German Chocolate Cake Recipe

German Chocolate Birthday Cake!

So, it's been WAY too long since I've posted on here! Been a bit busy. I made this cake and had a few requests for the recipe. And it's really too yummy not to share! So I thought, "What better place to post my cake recipe than on my cake blog??" So, here it is.

German Chocolate Cake 10 to 12 servings

Ingredients

Cake-

4 oz. Baker’s German Chocolate – chopped

6 tablespoons water – boiling hot
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1¼ cup + ¼ cup granulated sugar, divided
4 eggs, yolks and whites separated
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Coconut/Pecan Filling-
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup granulated sugar
3 egg yolks
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup pecans, toasted* and finely chopped
1 1/3 cups sweetened coconut, toasted*

            *I just toasted the pecans and coconut over medium heat in a sauce pan on my stove. It took just a few minutes. Just keep stirring until they brown up a bit, then place them on a paper towel to cool.

Rum Flavored Syrup-
2/3 cup water
½ cup granulated sugar
2 tsp imitation rum extract

Chocolate Ganache Icing-
8 ounces semisweet chocolate - chopped
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup heavy cream

Directions-

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease two 9-inch cake pans, then (I neglected to do this, thinking my amazing “Joy of Baking” cooking spray would be adequate. It wasn’t!) LINE THE BOTTOM OF THE PANS WITH ROUNDS OF PARCHMENT PAPER! Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; set aside.

2. Melt the 4 oz. Bakers German Chocolate with the 6 TBS of boiling water in a small bowl. Stir until smooth, then set aside to cool to room temperature. 

3. Sift together 1 ¼ C sugar, 2 C cake flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda and ½ tsp salt.

4. In a small bowl, combine 4 egg yolks, 1 tsp vanilla and ¼ of the cooled chocolate. 

5. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites on medium-high speed until they hold soft peaks. Slowly add the ¼ C of sugar and beat until they form stiff, glossy peaks.

6. In the mixing bowl, add the sifted dry ingredients, 1 C butter, remaining cooled chocolate, and 1 C buttermilk. Mix on low until dry ingredients are all wet, then beat on medium speed (for stand mixer, high speed if using a handheld mixer) for 1 ½ minutes. Scrape down the sides and add ¹/₃ of the egg mixture. Beat in on medium speed for 30 seconds. Scrape down and repeat twice more with the remaining ²/₃ of the egg mixture.

7. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the egg whites. Mix just until the egg whites are completely incorporated.

8. Divide the batter into the 2 prepared cake pans (only fill your pans about half way, more than that and the cake will spill out of your pan), smooth the tops, and bake for about 40-45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool the cake layers completely in the pans. 

Coconut/Pecan Filling- Stir together 1 C heavy cream, 1 C sugar and 3 egg yolks in a medium saucepan. Put the 6 TBS butter, ½ tsp salt, 1 C pecans and 1 ¹/₃ C coconut in a large bowl and set aside. Heat the cream mixture and cook, stirring constantly (scraping the bottom of the pan as you stir) until the mixture begins to thicken and coats the back of a spoon. Pour the hot custard immediately into the pecan-coconut mixture and stir until the butter is melted. Cool to room temperature.

Rum Flavored Syrup- In a small saucepan, heat the water and sugar, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has melted. Remove from heat and stir in the rum extract.

Chocolate Ganache Icing-Place 8 oz. semisweet chocolate, 2 TBS corn syrup and 3 TBS butter in a medium bowl. Heat the cream in a small saucepan over medium heat until it starts to boil. Remove from heat and pour over the chocolate. Let it sit for one minute, then stir until smooth. Cool to room temperature.

*Once the filling and icing are both cooled to room temperature, put them in the fridge for 1 hour.

Cake Layers- Cut the two cakes in half so you have 4 cakes. Brush the tops of the cakes with the rum syrup. Layer the cakes, using ¼ of the pecan/coconut filling between each layer. Top with the remaining filling. Frost the sides of the cake with the chocolate icing. I found it was easiest to use a large wooden spoon. Scoop up the icing and starting at the bottom of the cake, spread the icing up to the top. You can pipe a fancy border around the top if you have time. I didn’t, so I just piled the icing a little thicker over the lip of the cake to make a border around the filling on top of the cake. It still looked great, even if it wasn’t fancy :)

You can serve it right away, but it holds together a bit better if you can refrigerate it for an hour or two before you cut it.