German Chocolate Cake

Last Sunday, we had sweet and sour meatballs in the crock, over egg noodles with broccoli salad. All of these recipes had already been posted, so I had to make something new and amazing for dessert! This german chocolate cake recipe fit the bill. It looked sort of fancy and was DELICIOUS! Honestly, if I were to make it again, I think I would double the recipe and make it a 4 layer cake or at least 3 thicker layers. I made two kinds of icing: coconut-pecan frosting and classic chocolate butter frosting. I frosted the entire thing in the chocolate butter, plus added the coconut pecan between the layers and on the very top. I was also really excited because the chocolate butter frosting actually turned out!! Last time I attempted homemade frosting, it wasn't so great, so this was a huge accomplishment!

GERMAN CHOCOLATE CAKE
Source: Better Homes and Gardens, Best New Baking Book (Where else?!)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 c. flour
• 3/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1 4-ounce package of sweet baking chocolate
• 1 c. shortening
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 3/4 c. buttermilk
• 1 recipe of coconut-pecan frosting
• 1 chocolate butter frosting

Directions:

1. Grease and lightly flour two round layer cake pans. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
3. In a saucepan, combine chocolate and 1/2 c. water. Cook and stir over low heat until melted; cool.
4. Beat sugar and shortening with an electric mixer on medium until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla, beat on low speed until combined, then beat on medium for about a minute. Add the flour mixture and the buttermilk alternately to the mixing bowl, beating on low.
5. Pour batter into pans. Bake at 350 F for about 30 minutes or until toothpick is clean. Cool layers well.

Now, you need to make the coconut-pecan frosting. It starts hot, so you need to let it cool before it goes on the cake. I ended up putting this in the freezer to cool, since I didn't make it right away while the cakes were cooling.

Coconut-Pecan Frosting:

Ingredients:

• 1 egg
• 2/3 c. evaporated milk
• 2/3 c. sugar
• 1/4 c. butter
• 1 1/3 c. flaked coconut
• 1/2 c. pecans

Directions:

1. In a saucepan, lightly beat the egg. Stir in the milk, sugar and butter.
2. Cook and stir over medium heat for about 12 minutes or until thickened and bubbly.
3. Remove from heat and stir in the coconut and the pecans.
4. Cover and cool.

Once the cakes and the coconut-pecan is cooled, make the butter frosting so you can assemble to whole thing!

Chocolate Butter Frosting

Ingredients:

• 1/3 c. butter
• 1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
• 4 c. icing sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 c. milk (and keep the milk handy!)

Directions:

1. Beat butter until fluffy. Add the cocoa and 1 1/2 c. of the icing sugar. Beat well. Add 1/4 c. milk and vanilla.
2. Gradually add the rest of the powdered sugar, continuously beating and add more milk if necessary.

Now assemble the cake! Put the bottom layer on the cake plate, front with a layer of chocolate and a layer of coconut-pecan. Add the 2nd layer of cake and frost the whole thing in chocolate. Put the remaining coconut-pecan to the top.

Cut and serve!