It is sweet. It is crazy delicious. It is epic.
Make-Ahead Dessert
This dessert can be made several hours (or up to a day ahead of time). Just keep in mind that the crust and also the toasted coconut topping will soften over time.
If you want or need to assemble and refrigerate the dessert overnight, top it with coconut, caramel and hot fudge or chocolate sauce right before serving.
I’m dedicating this recipe to all of you who have followed my blog for years and who have begged for more coconut (or toasted coconut recipes). This one is for you! And it also checks all the boxes for my chocolate lovers and cheesecake lovers.
Basically, there is a lot to love about this dessert.
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Samoas Chocolate Pudding Dessert {Coconut + Caramel}
Ingredients
Coconut Crust:
- 1 ½ cups (150 g) graham cracker crumbs (about 10-11 rectangle crackers)
- ½ cup (43 g) toasted, shredded coconut (I use sweetened coconut)
- 6 tablespoons (85 g) butter, melted (I use salted butter)
Caramel + Pudding Layers:
- 1 cup caramel sauce (about a 10-ounce jar)
- 4 cups chocolate pudding (homemade or prepared from a box – see note)
Cream Cheese Layer:
- 8-ounce package (227 g) cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- ½ cup (57 g) powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups heavy cream
Toppings:
- Toasted, shredded coconut (I use sweetened coconut)
- Caramel sauce, for drizzling
- Hot fudge or chocolate sauce, for drizzling
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a medium bowl, stir together the graham cracker crumbs, coconut and melted butter until well combined. Press into an even layer in the bottom of a 9X13-inch pan. Bake for 8-10 minutes until lightly golden and fragrant. Remove from the oven and let cool completely.
- Spread the caramel sauce evenly over the cooled crust.
- Spoon the pudding in large spoonfuls over the caramel sauce and spread into an even layer all the way to the edges of the baking pan. If the pudding is really soft, refrigerate for 30-45 minutes before adding the cream cheese layer.
- For the cream cheese layer, in a medium bowl with an electric handheld mixer or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the cream cheese and powdered sugar together until well-combined and smooth, 1-2 minutes. With the mixer on medium-low, add the vanilla. Gradually add the heavy cream while mixing, and whip until the mixture is thickened to soft peaks, 1-2 minutes.
- Spoon the cream cheese mixture in large spoonfuls over the pudding layer, and spread into an even layer all the way to the edges of the baking pan. Refrigerate for 2-3 hours so the layers can set up.
- Before serving, sprinkle the top with toasted coconut. Drizzle with caramel sauce and hot fudge sauce. (This can be done up to an hour ahead of time; the coconut will start to soften if it's added too far in advance.)
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: inspired by this recipe (I changed up some of the layers to use homemade recipes, different ingredients, etc)
This is yummy and a crowd pleaser! We’ve made it multiple times and it has been loved by all. I’ve even been able to adapt it to accommodate allergies when needed. My husband loves pudding and pudding desserts, and this is one of his favorites. Thanks, Mel!
Super good! My husband’s family has a recipe very similar to this. So for my husband’s birthday we tried this with one difference, the crust. We did a walnut shortbread crust which melts in your mouth! I should have done coconut shortbread,now that I think about it. But loved the addition of coconut and carmel which was missing from his family recipe! Delicious treat!
Help! This recipe does not have the button to save it to Prepear and I would love to make it this weekend but I cannot cook unless I use the app now 🙂
I’ll look into that and get it fixed!
This was amazing!!
So did you use hot fudge or chocolate sauce in yours?
This was sooooo good! I only had unsweetened coconut it but was still amazing! This is going to be a new favorite for sure! Thanks
Thank you! So happy you liked it!
Made this for a family Christmas party last night… yum!! I loved everything about it!! I used your homemade pudding recipe and it was the perfect consistency, I was worried it was going to end up being a weepy mess but all the layers held together great! So good!
Yay! Thanks for letting me know, Misty!
making this tonight!
SOO, do you think I could DOUBLE the choc. pudding layer? Would it fit in a 9×13??
I LOVE your recipes. So many of our meals are “Mel’s”!
Hi Valerie, I think a double batch of chocolate pudding might be pushing the limits of a 9X13-inch pan’s capacity. Did you end up trying it?
This looks absolutely amazing!!!
Oh my goodness, Mel! I kind of want to crawl through my phone and devour this dessert right now! I’ll be making it as soon as possible! And i’m sure it’s excellent as is but for the last several years my mom and I have been making your coconut cream pie using the miss thinsters coconut cookies (you can often get a big bag at costco) for the crust. I’m sure those coconut cookies in the crust of this dessert would be magical as well!
Ok, those cookies would be AMAZING in this crust. Thanks for the idea!