Yesterday was my birthday and with some teamwork and a trip to the local bar, we baked a delicious German chocolate cake. The recipe comes from the famous Magnolia Bakery and I have to say it is not only quite fool proof, but a solid recipe. I'm going to write out the original and then follow it up with some tips and comments that I feel they left out... Maybe on purpose!
First let's start out with what German chocolate is. It actually has nothing to do with Germany. It is in fact named after an American whose last name was German. He developed a recipe for a dark baking chocolate for the American Baker's Chocolate Company. The product was eventually named after Sam German. So in reality, the cake is actually called German's Chocolate Cake. In the end though, none of this matters but the fact that it's freaking delicious so, on to the recipe!
For the Cake:
4 ounces Baker's German Chocolate Cake
1/2 cup of Water
2 Cups AP Flour
1 1/2 teaspoons Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon Salt
4 large eggs, separated (Room Temperature)
1 Cup unsalted butter (Room Temperature)
2 Cups + 2 tbsp granulated sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 Cup Buttermilk
First thing, turn your oven to 350F. Grease three 9x2- inch cake pans, then line with parchment and make sure your ingredients are at room temperature.
In a small sauce pan add the chocolate and water and warm on low heat. Allow the chocolate to melt and then remove from the heat and allow to cool.
In a large bowl, cream the sugar and butter until light and fluffy. This all can be done in a stand mixer on medium.
While this is working sift together the salt, flour and baking soda.
Add the egg yolks to the creamed mixture one at a time, allowing each one to incorporate fully before adding the next.
Next add the cooled chocolate and water mixture and the vanilla extract.
Now add the dry ingredients in thirds, alternating with the buttermilk, beating after each addition until smooth.
In a separate bowl, whip the remaining egg whites and 2 tbsp sugar until soft peaks.
Combine the batter and egg whites by folding the whites into the batter.
Divide among the prepared pans and bake for 25Y-30 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center of a cake comes out clean. Be careful not to overbake, as this cake has a different, lighter texture than most.
Let the cake cool for ten minutes in the pan, remove and place on cooling racks and allow to cool completely.
For the Icing:
18 ounces evaporated Milk
6 egg yolks
2 Cups Sugar
1 Cup unsalted Butter, cut into small pieces
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 cups sweetened, shredded coconut
2 cups coarsely chopped pecans
In a large sauce pan combine the evaporated milk and egg yolks. Stir in the sugar, butter and vanilla extract. Stir over medium heat about 15-18 minutes or until thickened, bubbly and golden in color. Remove from heat and stir in the coconut and chopped pecans. Transfer to a large bowl and cool until room temperature and of good spreading consistency.
When cake has cooled spread frosting between layers and over the top of the cake.
As for the tips, I lied and incorporated them into the recipe.
I added sugar to the egg-whites in the cake because it makes them a little more stable when whipping them. Ours were a little warm and had no sugar and despite the fact that we were able to whip them to soft peaks they weren't very stable.
The filling also says to place on medium heat and hold there for 15 minutes. I look at this as a cooked custard more or less. There is 2 cups of sugar which raises the coagulation temperature of the egg yolk proteins, but I feel you are better off working on and off the heat until the mixture thickens up. In fact, I havent tried it yet, but I would probably cook the milk and sugar until close to the right color then temper the egg yolks in and allow the mixture to thicken slowly on and off the heat. I'll try that the next time I make it. Ours came out just fine with their method but you can tell that the eggs curdled slightly. When the mixture cooled you couldn't see it at all and you couldn't taste scrambled eggs either.
I would also increase the icing recipe by 50% as ours just barely covered the cake. I would much rather have extra frosting than too little. If anyone makes the cake. please let us know how it comes out.
DOWN WITH BOX CAKES!
