Ich Bin ein Deutscher Schokoladenkuchen

No, I'm not fluent in German .... yet - maybe I need to eat more food to learn the language.
Roughly translated, it's "I'm a German Chocolate cake."




Now, who wouldn't want to be a German chocolate cake? I certainly would, but then again,I would get eaten in an instant and that would not be a good thing. So maybe not....

How did I come across this cake? Well, I was watching Bobby Flay's show on Food Network (as you can tell - I like Food network - don't judge me). Anyway, one of the things he bought (didn't make it) was a German chocolate cake. It looked so impressive and unique that it intrigued me. Could an amateur baker like me make something so decadent and impressive-sounding cake?

Well, I can tell you right now that the answer is yes. It turns out it's simply two layers of chocolate cake - deeply chocolate - with a coconut-pecan frosting. I mean, come on! People, if you love chocolate, and if you love pecans, then this is the cake that you should definitely consider making. The coconut is just a bonus.

The one thing I did learn is that you should put a layer of frosting between the cake layers while the frosting is still quite warm, because I let the frosting cool too much before applying and the cake layers had trouble sticking. Also I didn't have 3 cake pans to make the traditional cake, so I just made it with two layers. But it turned out to be delicious and my colleagues loved it. So I encourage you to try it out, and let me know how it turns out.

German Chocolate cake
Adapted from Joyofbaking.com (Stephanie, I'm so glad that you made this site - You rock!)
Yield: 2 x 9-inch cakes that is layered into one cake - you could make two separate single layer cakes with a layer of frosting on top of each one.

Ingredients
German Chocolate cake
3 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups of cake flour
1/2 cup Dutch processed cocoa
1 tsp baking powder
1/3 tsp baking soda
1/3 tsp salt
2/3 cup hot coffee (this makes it really chocolatey)
2/3 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter
1/2 cup of sugar (I really hate adding too much sugar since I felt that the chocolate flavor would be strong enough and sweet enough)
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

Coconut-Pecan Frosting 
1 1/4 cups of toasted chopped pecans
1 cups sugar
1 cup heavy cream
3 large egg yolks 
1/2 cup unsalted butter 
Pinch of salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract (the good stuff as Ina Garten always says)
1 1/2 cups of flaked coconut

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and place rack in the center of the oven. Grease the cake pans.
2. Combine the hot coffee and the buttermilk
3. Sift all the dry ingredients into a separate bowl - flour, baking powder, soda, salt, cocoa powder.
4. Melt the chocolate either over a steaming water bath or in the microwave (I found the latter easier, but it requires more care) and keep it on hand.
5. Mix the butter and sugar and then add the eggs one at a time until they are incorporated and finally add the vanilla extract.
6. Alternate between the dry and wet ingredients and mix until just incorporated. Do it in three additions starting and ending with the dry mixture.
7. Fold in the melted chocolate.
8. Divide the batter between the cake pans and bake for 20-30 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean and the top springs back.
9. Allow the cakes to cool and make the frosting in the meantime.
10. For the frosting, cook the egg yolks, butter, milk, sugar and salt until it thickens.
11. Remove from the heat, and mix in the vanilla, pecans, and coconut.
12. After the cake layers have cooled, put a layer of the warm frosting on top of one of the layers.
13. Add the second layer on top.
14. Add the remaining half of the frosting on top. Normally the cake doesn't have frosting on the sides, but if you make extra, I don't see anything wrong with doing it.

One more time... (since it's so beautiful!)

I know your mouth is watering - so have a bite and let your eyes roll with bliss.

Until next time! Have a great spring week! (Although it sure doesn't feel that way here.... with all the rain - I guess I'll just have to chug through it with this cake)

Auf Wiedersehen,
Kartik