German Chocolate Cake has been my Favorite

German Chocolate Cake Is it really German?

There is nothing like a German Chocolate Cake made from scratch.
I am of German decent and this was my favorite cake growing up, I requested it for all my birthday parties. I was very proud that it was German except that I found out that it is not really German!! In fact you won’t find it in Germany most likely.

If you are American you can be proud as it was created by a Texas Housewife in 1957 that submitted it to a recipe contest in a newspaper and won the contest. The recipe spread like wildfire and quickly became popular all over the country. Read more about the history of the German chocolate cake here. You may laugh when you find out why it is called German Chocolate Cake.
http://www.kitchenproject.com/history/GermanChocolateCake

Here is the original recipe that was on the back of that green box of German’s chocolate baking bar that is next to those baker’s chocolate bars that you have seen for years on the grocery shelves. Here is a picturehttp://www.kitchenproject.com/images/germchoc.gif
I have found that you can use a good chocolate cake mix, or a German chocolate cake mix ( like Betty Crocker Super moist) and add 1 bar of the German’s chocolate to the batter as described in the recipe below. I drizzle in the melted chocolate to the cake batter when it is almost done beating.

The original recipe just said to fill and ice with a coconut pecan frosting. I went ahead and gave a recipe for it. The original recipe wasn’t iced with chocolate icing on the sides. I like the iced sides so I gave a recipe for the frosting.



THE CAKE

1 pkg. Baker's German’s sweet chocolate (4 oz.)
1/2 cup Water, boiling
1 cup Butter or margarine
2 cup Sugar
4 Eggs, separated
1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
2 cups Flour, all-purpose
1 teaspoon Baking soda
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 cup Buttermilk
Coconut-pecan frosting


Approx. Cook Time: 30min


1. Melt chocolate in water and cool.

2. Cream butter and
Sugar.

3. Beat in egg yolks.

4. Stir in vanilla and
chocolate.

5. Mix flour, soda and salt. Beat in flour
mixture, alternately with buttermilk.

6. Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form; fold into batter. Pour batter
into three 9-inch layer pans, greased , and lined on bottoms with
waxed paper.

7. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or
until cake springs back when lightly pressed in
center Cool 15 minutes; remove and cool on rack.
THE FILLING AND TOPPING

1-14 oz. can of condensed milk such as Eagle Brand
½ Cup water
3 egg yolks
1 t vanilla
1/2 C butter (2 sticks)
1 1/3 c Pecans chopped, reserve 10 whole pecan halves for garnish.
1 ¾ c Angel flake coconut
(If you can not find eagle brand condensed milk then use this substitute
mix 1 cup + 2 T (250 gr.) powdered milk mix with 1/2 C water and 3/4 C granulated sugar


Directions:
Cook the milk eggs and water over a double boiler until thickened.
Cook it over direct heat if you use complete concentration.
Then add the vanilla and butter and whisk in until it is melted and
smooth.
Add the chopped pecans and coconut.

CHOCOLATE FROSTING (Optional)

1 stick 1/4C(125 gr.)butter , softened
9 squares (50 ml) Baker's German's chocolate, melted and cooled
1 1/2 cups (350 gr.)powdered sugar
1 tsp (5 ml) vanilla
1 1/2 TBS (45 ml) milk
for a richer chocolate flavor, add cocoa powder. or buy more German's chocolate

Mix butter and chocolate in mixing bowl. Stir in powdered sugar.
Beat vanilla and milk until smooth and of spreading consistency.

Assembly;
Divide the filling evenly between the 3 cakes putting the 1st layer
down, Then spread the filling evenly
Repeat with the other layer.

Frost the side of the cake only.

For Garnish you can place pecan halves around the top edge. You can add a maraschino cherry half also next to the pecan half.

***note; you can shave off any high spots with a bread knife to make the cakes flatter so they will stack evenly. You can use any scraps from the shavings also to fill in any low spots.

For any questions email me at
stephen@kitchenproject.com