A From-Scratch Recipe for German Chocolate Cake!
I have been getting requests for a Homemade German Chocolate Cake for over a year now. Although I LOVE giving you all what you want, I just simply couldn’t rush this one! I didn’t want to give you the usual German chocolate cake recipe because, in all honesty, I don’t care for them. I hate those ugly dry German cakes. You know, the kind that just look like a stack of hay? I know you know what I’m talking about, so don’t try to play me 😛 . I like those old school chocolatey German Chocolate Cakes. The kind that your grandma would make every holiday with the rich chocolate frosting on the sides. The kind of German Chocolate Cake that you just can’t buy from a store! Well in this post I’m going to show you how to make one
When I started comparing German Chocolate Cake recipes, it was so frustrating. Although a lot of them were so different, they kept coming out the same: boring, dry and nothing I’d brag about. A few months ago, I found a recipe that was actually decent, but it still had room for improvements. I quickly worked on the recipe (not quick enough because this was suppose to be up before Thanksgiving!) and turned it into something magical. This cake is simply amazing! It comes out so light, fluffy and moist – and the frostings are downright sinful!
Moist and Fluffy German Chocolate Cake with Two Frostings: Coconut Pecan & Creamy Dark Chocolate
Learn how to make German Chocolate Cake from Scratch with my step-by-step video!
Homemade German Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake
- 2 cups 4 tbsp of cake flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 oz semi sweet chocolate chopped
- 2 oz unsweetened chocolate chopped
- 1/3 cup hot black coffee
- 4 large eggs separate & at room temperature
- 16 tbsp of unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 cup buttermilk at room temperature
Coconut Pecan Frosting
- 3 egg yolks
- 1 cup sugar
- 6 tbsp butter
- 1 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/4 cup chopped pecans toasted
- 1 cups sweetened shredded coconut toasted
Dark Chocolate Frosting
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature
- 8 oz semi sweet chocolate
- 1 cup heavy cream hot
- 2 tbsp corn syrup
Instructions
- In a large bowl add 1 1/2 cup of sugar, 4 egg yolks, 16 tbsp of butter (at room temperature), 2 tsp vanilla extract, and buttermilk. Mix until the ingredients are nice and creamy.
- In a separate bowl, add the cake flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Sift or stir the ingredients together, until well incorporated.
- Gradually add the dry ingredients in with the wet, while using a handheld mixer to mix in the ingredients. Once the cake batter is nice and creamy, set the bowl to the side.
- Place 2 oz of semi sweet chocolate and 2 oz of unsweetened chocolate into a bowl, then pour 1/3 cup of hot coffee over the chocolate. Let it stand for a couple minutes, then mix until everything is nice and creamy, and let it cool down until it's luke warm.
- Once the chocolate cools down, add it into the cake batter, and mix it in thoroughly.
- Next, grab the bowl of egg whites, and use a handheld mixer to beat/mix them until they are nice and fluffy.
- Add the fluffy egg whites to the cake batter, and fold it in until everything in the batter is well combined
- You will need two 9" cake pans. Spray each pan with baking spray, then pour the cake batter into the pans. Each pan should be full up to 1 inch of the pan.
- Bake the cakes on 350 F, for 25-30 minutes each.
- Remove from the oven, and place the cake on a cooling rack
Coconut Pecan Filling/Frosting:
- Place 3 eggs yolks, 1 1/2 cup cream, 1 tsp salt, 1 cup sugar, and 6 tbsp butter (melted or softened) into a pan. Mix everything until well combined, then pour it into a pan, and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes.
- In a separate pan, toast the coconut, then the pecans. I toasted the pecans for about 5 minutes over medium heat, and the coconut flakes over medium for about 3 minutes.
- Once the custard has reached the 10 minute mark, toss in the coconut and pecans. Fold in the ingredients until everything is well combined, then cook for another 5 minutes, and remove from the heat.
- Let the filling/frosting cool completely
Dark Chocolate Frosting:
- Place 8 oz of semi chocolate and 3 tbsp of softened butter into a bowl.
- Place 1 cup cream into a small pot, and bring it to a boil.
- Once the cream starts to boil, remove it from the stovetop, then pour it over the chocolate and butter.
- Mix the chocolate mixture until everything is nice and smooth, then pour in the corn syrup, and stir.
- Cover and place the bowl in the freezer for about 10 minutes.
To Assemble the Cake:
- Place one of the cakes on the bottom.
- Take half of the coconut pecan frosting, and layer it on top of the cake.
