HOMEMADE GERMAN CHOCOLATE CAKE
A beloved tradition in our family is when someone’s birthday rolls around, I make them the cake and dinner of their choice for our family dinner celebration no matter how simple or complicated their choice is.
My daughter-in-love almost always chooses German Chocolate Cake with the delicious layers of coconut pecan filling and a buttercream chocolate frosting. This cake is truly incredible! It is super moist and is satisfyingly chocolatey enough to please even the most die hard chocolate fans.
INGREDIENTS
Cake:
2 cups white sugar
1-3/4 cups flour (If baking in high altitudes, add 3 tbsp flour)
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup very hot water
Coconut Pecan Filling:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter
3 large egg yolks
3/4 cup evaporated milk
3 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans
1 1/2 cup shredded sweetened coconut
Chocolate Frosting:
3/4 cup melted butter
2/3 cup cocoa powder
3 cups icing sugar
1/3 cup cream
1 tsp vanilla
Pinch of salt
DIRECTIONS
Heat your oven to 375°F. Prepare your pans by greasing two 8 or 9-inch round baking pans. NOTES: I don’t recommend spring form pans for this recipe as the batter for this cake is very thin and may leak out. Also, cutting out a round piece of wax or parchment paper for the bottom of the pan helps make sure the cake comes out easily.
Cake:
Blend the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. In another bowl, blend the eggs, buttermilk, oil and vanilla and whisk well. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk or use a hand mixer to combine thoroughly. Slowly stir in the boiling water. This will make the batter very thin. Pour batter into the prepared pans.
Bake for 25 - 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.
Allow the cakes to cool for 5 minutes in the pan before removing to wire baking racks to finish cooling completely before building with the filling and frosting.
German Coconut Pecan Topping:
Add both sugars, butter, egg yolks, and evaporated milk to a medium sized saucepan and stir to combine. Bring the mixture to a slow boil over medium heat stirring constantly for a few minutes until the mixture begins to thicken.
Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla, pecans and coconut. Allow this mixture to cool completely before building your cake.
Chocolate Frosting:
Stir the butter and cocoa together until smooth in a mixing bowl. Add the icing sugar, cream, vanilla and salt and beat until fluffy. Feel free to add a bit more cream or icing sugar until you reach your desired consistency.
Assemble the Cake:
Place one of the cake layers on a plate or platter.
Evenly spread a half of the Coconut Pecan Filling over the cake layer leaving a 1/2 inch uncovered around the entire top. This helps keep the filling from getting in the way of the chocolate frosting.
Stack the second cake layer on top and again spread the remaining half of the coconut pecan filling on the top, leaving a 1/2 inch gap to the edge.
Spread 2/3 of the chocolate frosting over the outside of the cake.
Place the rest of the frosting in a piping bag with a tip of your choice to decorate with rosettes around the edge of the top edge and the base of the cake. You can also use a ziplock bag with the corner snipped off in necessary.
