This recipe comes from my grandmother. The traditional cake is made with delicious chocolate and lavishly covered with coconut and pecan icing.
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 30 mins |
| Servings: | 12 |
| Yield: | 3 to 8 – inch round cake pans |
Ingredients
- 4 (1 ounce) squares German sweet chocolate, chopped
- ⅔ cup butter
- 1 ½ cups white sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2 ½ cups sifted cake flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup evaporated milk
- 1 cup white sugar
- 3 egg yolks, lightly beaten
- ½ cup butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ⅓ cups flaked coconut
- 1 cup chopped pecans
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour 3 (8 inch) round pans. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In the top of a double boiler, heat chocolate, stirring occasionally, until chocolate is melted and smooth. Remove from heat and allow to cool to lukewarm.
- In a large bowl, cream together the butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in melted chocolate and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk, mixing just until incorporated. Pour batter into prepared pans.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pans for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely. When cool, frost between layers and on top of cake.
- To make the Frosting: In a large saucepan, combine evaporated milk, 1 cup sugar, egg yolks, 1/2 cup butter and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Cook and stir on medium heat for about 12 minutes, or until thick and golden brown. Remove from heat. Stir in coconut and pecans. Cool to room temperature, and spreading consistency.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 638 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 80 g |
| Cholesterol | 137 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 3 g |
| Protein | 8 g |
| Saturated Fat | 18 g |
| Sodium | 427 mg |
| Sugars | 53 g |
| Fat | 34 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
So good!
I thought this cake was a bit dense for my taste, I’m pretty sure I followed the directions to the T. I did like the flavor of the frosting, but needed to make a double recipe even for this sheet cake. I added the extra chocolate frosting to add some visual appeal as well. I must say, my sister uses this recipe every year for her husbands birthday cake and it tastes devine…so maybe with more practice I will master it as well.
topping is enough for 2 layer cake. had to double topping recipe for four layers. Otherwise, went over well with in-laws!
Disclaimer first: I only made the cake from this recipe, I used the frosting from German Sweet Chocolate Cake III… That said, the cake was fantastic! It’s a little crumbly, but it is moist and tasty. I used a little more chocolate, but that was the only change I made to the recipe. Enjoy!
This is the first time I’ve ever made a German Choclate Cake. This cake is so-o-o delicious ! I’m glad I changed the white sugar to brown sugar called for in the recipe and I doubled all ingredients, toasted the pecans & coconut before adding them into the pot. I will certainly make this again for family and friends , but will make sure there are more people to eat the finished product besides me !! A decadent treat for sure 🙂
The cake tasted great, but it was crumbly. I didn’t use enough spray on the cake pans but the parts that did come out in one piece were crumbly. I had to use a chocolate fudge recipe to hide the fact that it was pieced together. So it was a learning experiance, next time I will use tons of spray on the pan.
I made this cake and it was a huge hit! It is now a regular favorite in our family.
This was easy to make and oh so tasty. I had a hard time keeping my hubby away from the frosting.
EXCELLENT!!!
This cake has a wonderful flavor, but I found it to be much drier than the standard recipe that I’ve been using for nearly 30 years now. This might be due to the fact that I baked the cake in a 9-x-13 pan. The flavor is very good, but I think that I’ll stick with my recipe because it produces a cake that isn’t as dry. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
This cake is delicious!! It was very flavoursome and a little crumbly but not at all dry. Unfortunetly it only held its shape before it was cut but it still was so yummy!! My Family and i enjoyed it still slightly warm with a bit of cream and ice cream and all the kids loved it and i heard raving reviews by all the adults. Thanks so much for the fab recipe!! I must admit i couldnt find any german chocolate so i used italian (as suggested) and it was still super yummy!
I really like this cake but I don’t think you need to sift the cake flour. It has already been sifted and it made the cake super light and it didn’t hold it’s form after it was cut and placed on the plate. It wasn’t dry, just crumbly, but very tasty. It’s a keeper.
I confess i only used the icing part of the recipe, but its YUMMY. the only changes i made was to toast the pecans in some butter before adding to the frosting.. and i just threw in the whole bag of coconut. YUM YUM!
I made this for a club potluck and everyone loved it…little did I know that German Chocolate was everyone favorite , so that made me really nervous. Thankfully this cake was awesome. I couldnt find any German chocolate so I had to use Italian..I guess it tasted the same…but this recipe will certainly be added to my regular list of cakes…Thanks for submitting this one
This is my very first german chocolate cake. I made it for my boyfriend’s birthday. The cake was very flavorful, I think the evaporated milk lend it a rich milk flavor. It was on the dry side for a cake. But since I never had a german chocolate cake before, I wasn’t sure if that’s just the way they are. My boyfriend (his mom makes him a german chocolate cake every year) said it was almost as good as his mom’s. But he did agree that it was a little dry. The icing was delicious. I would definitely make it again.
OK. Divine is the one word I can come up for this wonderful recipe. My 14 year old son wanted a ver special birthday cake and this is the one we picked out. It was wonderful and my family went crazy for it. This is the real deal if you love german chocolate cake. The recipe is written perfectly and I love the fact it is someone Grandma’s recipe too! Thanks so much for sharing such a wonderful delight!! :o)