1946-1962 Cake #10

German Chocolate Cake

The German Chocolate Cake is often inaccurately believed to have originated in Germany. Truthfully, in 1852 an Englishman, named Sam German, created German's Sweet Chocolate, which is used in the cake. The emergence of this highly popular cake seems to have occurred in 1956. A newspaper columnist, in Texas, shared the recipe that her daughter from Oklahoma had shared with her. By the end of the year, the cake appeared at the Texas State Fair, was printed in newspapers across the state, and was being taught by home demonstration agents. The German chocolate company noticed their sales jumped by 73% when the recipe was printed in the Dallas paper. They then sent the recipe to food editor's across the country and by the next year they had the recipe printed on the back of the chocolate box. Older versions of this cake existed in Wisconsin and Texas but the recipe that took off, used the filling to top the cake instead of adding an icing to the cake.

My Experience:

I had been looking forward to making this cake since it is so well known. The cake does take around 3 hours from start to finish so it is important to carve out the time to not feel rushed. The directions are straightforward and not too difficult to follow. Many dishes are used to complete this cake so the clean up takes awhile as well. Egg whites are used to make this cake light and fluffy which adds an extra step, but the cake ends up with a really nice texture.

This was the first time that I found a slight mistake in this book. The recipe never tells you when to add the melted chocolate, which is not a big deal, but I reread it 3 times and could not find an answer. I just added it in before the egg whites because it made the most sense to me. Making the filling was fun because all I had to do was put a bunch of yummy stuff together on the stove and when it was gooey stir in some coconut and pecans. I was happy with how this cake turned out. All of the elements seemed right and the neighbors and family enjoyed it.

*I included the recipe below because I have been asked before for a German Chocolate Cake recipe and I feel like this is the one I would recommend.*

Neighbors Comments:

"OMG! Insane how amazing this cake is."

"This is the most amazing German Chocolate Cake I've ever tasted!"