German Chocolate Cake

Seriously. This is the best German chocolate cake I have ever made. In fact, it's the best cake that I've ever made period. And I've made a lot.

In the few months since I first invented this recipe, I've made it so many times by popular demand that people are no longer requesting "that one German chocolate cake". Now it's just "Yammie, will you bring your cake this weekend?"

This is the recipe that I want to be remembered for. When I die, leaving my grief stricken friends and family behind, I don't want their tears to be for the loss of my company, but for the loss of this cake. I want my descendents to say to one another, "Remember Granny's old German chocolate cake? Now that was a wonder. That was an achievement. If only we could leave such a legacy to the world, as Granny did." And perhaps a tear will tremble in their eyes as they remember the wonderfulness of the best cake that ever was, and know that they will never have it again.

Except, oops. Granny is posting the recipe on the internet so anyone in the world will be able to make it forever.

 

I don't know what's the best part; the rich, brownie-like cake, the gooey German chocolate frosting, or the fudgy milk chocolate frosting. They really all deserve their own post. Or their own shrine. 

I also don't think I'm using that semi-colon right, but I get points for trying, right?

I actually made this cake for myself for my birthday. For some reason people found this funny, me making a cake for myself. People also thought it was weird that I got a present for myself. I mean, I just happened to get myself a set of earrings the day before my birthday, so my sister wrapped them up and wrote "To: Yammie, From: Herself". Seems to make sense to me though. I thought it was only right to give myself a little token of appreciation for turning TWENTY-ONE.

Yes, 21. Brace yourself for some new ingredients in the recipes here on the Noshery.

But back to the cake. I can't even say enough good things about it. I actually lightly based the recipe for the cake on this fabulous recipe on Crumbs and Cookies (seriously, go check it out). Whenever I take it out of the oven, my brother Tay always says, "I can just smell the texture." What does that even mean??

The milk chocolate frosting is a perfect compliment to the rich, dark cake. When my the afore mentioned Tay took a spoon out of the bowl, he just started strutting around the kitchen like he had just singlehandedly saved a busload of children from crashing into a pit of vipers and I was like, "Um, what are you doing?" and he just said, "I like what I'm eating!"

And of course, the German chocolate frosting is awesome as usual. I based this one on the frosting for my German Chocolate Brownies, which I (very patriotically) made for the Fourth of July. But as we all know, (or as you would know if you read the brownie post), German chocolate cake is actually not German at all. It's just made with "German chocolate" which is named after an American dude who's name was German.

And this cake isn't even made with German chocolate, so I'm not really sure what it is. Whatever it is, it's delicious. Good day.

• The Best German Chocolate Cake in All the Land
• 
  
• For the cake:
• 3/4 cup butter (1 1/2 sticks)
• 1 1/4 cups dark cocoa powder
• 1 cup brewed coffee
• 2 cups milk (I used coconut milk)
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (or rice flour for gluten free)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 
  
• Preheat oven to 350ºF. Place a greased circle of parchment on the bottom of 3 8-inch pans (or grease them and dust them with cocoa powder).
• Combine the butter and cocoa and cook on the stove or in the microwave until melted. Slowly add the coffee and milk, whisking to combine. Add the sugars, eggs, and vanilla and whisk until smooth. 
• Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add to the rest and mix just until combined. Divide evenly between 3 prepared pans. Bake for 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out mostly clean. 
• Cool before removing from pans (you might want to loosen from the edges with a sharp knife). Cool completely before frosting.
• 
  
• For the German chocolate frosting:
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup evaporated milk
• 3 egg yolks
• 1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
• 3 teaspoons vanilla
• 3 cups Sweetened Flaked Coconut
• 1 1/2 cups pecans (lightly toasted in the oven or in a pan on the stove)
• 
  
• Combine the sugar, milk, yolks, and butter. Cook on the stove, whisking constantly until bubbling and thickened. Add the vanilla, coconut, and pecans. Cool before frosting cake. 
• 
  
• For the milk chocolate frosting:
• 2 cups chopped Milk Chocolate or milk chocolate chips
• 2 sticks butter, softened
• 5 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 5 cups powdered sugar
• 3-6 tablespoons milk
• 
  
• Melt the chocolate (I do it in the microwave). If you're using chocolate chips instead of baking chocolate, make sure you turn your microwave power way down and stir often.
• Beat together the melted chocolate and butter. Add the cocoa powder and vanilla. Alternately add the powdered sugar and milk until desired consistency is reached.
• 
  
• To assemble cake:
• Fill middle layers and top with German chocolate frosting. Frost the edges with milk chocolate frosting. 

 

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