Lately I’ve been pretty excited for plums, peaches and nectarines. I wasn’t quite expecting to be baking a decadent chocolate cake in the middle of August, but life and family like to change plans. Anyway, I’m glad they do because I finally get to share here one of my all time favorite desserts.
German chocolate cake IS the birthday cake in my family as both my dad and I choose it almost every single year (oh, how my mother must have suffered). This year was my dad’s turn. And, since my parents were traveling the weekend before his birthday, the responsibility of said cake passed to me.
There really is no better way to make German chocolate cake than in the traditional layer cake fashion. My mom once tried to make it into a bundt cake. We soon realized the ratio of filling to cake was much too low. The three layers allow for optimum filling coverage. Not that I’ve studied the subject extensively or anything…
And although it’s traditional, this recipe has a bit of a twist in that it replaces the lighter, sweet chocolate cake with more of a decadent dark chocolate cake. This mixes nicely with the sweetness of the filling. I’ve tried different filling recipes, but keep coming back to a modified version of the classic.
German Chocolate Cake
- makes one 8-inch 3 layer cake
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Ingredients
-
cake layers
- 4 ounces dark chocolate, roughly chopped
- 2-1/4 cups unbleached cake flour
- 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (8 ounces) strong, hot coffee
- 1 cup (8 ounces) buttermilk
- 1-1/4 cups (2-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 2 cups pure cane sugar
- 5 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1-1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
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filling
- 4 egg yolks
- 1 can (12 ounces) evaporated milk
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup pure cane sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
- 1 seven ounce package (about 2-2/3 cups) sweetened coconut
- 1-1/2 cups chopped pecans, toasted
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Directions
make the cake layers
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line three 8-inch round cake pans with parchment paper. Butter pans and dust with cocoa powder (instead of flour which leaves white splotches on the chocolate layers), shaking off the excess.
In a double boiler, melt dark chocolate. Remove from heat and cool. Quicken this step by cooling chocolate in the refrigerator.
In a medium bowl, sift the cake flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a small bowl or large measuring cup, whisk together coffee and buttermilk.
In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar together until fluffy, about three minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, scraping sides of bowl down after each addition. Add vanilla and mix until incorporated. Add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the coffee/buttermilk mixture. Begin and end with the flour mixture. Remove the bowl from the mixer and using a spatula, fold in the melted chocolate.
Divide the batter evenly between the three pans. Batter should fill pans about half to two-thirds of the way full. Smooth the tops with a spatula. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Transfer cakes to a wire cooling rack for 20-30 minutes. Invert cakes onto rack and remove pans and parchment to let cool completely.
make the filling
In a large saucepan, whisk together egg yolks, evaporated milk and vanilla until well blended. Add sugars and butter and cook over medium heat, stirring often, for 12 minutes, until mixture is thickened. Remove from heat. Mix in coconut and pecans. Cool to room temperature.
assemble the cake
Trim tops of cakes to level out surface, if necessary. Place first cake layer on platter or cake stand. Spread one third of filling on top. Add second layer and spread another third of filling on top. Follow with final layer and top with remaining filling.
34 Comments
Just look at that gorgeous, towering thing! Love how this looks and I KNOW I’d love how it tastes! Thanks for sharing!
This is one luscious looking cake and I’ve never wanted a slice of German chocolate cake more than I do now.
What a showstopper this cake is. Just gorgeous!
Wow, that is one impressive cake! Would be perfect for a fall party. We just got a new apartment, so maybe for the house warming party. Wonderful photographs, like always! xo
that towering masterpiece sure outdoes the german chocolate cake i made last year. the filling has sweetened coconut plus 1 1/4 c sugar — it doesn’t end up too sweet? not that that would be a bad thing…
cheers,
*heather*
That is SUCH a beautiful cake! I’ve never made a German chocolate cake but you’re motivating me to give it a try.
AH MY GOSH LOOK AT THAT CAKE!!!
this thing is beautiful!!!
WOW what a cake! That definitely looks worth heating up the kitchen in August!
Gorgeous perfect cake…. I like the way the frosting is just bursting out… great photos too!
Cake looks Gorg! just foud your blog today and it’s reaally good!! and the photos are just stunning
Seriously my favorite cake. I just forget.
I love coconut and chocolate together. Your pictures are lovely and your blog is delish!
German chocolate is my favorite chocolate cake, and this looks like a great one! The darker chocolate for the cake sounds perfect.
thanks everyone for your kind comments.
heather, I know it seems like a lot of sugar with the sweetened coconut, but I actually even cut out 1/4 cup from the original recipe. Any German chocolate cake filling I’ve had is always pretty sweet, which I think is why I like the dark chocolate cake to balance it out.
good to know — i always end up cutting out sugar, too. thanks for the response and that impressive cake as inspiration!
cheers,
*heather*
It’s my first time on your site and I am blown away by your food photos and delicious recipes.
so gorgeous! must be super tasty!
Fabulous! Fantastic! Beautiful! This is exactly how my mom used to make it. I love it. Wonderful post.
Stunning! I love your photos!
Mara — this german chocolate cake looks amazing. I’ve also made my fair share — it’s the birthday cake pick for both me and my dad as well! I’m going to link this to my mom — she’ll get a kick out of it.
this blog is amazingly beautiful… and mouthwatering.
xo
agnes szucs
Love your blog, love your photos, and LOVE this cake! : )
oh my lord that looks incredible! i’m in awe of all that chocolate!
Oh my gracious, this looks absolutely heavenly!
I have made this cake for Christmas for the past 3 years and have two issues. One, is after lining the pans with wax paper and spraying them with non-stick spray and dusting with flower. I still get the paper to stick to the cake and have to rip off the paper from the cake. This is such a struggle without tearing cake off in chuncks. I do not know why it sticks so much. Two, I end up having to stir and cook the filling for like 30 minutes before it gets the right consistency. Is that how long you cook yours over medium heat? Any tips I would greatly appreciate. Although my family loves this cake and looks forward to it each year, I would love to make it a little easier for me. Oh yes, I use the Bakers recipe.
Amanda, I haven’t had that problem with the paper sticking. However, I usually use parchment paper so you might try that. I usually just have to lightly peel it off, and no chunks of cake come off. It usually takes me 12-15 minutes to cook the filling. You could try turning up the heat a little. Although, be careful that the egg doesn’t cook too fast.
I had to make a German Chocolate cake for my fiance’s dad’s birthday – and I was freaking out a bit because I’ve never made one. So, I started out with David Lebovitz’ recipe, made his filling and ganache, but his cake recipe was out of my league. And then I found your cake and what a lifesaver! Those cake layers are to die for! Seriously good. My cake looks totally kick ass, too! Thank you for posting!
I love chocolate!
I baked a German Chocolate Cake for my fiancé’s birthday using this recipe and it came out soooooooooooo delicious!!!! He loved it! Thank you so much for sharing. I used one large cake tin and sliced it into three layers instead of using three separate tins, which meant that I had to cook it for longer, but other than that it all went exactly to plan! YUMMMMMM! I will definitely be making this again next year!
You can see you my efforts turned out here:
http://incendiaryblonde.blogspot.com/2011/01/birthday-cake.html
Mel
That is a stunning cake! and German chocolate is the best. Thanks for the recipe.
Thank you for the german chocolate cake recipe. I know this cake will be in heaven. It was so heavenly. God bless you and all that your hands touh.
Does the buttermilk need to be @ room temp?
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