Today on The Stay At Home Chef
I'm showing you how to make The Most Amazing German Chocolate Cake.
Don't let the name fool you,
this is not a traditional cake recipe from Germany.
It actually gets its name because it was developed by a man named Sam German.
Sam German worked for a baking chocolate company and came up with this recipe.
It's evolved over the years and gained popularity during the 1950s.
Today I'll be sharing my version.
Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Then lightly grease two 9" cake rounds,
and line the bottom with parchment paper.
Then grab a mixing bowl and we'll make our cake batter.
You'll need 2 cups of all-purpose flour,
2 cups of granulated sugar,
and 1/2 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder.
German chocolate cake has more of a subtle chocolate flavor,
but if you want more of that devil's food feel, you can add up to 1 cup total of cocoa powder.
Then you'll add in 2 teaspoons of baking soda,
1 teaspoon of baking powder,
and 1 teaspoon of salt,
then we'll give this a quick mix or a stir until combined.
Then we'll add in 1 cup of buttermilk.
If you need a buttermilk substitute I'll give that to you on my website.
1 cup of warm water,
1/3 cup of vegetable oil,
2 large eggs,
and 1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract.
Then we're gonna mix this until just combined, and there's no more lumps.
Then we'll divide this as evenly as we can amongst the 2 prepared baking pans.
Then we're gonna bake these in the 350 degree oven for 30-35 minutes.
While the cakes are baking in the oven you'll want to make your coconut pecan filling,
because just like the cakes, this will also need time to cool.
Melt 1/2 cup of butter in a saucepan over medium heat.
Once the butter is melted you'll add in 1/2 cup of brown sugar,
and 1/2 cup of granulated sugar.
We'll whisk this together until it's combined, and you can see it forms kind of like a little paste.
Then we'll add in a 12 ounce can of evaporated milk along with 3 large egg yolks,
and 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract.
And give this a whisk to combine,
and we're gonna cook this over medium heat for 12-14 minutes.
Now it's tempting to turn up the heat and try and speed things up,
but trust me don't do that otherwise you might burn things.
After just about 5 minutes or so you'll see that it foams up like this.
Just keep on cooking giving it the occasional stir so nothing catches and burns.
In the 12-14 minute range things will have calmed down, and you should end up with a nice thick caramel colored liquid.
We're gonna remove this from the heat,
and then we'll stir in 1 1/2 cups of unsweetened coconut flakes,
and 1 cup of chopped pecans.
Just use a rubber spatula to fold this all in.
Then we'll set this aside to cool completely.
Now you can just frost your cake with this pecan filling in the middle and on top,
but some people also like to do a chocolate buttercream.
The choice is yours.
You'll need 1 cup of softened butter,
I'm using salted, if you're using unsalted you'll want to add in 1/4 teaspoon of salt,
then we'll use a hand mixer to beat this until it's light and fluffy.
Then we'll add in 3/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder,
and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.
Then we'll just mix this in real quick.
We'll add in 1 tablespoon of either milk or cream,
you can add in up to 1-2 tablespoons more liquid if you need to to smooth things out.
Once that's smooth we can start adding in our powdered sugar.
I start with about 2 cups of powdered sugar,
and you'll use about 3 cups total.
You're looking for a frosting that's creamy and easily spreadable.
Once again the buttercream is optional,
but it is really pretty to decorate the outside and top of your cake with it.
At this point your cakes should be done baking,
so you'll want to transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Once your cakes and your filling are both completely cooled it's time to assemble.
We'll place one layer directly onto the cake stand,
we'll top that with half of our coconut pecan filling.
Then I'm gonna frost the outside of the cake and squeeze on some little dollops of frosting around the edge on top,
and spread the rest of the coconut pecan filling in the center on top of the cake.
Then that's it!
You are ready to slice and serve.
Thanks for watching.
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