This cake was not actually invented in Germany. The original recipe was sent by a homemaker in Dallas to a newspaper in Texas in 1957. It used Baker's German's Sweet Chocolate, which was created in 1852 by an Englishman named Sam German for the Baker's Chocolate brand. The cake became very popular when General Foods, which owned Baker's Chocolate at the time, sent the recipe to other newspapers in the country. This is clearly for people who like sweet desserts. Serves 12.
Instructions
1. Bake a chocolate cake mix according to the package directions, or bake your own favorite recipe. Remove the cake from the pan, place on a platter and let it cool for several minutes. Trim the top and bottom of the cake and split it into two equal layers. Set aside.
2. Place the pecans or walnuts onto a baking sheet and put into a pre-heated oven at 350 degrees for about 5 to 7 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool several minutes until the nuts can be handled. Place onto a cutting board and carefully chop them into ?-inch pieces with a sharp chef's knife. Set aside.
3. Combine the brown sugar and water in a 2 quart saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat. After a few seconds, scrape down any sugar that has stuck to the sides of the pan. Boil vigorously until the caramel smokes, about 5 minutes.
4. Beat the eggs and milk in a bowl with the whisk. When the caramel starts to smoke, remove it from the heat and carefully pour the eggs into the pan, stir, and bring back to a boil. Remove from the heat and whisk in 8 tbsp of butter. Stir in the cider vinegar and vanilla extract. Fold in the coconut and pecans or walnuts.
5. Center one of the cake layers onto a cake platter. Spread a little more than half of the caramel-coconut mixture over the cake. Smooth the surface with an icing spatula or the back of a spoon. Center the second cake layer on top of the first and spread the remaining mixture over the top only, leaving the sides of the cake bare.
6. Sift the powdered sugar. Using the paddle attachment on an electric mixer, combine the powdered sugar with the remaining 16 tbsp of butter. Add the melted chocolate and mix until smooth and creamy (it will look like chocolate whipped cream).
7. Using most of the chocolate butter cream (about ? of the total amount), cover the sides of the cake with a thin smooth layer using a flexible spatula. Now cover the butter cream with the grated bittersweet chocolate, pressing it gently against the cake with your open palm.
8. Spoon the rest of the butter cream into a pastry bag with a #7 star tip. Make 16 rosettes evenly spaced around the perimeter of the cake. Refrigerate until 15 minutes before serving.
Tags: butter cream, about minutes, Baker Chocolate, cake with, cool several, cool several minutes, from heat