Every November rolls around and Aaron asks for a German Chocolate Cake for his birthday. Let me tell you, this cake is a pain in the ass. Major. I make it differently each year, hoping to perfect the recipe. While none of them have ever turned out “bad” per say, I just never end up writing the recipe down. This year I did and it’s here to share!
Also, if you know me at all, you know one of my pet peeves is when people make baked goods from box mix and call it “homemade” like they are really proud. Sorry if that sounds terrible, it’s just the way I feel. So- full disclosure here baking babes- this recipe uses a box mix as the base. While I am a little ashamed to admit I used one- this cake still takes forever to make because it has so many ingredients. I’ll take a box mix and cut down the time a little for this pup.
I think Aaron’s only issue with this cake was we didn’t have enough milk in the house. I even ate some of the cake batter- and I’m not even a big fan of chocolate. Purty gosh dern good.
- 1- 4 oz bar German "Baker's" Chocolate
- 2 Tbsp butter
- 1/2 c milk
- 1/4 c vegetable oil
- 1/2 c water
- 1/2 c sour cream
- 3 large eggs
- 1 (3.5 oz box) Jell-O Chocolate Pudding mix
- 1- (16.5 oz box) Duncan Hine's German Chocolate Cake mix (I only used the cake mix, not the topping mix)
- 1- (12 oz) can evaporated milk
- 2 1/2 c white sugar
- 3 sticks salted butter
- 4 large egg yolks, slightly beaten
- 2 Tbsp Lockerbean's Vanilla
- 3 c sweetened, flaked coconut
- 1 1/2- c chopped pecans
- In sauce pan on low to medium heat, melt butter and German chocolate bar- whisk continuously until chocolate is melted throughout. (This will burn easily, keep an eye on it!)
- In a large mixing bowl, mix together all liquid ingredients, including the eggs.
- Add the chocolate mixture.
- Then add the pudding mix and the cake mix.
- Mix until all ingredients are incorporated. (This will be a very thick batter, and will be very hard to spread in the pan- don't worry!)
- Split evenly into two parchment-lined and greased round cake pans.
- Bake at 325 for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. (Almost clean is ok!)
- Let the cakes cool completely and invert onto parchment paper.
- Split each cake horizontally in half using a cake string cutter, or dental floss. (I use dental floss!) (You should have four slices total.)
- In a large sauce pan, melt butter and whisk in sugar, then egg yolks and vanilla. (Whisking continuously).
- Whisk for several minutes until the mixture starts to turn to a caramel color.
- Whisk in the evaporated milk and let simmer until mixture starts to thicken.
- Add coconut flakes and pecans.
- Let cool completely. (I put mine in the fridge to cool more rapidly).
- On a cake stand, alternate layers of cake and icing, generously topping each layer.
- Slice and serve!
- I like to just ice in between layers instead of icing the sides, too. You can however ice the whole cake.
- Make sure to let the icing cool completely before spreading on the cake. I typically make the cake the night before and let it cool. You want both cake and icing to be room temperature before topping.
- There may be extra icing- you can freeze this. I save it and use it to top brownies and make German chocolate sundaes!
Just to be clear, none of the images in this collage are mine- I just snapped and wanted to share some of these gorgeous nakey cake-ys so you could see where I was coming from.
I’ll admit that mine is much simpler than these beauties, but hey, I wasn’t going for wedding cake on this one. Just a good old German Chocolate for my beau. What are your favorite baking trends? And, who wants to come eat the rest of this cake?
