I am sorry for all of the other cakes in the world, but German Chocolate Cake is my favorite. It has been for a long time. I love the creamy carmel taste of the frosting with coconut and nuts. I think it is supposed to be with pecans but I always make it with walnuts.
I have to admit that at home in America I use a cake ”box mix” to make the cake, But I always make the frosting homemade because the store bought frosting can’t hold a candle to the real thing. Making a “home made” cake has always been elusive for me, it was always so easy just to make a box mix and it always came out so fluffy! Homemade cakes seem heavy to me. With one exception, I had a friend that could make a German Chocolate Cake from scratch and it was “off the hook!” The first time I ate her cake I marveled at how I could taste flour, eggs and butter, something that you can’t taste in a box mix, yet it was so fluffy and light! I always wondered how she did it.
Well, flash forward many years later and here I am in Italy having a serious craving for German Chocolate Cake with absolutely no hope of finding a box mix. So I bravely started searching for a recipe that could be light and fluffy. I found a recipe, on the Betty Crocker website of all things, that I thought sounded like it had potential. IT ROCKED!!! As light and fluffy as a box mix but I could taste flour, eggs and butter, just like my friend Kathys cake tasted. I think she must have used the Betty Crocker recipe too.
There are a lot of steps but it wasn’t hard. I had to beat the egg whites separately, which I think really gives it that light texture. I creamed the sugar and butter and alternatively added dry and wet ingredients. It was the ticket!
This time I made cupcakes because it was for a buffet style lunch, but I can’t wait to try it in a layer cake. Then there is the icing, here in Italy I had several things working against me. I didn’t have shredded coconut, evaporated milk, buttermilk or brown sugar as we know it, which are pretty much all the ingredients I need for this frosting, But I pulled together what I had and it worked! I used unsweetened desiccated coconut (because I can get that at the Indian Market), milk and raw sugar. The raw sugar is very dark brown and has a strong molasses flavor so I mix it at a 50% ratio with white sugar. Despite all of these substitutions it still turned out awesome!
Now I have to confess that I have made this frosting three times in the past week! The first was a “test run” and Jeff and I ate it with a spoon straight out of the container we kept in the refrigerator. Pathetic, I know, but delicious. Honestly, they should bottle this stuff or make bonbons out of it or something. The second batch I had made for the cupcakes that I took to the buffet lunch. The third batch I made because I didn’t get enough of it at the buffet lunch! Wow, I’m really on a roll with this stuff. Anyway, give it a whirl, even if you just make the frosting and put it on a box mix cake. Or be like us and eat it with a spoon out of the refrigerator.
- Do ahead tip: make the frosting a day ahead and place it in the refrigerator so it will be thick enough to frost.
German Chocolate Cake
Ingredients:
- 4 ounces sweet baking chocolate (I used a regular dark chocolate candy bar but you can also use chocolate chips)
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 1/4 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cup butter (that’s two cubes) room temperature
- 4 eggs, separated
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup buttermilk (I used regular milk)
Instructions:
- make sure your butter is at room temperature
- preheat oven to 350 F
- prepare your cake pans by spraying with oil or applying oil with a paper towel. Dust with flour until pan is coated. Cut parchment or wax paper to fit the bottom of the pans. You can do this by placing the pan on top of the paper and outlining the pattern with a pin. Cut to fit. This will help the cakes come out of the pan easily.
- chop the chocolate, add to a pan over medium heat with the water until the chocolate is melted, stirring. It should be smooth
- mix together the flour, salt and baking soda in a separate bowl, set aside
- separate the egg yolks from the white. Place the whites in a bowl large enough to increase in volume by double. Place the egg yolks in a separate small bowl.
- beat the egg whites with a mixer on high speed until fluffy and stiff peaks form. Set aside
- Cream together the sugar and butter with a mixer, set aside
- add egg yolks to the whipped sugar and butter, one at a time, mixing on medium speed after each one
- add the melted chocolate mixture to the whipped sugar, butter and egg yolks and beat well.
- alternately add half of the flour mixture into the whipped butter, sugar, eggs and chocolate with half of the milk. Beating between each addition.
- Gently fold in the beaten egg white mixture until incorporated.
- fill your cake pans or cupcake pans.
- bake for 30 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean. Less time for cupcakes, 15-20 minutes.
German Chocolate Frosting
Ingredients:
- 6 egg yolks (separates from egg whites)
- 1 1/2 cups of brown sugar
- 3/4 cup of butter (1 1/2 cubes)
- 1 (12 ounce) can evaporated milk (you can use regular milk)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 1/4 cups sweetened flaked coconut
- 2 cups chopped pecans (You can use walnuts)
Instructions:
- Melt butter in medium size sauce pan over medium heat
- add milk, vanilla, sugar and egg yolks, stirring until smooth
- keep the egg whites in the refrigerator to use at a later time, I use them to make Pavlova)
- cook for 12 minutes over medium heat allowing it to bubble, stir frequently. It should be thick (but not as thick as the frosting after it cools completely, this part always worries me but it always turns out perfect)
- stir in the coconut and nuts and allow to cool completely (I put it in the refrigerator and cool it over night so it is thick enough to frost)
