For a fellow potter's b-day. So who has the BEST recipe?

Haven't made one before, but am getting much better at baking these days (my potter posse gobbled up my pistachio stuffed bread today) so I would love to read some tips.

Cake flour? Unsweetened coconut or sweet? What's the best cocoa powder? Are my spring-form pans suitable for this task? Can I make a tiered cake with the two layers varying in size?

In my opinion, the original is best.

http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/original-bakers-germans-sweet-chocolate-cake-51120.aspx

Edit to add frosting recipe:

http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/coconut-pecan-filling-frosting-51053.aspx



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/09/2016 07:48PM by Devoted Exmo.

That's exactly like my dear mom used to make it and it without equal!

RB

Many years ago, I lived in a cooperative community where baking German chocolate cakes was a delightfully frequent occurrence. We tried as many different recipes as we could find. The upshot was that the recipe on the Baker's chocolate wrapping, almost exactly as it was written, was the overall favorite.

Here's a link to it. *(We made one alteration --- we made an extra half recipe of the topping.)

http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/original-bakers-germans-sweet-chocolate-cake-51120.aspx

I can't imagine why you couldn't make the layers different sizes. Except that you would have less topping per serving, due to the diminishing upper layers....

Good point about making extra frosting. The frosting recipe as is, is a bit skimpy. You'll be glad you made extra.

I want to make varying size of tiers just to be fancy. :) I keep thinking of making some kind of coconut or pecan based fancy decoration too, but that might be pushing it.

It's pretty slumpy when warm and still a little slumpy after cooling. I doubt it will be very cooperative for decorating.

But if I made pecan or coconut flowers to place on the side of the cake, after it cooled, that might work? I'm just dreaming of ideas here...

On top would probably work but not on the sides. Pecan frosting doesn't do well on the sides of the cake. You could always use a regular chocolate frosting for the sides.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/09/2016 08:08PM by Devoted Exmo.

This is very good info. I rarely make cakes, can be terribly impatient about decoration, and appreciate all the input here.

My take-away is a cake made with the original recipe, with barely any kind of extras, definitely none on the sides.

Yep. There's a reason it's a favorite just the way it is.

avoid alkali or "Dutch" processed cocoa. Belgian is always best, but may not be available or is too expensive.

pecans, not walnuts.

use a cake recipe with sour cream.

Sweetened coconut.

I like Pressley's point about the frosting.

The frosting is too heavy to stick to the sides (or I just can't frost well.)

Wish I could crash the party...

Try a WWII choc. cake recipe instead: No eggs or milk, uses Hershey's powdered choc., and no lard. (Lard and eggs were rationed in those days.) All ingredients stirred together in one oblong cooking pan. A very moist and solid cake (not dry, and "fluffy", like "boxed" cakes turn out).

My family still uses this (my) recipe after all these years, as it is easy to put together, can be mixed in one oblong pan, and cooked in the same pan. Delicious. (So, less dirty dishes to clean up afterwards.)

I don't take credit for this recipe, as it was given me by an Aunt, and she copied it from a So. Calif. Railroad Co. WWII cooking booklet. A Big Hit in those rationing days.

O/T from O/T:

Some neighbors' kids raise money for temple trips by selling home-baked loaves of banana bread. I love banana bread, but I hate the temple and don't want to encourage people going.

What to do?

I buy lots of loaves of banana bread, of course. Let those kids figure out the temple scam on their own. Nothing gets between me and my banana bread, not even ethics.

(I'd draw the line at, say, beating my wife to get some banana bread. Beating my wife for banana bread seems wrong. Certainly for only one or two loaves.)

It will certainly never match up to my mother's, who is a baking genius in her own right. I can certainly understand the obsession with it. My childhood friends always begged for a taste of my mother's goods at lunch while I envied their store bought brownies and fruit snacks.
Now all I want to do is make delectable home-baked goods for my friends and clients to show my care for them. :)

Feel free to veer off topic, as I have some answers to my query!

My mother was a rotten ass cook, but she did make uh-MAZING banana bread. I hope her recipe is in a box I will find one day.

I'm in line with the traditionalists. This is an old-school crowd pleaser. One of the things people like about it is the familiarity. I wouldn't mess with tiers and all. There are plenty of other opportunities for experimenting, but if the cake was requested, the requester probably wants the expected. You can't go wrong if you stick with a classic.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/09/2016 08:55PM by Pista.

There used to.be a recipe on the package of German brand chocolate which is available with baking supplies. I havent bought it for a while, but I assume it is still there. I always used regular flour. It always turned out and I am not great at from scratch cakes. Butter and Margarine are interchangeable but butter would probably taste better.

Whatever you do, don't take short cuts, don't substitute ingredients,Use REAL butter, this isn't the time to cut calories, and be meticulous about measuring and following directions.CAKE flour isn't the same as regular flour. It makes your cake much lighter. That's how to get good baked goods.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/german-chocolate-cake-make-my-cake-recipe.html#communityReviews

This is pretty much the recipe I use. Note that you need 2" high 9" pans, OR 3 pans. If you use a standard 9" pan your batter will overflow. A 2" high pan will solve that problem. The right equipment is the difference between success and failure.

Be sure to use greased parchment on the bottom of your pans. Your cake will come out in on piece instead of several.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/09/2016 11:50PM by madalice.

http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/original-bakers-germans-sweet-chocolate-cake-51120.aspx

Pretty sure that this is the recipe I used. It never failed me and I am not that vreat a baker.If I can do it,you can. L

I agree with madalice about the greased parchment paper. German chocolate seems to me to be especially prone to break into multiple pieces. (Based on observation, not real experience.)


