German Chocolate Cake

I eat a lot of cake. It's true. Since Sue and I were young we've been exposed to a lot of baking. 

BUT... believe it or not... I have never eaten a German Chocolate Cake. 

Weird, right?

Well... I decided I needed to right that wrong. 

Also.... German chocolate cake is not German. It's named after a man with the last name German. *Boom* Mind blown. All these years I thought it was from Germany. 

Nope.

Still a crazy delicious cake though. 

The frosting is magical.

I may need to add this cake to my rotation of favorites.

German Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

Chocolate

6 oz chocolate, chopped

1/2 cup boiling water

2 tsp vanilla

Cake

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 cup butter, room temp

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

4 egg yolks

1 cup buttermilk

4 egg whites, whipped to form stiff peaks

Frosting/Filling

1 cup evaporated milk

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter

3 egg yolks

pinch salt

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/3 cup coconut

1 cup pecans, toasted & chopped

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Line 3 - 8 inch pans with parchment paper and spray lightly with cooking spray. Set aside. 

Prepare cakes - In a medium bowl, place the chopped chocolate. Pour in the boiling water and vanilla and stir until smooth. Set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. set aside. 

In a large mixing bowl, beat butter until smooth, scraping side of bowl as necessary. Beat in both sugars until smooth. Beat in egg yolks. 

Stir in the chocolate until well combined.

Alternately beat in dry ingredients with the buttermilk until well mixed.

Gently fold in 1/4 of the egg whites then fold in the rest of the egg whites.

Spread evenly in prepared pans, batter will be thick. 

Bake at 350 until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean - about 30 - 45 minutes.

Let cool in pans 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the cake to loosen and then invert cake onto a wire rack to cool completely. 

While cakes are cooling, prepare frosting/filling.

Prepare frosting/filling - In a large saucepan, cook and stir evaporated milk, sugar, butter, egg yolks, and salt over medium heat until thick and bubbly - about 12 or so minutes. 

Remove from heat and stir in vanilla, coconut, and pecans. 

Stir well and then let sit to thicken - stirring every so often to help cool faster. (Can put in fridge to speed up process.)

Assemble cake - Place one of the cakes on a serving platter. Top with 1/3 of the coconut pecan frosting. Place another cake, then another 1/3 of the frosting, then the last cake and the last of the frosting.

Chill until ready to serve. 

This yields a very large layer cake so is perfect for family dinners or office birthdays. Or... you know... days when you just want to eat a LOT of cake. 

This cake may be a tad more fussy than the usual chocolate cake but is definitely worth it. I can't believe I waited this long to try a German chocolate cake. I won't wait that long to have another!

Be sure to pop over to Carole's Chatter for tons of fun links!