Adding Coconut to a Tandy Cake Recipe?

I make a peanut butter tandy cake recipe. I would like to convert the recipe into coconut chocolate tandy cakes. I plan to omit the peanut butter and use dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate. Would anyone know if I can add coconut to the batter recipe without any other changes to it? If so, how much coconut? Thank you.

The recipe is as follows:

Peanut Butter Tandy Cakes

Cake

• 4 large eggs, room temperature
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
• 1 cup milk or evaporated milk
• 2 Tbsp. butter
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder

Topping:

• 18 oz. jar creamy or chunky peanut butter/do not use a "natural" kind
• 1 lb. chocolate Hershey bars, broken into pieces
• 1-2 Tbsp. peanut butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Use a vegetable oil spray to coat a 17x11x1 inch jelly-roll pan. Or line the pan with aluminum foil sprayed with Pam. The finished cake can be lifted out of the pan making it easier to cut.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer. Beat together eggs and sugar until thick and pale, about 3-5 minutes. Beat in vanilla.

Heat milk and butter in a small saucepan or in the microwave using low heat setting until the butter has just melted and the milk is steaming, but not boiling. Set aside.

Stir flour and baking powder together with a fork and add into the beaten egg mixture. Beat until combined. With the mixer running, slowly stream in the milk/butter mixture until just combined.

Pour batter into prepared pan, spreading it out evenly, and bake for 20-25 minutes. Cake is done when a toothpick comes out clean and the top is golden and springs back when touched lightly.

Let cool on a wire rack for 3 minutes, then place small dollops of peanut butter on the surface of the cake. Spread the peanut butter into an even layer, covering the entire cake. Let cool completely, then refrigerate for 1-2 hours to make sure the peanut butter is firm.

Once cake is chilled, melt the chocolate with 1-2 Tbsp. peanut butter, in microwave using medium setting. Or melt chocolate in the oven, after cooling down a bit, once the cake is removed. Once it is smooth, pour it over the chilled cake and spread it quickly and evenly.

When the chocolate on the cake is room temperature, use a knife and partially cut the cake into 30 bars. It is not necessary to cut all the way through the cake, just into the chocolate/peanut butter layers. Make sure the cuts are clear; wipe the knife in between each, if necessary. This will make it easy to cut the bars once it has been refrigerated. If this step is skipped, the chocolate will crack unevenly when cut since it will be cold.

Return cake to refrigerator and chill until chocolate is firm or overnight. Cut into 30 bars. Store in refrigerator. Freezes well.

Suggestions: Add the chocolate and peanut butter to an ovenproof 4-cup measuring cup and place in oven while it is still warm not hot from baking the cake. This will melt while the cake is chilling in the refrigerator. Keep in the oven until ready to use.

You can soften the peanut butter in the plastic/glass jar using the microwave on a low-medium heat, not high. This will make it easier to spread the peanut butter. Make sure there is no foil on the edge of the peanut butter container or it could cause a fire in the microwave.

By it's.only.me