German Chocolate Cake

Today is my Matt's Birthday! God has blessed me immensely with such an amazing teammate in life, and to celebrate I made his favorite, German Chocolate Cake. So in the spirit of birthdays and gift giving, I am going to share my recipe.  The cake recipe is something I've found in the past years and the icing recipe is my grandmothers (shh...don't tell her I'm sharing)! =)

First and foremost, collect all of your ingredients! (and preheat oven to 350)

Then, grease and flour 3 cake pans and set aside. (I have these awesome non-stick Gold Touch pans, so I just cut parchment paper and line the bottoms.)

Combine the chocolate and water in a small saucepan, melt, and set aside.

Combine flour, soda and salt and sift. (I always sift twice, makes it more light and fluffy.)

Cream butter and sugar in mixer, then one at a time add egg yolks.

Slowly add the melted chocolate mixture to the butter/sugar mixture. Once incorporated, alternately add flour mixture and buttermilk in two parts, starting with the flour mixture.

Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites, then quickly fold in the remaining egg whites, until there are no streaks.

 Pour into 3 cake pans and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Combine ingredients in saucepan and bring to a boil.

Once it comes to a boil and thickens, remove from heat and add coconut and pecans.

Once the cakes have cooled for about 10 minutes, remove them from the pan and allow to cool completely on a cooling rack.

Layer the cake and icing, once the icing has completely cooled.

Add your top layer of cake, and then ice the top and sides.

And you have a German Chocolate Cake! YUMMY!!

 German Chocolate Cake

 1/2 cup of water
4 (1 oz) squares German sweet chocolate
1 cup of butter, softened
2 cups white sugar
4 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
2 1/2 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 egg whites

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour 3 - 9 inch round pans. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In a small saucepan, heat water and 4 ounces of chocolate until melted. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

In a large bowl, cream 1 cup of butter and 2 cups of sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in 4 egg yolks one at a time. Blend in the melted chocolate mixture and vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk, mixing just until incorporated.

In a large glass or metal mixing bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold 1/3 of the whites into the batter, then quickly fold in remaining whites until no streaks remain.

Pour into 3 - 9 inch pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a wire rack.

German Chocolate Icing

 (I ALWAYS double this recipe for the cake, and it makes the perfect amount.)

1 cup evaporated milk
1 cup sugar
3 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 pound of butter
1 1/2 cups of coconut
1 cup of pecan

Mix all ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil. Allow icing to thicken, but stir continuously. Remove from heat and stir in coconut and pecans. Continue to stir until cool and thick enough to spread over cake.

ENJOY!! =)