I've always thought my problems with layer cakes of any kind revolve around my impatience and my refusal to let them cool properly.

Use a sheet cake pan. It will work as well and you wont have to worry about it breaking.

I don't have any recipes for German Chocolate cake, but here's a couple one of which is for the "Ultimate Chocolate Cake," and the other is "Best-Ever Chocolate Cake." You might get some ideas from these.

http://www.food.com/recipe/ultimate-chocolate-cake-16944

http://www.biggerbolderbaking.com/best-ever-chocolate-cake/

And then, What is German Chocolate signify?

"What is German Chocolate?

When you hear of a German chocolate cake, your first thought is that Germany is where the cake originated – hence the name. This is one of those food items where the name is a bit deceiving, however. German chocolate cake gets its name from an ingredient it uses: German’s Sweet Chocolate. This chocolate was originated by the Baker’s Chocolate Company (now a subsidiary of Kraft Foods) in the mid 1850s and was named after it’s creator, Sam German. The story of the chocolate says that a misprint in a newspaper that included the recipe for the first German Chocolate Cake simply left out the “s” on the name, and this is why the chocolate is often known simply as “German.” The chocolate is similar to a semisweet chocolate, but has a higher sugar content to it. This means that recipes that use it tend to be a little bit sweeter than ones that don’t.

If you’re making a recipe that calls for German’s chocolate, or German chocolate, don’t worry if you can’t find it. You can substitute semisweet chocolate and still have a great finished product."

http://bakingbites.com/2010/01/what-is-german-chocolate/

Much like the OP suggesting a sheet pan, this can not be emphasized enough.

The traditional herman chocolate coconut frosting is miserable to apply to a layer cake. If you are not experienced in this, do not attempt for a cake you need to present. You will end up with a german chocolate lump rather than a german chocolate cake. In the process, you will probably destroy most of the cake.

Take the easy route and make a sheet cake.

In my experience, the German chocolate layer cake has the pecan frosting between layers and on top. Chocolate frosting is on the sides of the cake.

Drooling now....

We have never had any particular trouble applying the frosting to the cake*. Mainly because it goes >only< on the tops of each layer, not on the sides. Traditionally, there is no frosting on the sides for this recipe.

*If you make the extra half batch of topping, it is easy, delicious, and works out perfectly.

Agree. Either leave the sides unfrosted or frost with chocolate frosting. However, if you are a novice, a sheet cake is easier. You wont break it getting it out of the pan for starts. Just be sure the pan is the right size. I would recommend making a cake for yourself as practice before the big day.

I'm so happy reading these posts.

I do indeed suck at frosting a cake, but last time I did a German chocolate I really thought I was losing my mind trying to frost the bitch. I'm glad I'm not alone.

And now I really want a slice.

http://www.thekitchn.com/favorite-kitchen-tool-offset-s-97374

The offset spatula is a tool that I wouldn't want to live without. They come in all sizes, but I like the small one the best. You can spread cake batter like a pro. It's great for getting the frosting applied smooth and even without struggle. They also work great for sandwich spreads, pizza sauces, and smoothing out any batter in a pan. It's a little tool that I cannot live without.It makes frosting the side of a cake so much easier.

Also use them to spread acrylic paint on my paintings. Perfection.

use a decent chocolate brand (not american)

Okay RfM peeps, I dug out the my wife's family cookbook. This thing is full of amazing recipes. Here is THE recipe for an AMAZING German chocolate cake made by her Aunt Helen.

Trust the fat guy - I know what I'm talking about.


The .pdf file is a bit large about (1.2mb), but it is sooooo worth it.

http://roadkilldelight.com/NOM/GCCrecipe.pdf



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/11/2016 11:52AM by Bite Me.

For a really good cake one must wear a baker's hat that has been in one or morenprayer circles.

You're charged with making a German chocolate cake?

Try to bargain it down to disorderly conduct. Insist on diversion rather than probation.

you bake it in a kiln and then take it out and throw it into a steel bucket filled with straw to give it a pretty carbon sheen.

Haha, our pottery master does bake food in the kilns! It only takes about 30 minutes to do a full sized ham in one of the electric ones. :) I wouldn't try it with a cake, tho'.

My mother was a practiced home baker.

I was also blessed with a sibling born on my 1st birthday. As a youth there was, at times, some angst around sharing one's birthday with a sib. My mother worked diligently to make the day special and individualized for both of us.

Now the cake part of the story.

My favorite cake was German Chocolate, it was always prepared that day and frequently in layer cake style. Multiple posters have already detailed the outer edge issue and common solution - no frosting or a more traditional chocolate, powdered sugar based icing.

But slicing the layer cake could be problematic. So not only were the layers carefully staked with toothpicks to prevent shifting, Mom always gave the pecans a very careful chop to size the nuts down to about 1/4 inch pieces. It provided less damage to the cake itself from attempting to slice through a pecan half. For presentation and the satisfying crunch of biting into a pecan half she would hand layer halves on the top with slicing gaps between the halves in a decorative pie chart pattern.

Now for the Sib part of the story.

My younger sibling loved Divinity candy. Mom always made both that day. Her logic was on point. The two recipes are meant for each other. Divinity uses only egg whites, Coconut Pecan Frosting only egg yokes. In 1960's large Mormon families the homemaker had to be economical with the food budget. Mom certainly met frugal with style and grace.

Thanks for lifting a fond memory to the surface.