German Chocolate Cake

This German Chocolate Cake has three layers of amazing homemade chocolate cake, frosted with a homemade chocolate frosting and topped with a delicious pecan coconut filling!

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My dad loves German Chocolate Cake and I make him at least one every year and that’s normally for his birthday! This cake is wonderful and packed with tons of chocolate goodness and topped with a fantastic homemade pecan coconut filling that’s just out of this world good!

A lot of y’all love my German Chocolate Cupcakes so I wanted to share with you how I turn that loved recipe into a 3 layered cake that’s perfect for holidays, celebrations and Mondays! 

This cake here has everything made from scratch – The cake, frosting and filling. If you find that too overwhelming, try it with a boxed cake mix or canned frosting to help with some of the work. 

Where did German Chocolate Cake get its name? 

You would think that from the name that this cake was German! 

It’s not. I know, I’m kinda side eyeing that name too. 

It’s actually called German Chocolate cake because of the man that came up with the formula for the chocolate that was originally used in making German chocolate cake. This cake was originally called “German’s Chocolate Cake” after the Germans Chocolate that Samuel German introduced to the Baker’s Chocolate Company. However the Cake didn’t appear until American homemaker Mrs. George Clay created it in 1957!

So while the concept of German chocolate cake is super popular, it really isn’t that old of a recipe or idea!

I don’t know what Mrs. Clay’s original recipe was but this is my take on the classic German Chocolate cake! 

Love Chocolate and Coconut? Here are more  Recipes to make:

• Chocolate Chip Coconut Dessert Cheese Ball
• German Chocolate Cupcakes

German Chocolate Cake

German Chocolate Cake

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Chill Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 2 hours

This German Chocolate Cake has three layers of amazing homemade chocolate cake, frosted with a homemade chocolate frosting and topped with a delicious pecan coconut filling!

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Ingredients

• For Cake:
• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup boiling water
• For Filling:
• 4 egg yolks
• 12 ounces evaporated milk (should be 1 can)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup butter (1.5 sticks)
• 2 cups of shredded coconut
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• For Frosting:
• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup cocoa powder
• 6 cups powdered sugar
• 2/3 cup milk
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

For Cake:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 300F.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and coco powder.
3. Next add in the eggs, milk and oil. Mix Well. Stir in the vanilla. Carefully mix in the boiling water. The batter with be liquid like!
4. Pour batter into three greased 8-inch round baking pans
5. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 300F for 30 minutes or until done.
6. Let cool.

For Filling:

1. Whisk egg yolks, milk and vanilla together in a medium sauce pan. Whisk in the sugar and butter and cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes or until the mixture is thick.
2. Remove from the heat and stir in the coconut and the pecans.
3. Let cool.

For Frosting:

1. Melt butter and add to a bowl.
2. With an electric mixer, whip in cocoa.
3. Add powdered sugar and milk, whipping until desired consistency is reached.
4. Mix in vanilla.

Decorating

Once cooled, level the cakes if needed by carefully cutting off the rounded tops to make a flat surface. Stack them onto a cake board, adding a layer of chocolate frosting in between each layer.

You can also make extra filling and add a bit between the layers as well.

Frost the cake with a crumb coat and place into the fridge for 1 hour. Crumb Coat just makes, spreading icing all over the cake, gently smooth it out but it doesn't need to be perfect. This is just your base coat.

Remove cake from fridge. Finishing frosting the cake and decorate with details.

I piped a boarder around the top and bottom with a large star tip and then filled the top with the pecan coconut filling.

If you make this recipe, snap a picture and share it on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter with the and hashtag #bigbearswife —

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