- Place the second cake on top of the coconut pecan frosting, then layer the remaining coconut pecan frosting on top.
- Add the Dark Chocolate frosting to the sides of the cake. Smooth it out as much as possible.
- Let the cake sit for about 20 minutes before serving.
- ENJOY!
Let me know how you enjoyed this recipe. Tag me on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest, subscribe to I Heart Recipes on YouTube, and check out my brand new cookbook, Super Soul Food with Cousin Rosie, loaded with many recipes you can’t find anywhere else.
If you enjoyed my homemade German Chocolate Cake, check out these recipes as well!
What is heavy cream? I’m from Chicago Illinois is there another name for it.
Heavy Cream is Cream…
Thank you, I hope u put all your recipes in some type of book form ,so we can have have them forever or when you updated them with something new.
Hi Rosie, I’m a pineapple coconut cake person , I dont like a whole lot of white icing just a little , I perfer the pineapple & coconut s.
I’ll try thd German chocolate I love it also .
thanks, juanita
Girl the heck if you ain’t the best cake designer! That cake is beautiful! I like the idea of putting chocolate frosting on the sides instead of the pecan frosting. Looking forward to giving this a try!
How much corn syrup to add?
2 tbsp of corn syrup
Do We Have To Add Corn Syrup Or Is It Optional ???
Yes, add the corn syrup.
Rosie, Rosie, Rosie…I made this cake on Monday for a gentleman at work…He said to me, “OMG, how do you do that? That cake is incredible!” Thank you for this recipe and the video which makes it foolproof. I will be trying plenty more of your recipes. I love the fact that you do all the hard work and we get to copy and reap the benefits. Cudos to you.
AWESOME!! Glad that you liked the recipe!
Great work! I love german chocolate cake, but hate the nuts. My nana used to omit them. If I omit them in this recipe would I have to use extra coconut to keep the consistency?
Hi there! Definitely, just use more coconut 😀
I love to try your cake ,I cannot fine sweetened coconut.any alternative.I cannot find semi-sweet chovolate., any suggestion.thank you
I don’t have any suggestion for coconut alternative. Sorry 🙁
Hi ms. Rosie
I cant find unsweetened chocolate bar.. can i subsitute it to natural unsweetened cocoa powder? Im Scared that it wont turn out as good as yours. Or maybe just double the semi-sweet?
The unsweetened chocolate bar is in the baking isle.
Rosie, this is EXACTLY what I was looking for with the chocolate on the side. Thank you! German chocolate is my husband’s favorite cake and I’ll be making this for him Monday for his birthday, (yes, his born day is the day after Christmas). I’ll leave a review after I make it, but somehow I know it’s going to be fabulous!
In your recipe it says 6 tablespoons of butter for the coconut pecan frosting but in the video it looks like you only use 2 tablespoons not 6 which one is it I don’t want to mess up
The written ingredients. My videos are edited. Always go by the written ingredients hun.
Thank you!
Could I substitute the butter with oil?
For best results, stick with the listed recipe 🙂
And use unsweetened cocoa instead of the chocolate bars?
Oh, sorry, one more thing, the cake flour, could substitute with all purpose flour, no?yes?
I made the German Chocolate and my family loved it. There was nothing left!! Thank you for posting this.
Thank YOU for trying my recipe!
This was THEE BEST recipe for this cake EVER!! Made it for my husband last year for his born day, (the day after Christmas), and I will be doing it again this year as a surprise. Thank you so much Rosie!
Thank you for trying my recipe Nikki!
I’m not a chef, but a pretty good home cook. I really think having great recipes is the start and I love all of yours. I just watched you make the german chocolate cake and can’t wait to try it. I love the concept of two different types of icings.
Hi Reggie! Thanks for coming by!
Absolutely delicious, the only thing is to note that in the directions it reads 1/2 tsp of salt but futher down in the recipe itself it reads 1 tsp salt. I put 1 tsp before I realized that. But it didn’t matter because the coconut was so sweet. This will be my go to recipe from now on. Love it.
12/22/2019
ALL I CAN SAY IS BOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! this was my first time making this cake. I followed directions/instruction “I did not deviate! omg!!!!!!!!!!!! this was my venture cake for this xmas… I nailed it! what! omg!! thank you! thank you! I called my or one of my fav aunt’s that kills this cake. when I told her, she said okay EXCELLENT! She is retiring!!! I let her sample it, w a few friends.. response: that’s some ole school/sitting at grandma’s/ mom’s kitchen table cake right there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THANK U ROSIE!!!!! HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM MICHIGAN…..