German Chocolate Cake
(Original Recipe)

Many of you are wondering why this belongs in a German food blog when it isn’t German at all. I mean if you google the history of German Chocolate Cake, every site pretty much says it was the recipe of the day in a Texas recipe column in 1957, and the name German comes from the variety of Baker’s chocolate that is sweeter and invented by an English-American named Samuel German. However I find some techniques used in this cake that has German influence.
More here at my The History of German Chocolate Cake, and “Is German Chocolate Cake Really German“

Ingredients

The Buttermilk Cake:

1 pkg. Baker's German’s sweet chocolate 4 oz.
1/2 cup Water boiling
1 cup Butter or margarine
2 cup Sugar
4 Eggs separated
1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
2 cups Flour all-purpose
1 teaspoon Baking soda
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 cup Buttermilk

The Coconut-Pecan Filling and Frosting:

4 egg yolks
1 can 12 oz. evaporated milk
1-1/2 tsp. vanilla
1-1/2 cups sugar brown sugar even better
3/4 cup 1-1/2 sticks butter or margarine
1 pkg. 7 oz. flaked coconut
1-1/2 cups chopped pecans
Garnish 12-15 maraschino cherries cut in half.

Instructions

The original recipe had you melt the chocolate in a metal or glass bowl over boiling water and stir often with a whisk until melted. Let it cool while assembling other ingredients. I really recommend measuring out the ingredients in small bowls ahead of time.
Also separate the egg yolks and put the whites in a separate mixing bowl so we can whip them into meringue.
Cream the butter and sugar first, add the chocolate, vanilla….
….and then the eggs yolks.
Mix the flour, soda, and salt together in a bowl,
then add this mix into the batter one cup at a time.
Whip the egg whites into meringue.
Then fold into the batter.
The finished batter should look like this.
I like to butter or spray the baking pans with non stick spray and then cut a wax paper circle to fit in the bottom, then spray or butter again and sprinkle a tablespoon of flour in the pan, tilt to get the flour in the edges and the sides. .
Divide the batter evenly in the pans, and smooth out flat with a spatula.
One trick is to dip your spatula in a glass of warm water between strokes to avoid batter sticking.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, or until the a toothpick comes out clean. You can also tell by the firmness of the cake when you press it.
Meanwhile make the filling-Frosting while the cakes are baking. It will need to cool before you apply. Cool the cakes on the rack, for a good half hour while you make the filling.
I find that frosting frozen cake layers keeps the cake from tearing. I often will bake the cakes a day or week ahead, wrap individuallyand freeze them till I am ready.

Filling

Chop the pecans into small bite sized bits.
I like to toast the nuts and the coconut. The nuts take only 5 minutes at 350 degrees F and the coconut may take a title longer but watch it like a hawk. you want some nice toastiness on it.
Add the eggs, butter and sugar. Whoops I used brown sugar here unlike the recipe. Even though this isn't the original recipe I have found it better.
Cook on medium heat until simmers and whisk it almost consistently until it is thick and custardy.
Add the toasted coconut and pecans,
Fold the pecans and coconut in, till well mixed. (by the way I made 1 1/2 recipe here, I like extra filling. ) The filling should look like this.
I eyeball the filling and divide it into 3 parts.
Spread 1/3 of the filling on the first layer. It is important to spread the filling to the edge and get a good 1/2 inch or so on the edge so when you put the next layer on it shows to to the edge of the sides.
Repeat with the next layer, then the top layer, and frost the top with the filling.
Garnish with the maraschino cherry halves.
You can frost the sides with a basic butter cream chocolate frosting.