German Chocolate Cake - YUM

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Janet H

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I made a German Chocolate cake yesterday and wanted to share the recipe as it was fabulous. I made some changes to the one of the back of the chocolate box to improve the ingredient list. Swapped out sweetened coconut for the real deal, ditched evaporated mil, used better chocolate and adjusted the filling quantity etc. Note that is has a rum flavored syrup; don;t skip this. You can't taste the run int he finished cake but you can taste the caramel undertones that it adds. This is the best German Cake I've ever eaten!

INGREDIENTS:

For the Cake:
2 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped
2 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
6 T water
1 C butter, room temp
1¼ C + ¼ C sugar, divided
4 egg yolks
4 egg whites
2 C all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 C buttermilk @ room temp
1 tsp vanilla extract

Filling:
1 1/3 C heavy cream
1 1/3 C granulated sugar
4 egg yolks
1/2 C butter, cubed
½ tsp salt
1 1/2 C pecans, toasted and chopped
1 3/4 C unsweetened coconut, toasted

Rum Syrup:
2/3 C water
½ C granulated sugar
2 T dark rum

Chocolate Ganache:
8 ozs bittersweet (60%) chocolate, chopped
2 T light corn syrup
3 T unsalted butter
1 C heavy cream

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 | Prepare two nine inch pans, buttered and bottoms lined with parchment

1. Make the Cake: Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; set aside.

2. Melt the semisweet and unsweetened chocolates together with the 6 tablespoons of water and stir until smooth, then set aside to cool to room temperature.

3. In an electric mixer, beat butter and 1¼ cup of the sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Add the melted chocolate until combined and then beat in the egg yolks one at a time, beating well after each addition.

4. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour mixture and buttermilk by thirds, beating until just combined.

5. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites on medium-high speed until they hold soft peaks. Slowly add ¼ cup of sugar and beat until stiff, glossy peaks are formed/

6. Fold whites (by hand) into cake batter by thirds.

7. Divide the batter into 2 prepared cake pans and bake for about 45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool the cake layers completely (leave them in the pans). While the cakes are baking and cooling, make the filling, syrup and icing.

8. Make the Filling: Put the butter, salt, pecans and coconut in a large bowl and set aside. Stir together the heavy cream, sugar and egg yolks in a medium saucepan. Heat the cream mixture and cook, stirring constantly (scraping the bottom of the pan as you stir) until the mixture begins to thicken and coats the back of a spoon. Remove from heat and add the pecan-coconut mixture and stir until the butter is melted. Cool completely to room temperature and then refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

9. Make the Rum Syrup: In a small saucepan, heat the water and sugar, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has melted. Remove from heat and stir in the dark rum. Set aside until ready to use.

10. Make Chocolate Ganache: Place the chopped chocolate, corn syrup and butter in a medium bowl. Heat cream in a small saucepan over medium heat until it just begins to boil. Remove from heat and pour over the chocolate. Let stand one minute, then stir until smooth. Cool to room temperature and then chill at least one hour.

11. Assemble the Cake: Cut both cake layers in half horizontally using a sharp knife, to make four cake layers. Placet the first cake layer on a cake plate. Brush the top of the cake layer with rum syrup. Spread 1/4 of the coconut filling over the cake layer, making sure to just reach to the edges. Place another cake layer on top. Repeat, brushing the top of each cake layer with the rum syrup, then spreading coconut filling over each layer. Do NOT cover top with filling until last step. Trim edges of cakes with serrated knife to smooth. Ice sides of cake with chilled ganache, spreading with offset spatula. Do not overwork. Now add filling to top of cake spreading to within 1/4 inch of edge. Pipe a decorative border of chocolate icing around the perimeter of top, Refrigerate cake.

Cake porn:

cake_1.jpg
 
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Wow. Coincidence! I bought a German chocolate cake yesterday.

Yours looks better than the one I bought.
 
I can't say enough good about this cake but it came to a bad end. I took it to a friend's b-day bash and we had a nice BBQ to go with. It was a small group and half the cake was left. Near the end of the evening (after dessert), one of their dogs tried to eat it off the counter. He didn't get much of it but managed to give it a good coat of dog slobber.
 
A little dog slobber never hurt anyone. I'd still eat it!

Beautiful cake, Janet!
 
It is a little known fact that if you run a cat on it that it will absorb the dog slobber...
 
Hairballs!

If I had to pick, I'd choose scraped off dog slobber, but that's just me. YMMV.
 
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