Mom's German Chocolate Cake

I really enjoy making cakes! However, as you can guess, a girl just doesn't need to be eating whole cakes by herself and even sharing with 4 other roommates leaves me eating more cake than is good for me. So... I don't get to make them that often. However, we do birthday parties at Coleson Foods and occasionally I get to make the cake for those. My all-time favorite work memory involved such a cake back in August. August is a shared birthday month for me and 3 other co-workers and I volunteered to make my favorite carrot cake. I did the whole thing from scratch, frosting and all and brought it in to work the following morning. However, I made one fatal error. I carried the tupperware cake carrier by the handle! I know, I know... One wouldn't think that this would be such an incredible mistake since handles are typically made for carrying. But right after I passed through the front door of our office at 6:45am, the top came loose and dumped my beautiful cake all over the floor. I shrieked which brought my supervisor, Steve, and our IT guy, Nathanael (who also get here as insanely early as I do) running. Nathanael took one look at the pile 'o cake and said, "I'm getting the forks!". He dashed off to the kitchen for 3 forks and Steve, he and I sat in a circle and ate my carrot cake off of the floor! What was tragic turned incredibly comical and we still laugh over that moment.


(By the time this photo was taken, we had already scooped most of it back onto the offending carrier...)

Skip forward several months... I have learned my lesson about cake carriers and I now faithfully carry from the bottom! Henceforth, the German Chocolate Cake I made last night was safely deposited in our office kitchen this morning and is dutifully awaiting our party at noon, as we speak. This was my dad's favorite birthday cake while I was growing up and I have not had it in years. I have fond memories of celebrating him with it though, so I wanted to share the recipe with you.

Mom's German Chocolate Cake

CAKE
4oz Baker's Sweet German baking chocolate
1/2 c. milk
1 c. butter
2 c. sugar
4 eggs (yolks and whites separated)
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/4 c. flour
1 sm. instant chocolate pudding
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. buttermilk

Melt chocolate in milk without boiling the milk. Cool. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add yolks one at a time, beating well after each. Blend in vanilla and chocolate. Sift together flour, pudding, soda & salt. Add this mixture into the batter alternately with the buttermilk, beating after each addition until smooth. Beat egg whites until stiff. Fold into batter. Pour into 3 greased & floured 9-inch cake tins. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. Cool. Frost.

FROSTING
12 oz evaporated milk
3/4 c. sugar
3/4 c. brown sugar
4 egg yolks
3/4 c. butter
1 c. chopped pecans
2 c. shredded coconut
2 tsp. vanilla

In a pot, combine milk, sugars, egg yolks and butter. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened, about 12 minutes. Add pecans, coconut and vanilla. Cool.

This makes enough frosting to spread between the layers of the cakes and on top, but not to go around the sides. It is pretty rich so just between the layers was sufficient for me. But if you want to frost around the sides, you will need to increase the quantities.

(Also, this is the CA version of the recipe. To account for our crazy altitude here in CO, I increased the milk in the cake batter by 2T, increased the flour by 3T, decreased the baking soda to 3/4 tsp, decreased the sugar to 1 2/3 c. and increased the baking time by 10 minutes. I haven't eaten the cake yet so I can't confirm for certain that this worked, but the layers didn't "fall" in the centers, so I think these were appropriate adjustments)

Enjoy !