My husband isn’t fond of cake, so over the years, I’ve crafted a variety of special desserts for his birthday. However, I finally discovered a cake he truly loves! This entirely homemade German Chocolate Cake—featuring from-scratch cake, coconut frosting, and chocolate frosting—has become his annual birthday request.
Cake Ingredients:
1 3/4 cup Unbleached Flour
3/4 cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
2 cups Cane Sugar
1 1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
1 1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
1 tsp. Celtic Salt
2 Large Eggs
1 cup Buttermilk
1/2 cup Cooking Oil (Vegetable or Avacado Oil)
2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
1 cup boiling water
Cake Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Grease two 8-inch (or 9-inch) round cake pans. Lightly dust the pans with flour or place a parchment paper in cut to fit the bottom of the pan within the pan. This may help the cake come out of the pan more easily.
- In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- In a second mixing bowl, stir together the eggs, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla extract, mixing until well incorporated.
- Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, mixing to combine.
- Stir in the boiling water (this will cause the batter to be thin).
- Pour the batter evenly into the two pans.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes in the preheated oven. (A toothpick inserted should come out clean)
- Allow to cool for 5 minutes in the pan.
- After 5 minutes have passed, invert your cakes onto a wire rack and allowthem to cool completely.
Coconut Frosting Ingredients:
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Cane Sugar
1/2 cup Butter
3 Large Egg Yolks
3/4 cup Evaporated Milk
1 Tbsp. Vanilla Extract
1 cup shredded Sweet Coconut
1 cup chopped Pecans
Coconut Frosting Instructions:
- In a medium saucepan, add the brown sugar, cane sugar, butter, egg yolks, and evaporated milk. Over medium heat, stir to combine the ingredients bringing the mixture to a low boil.
- Once boiling, stir the mixture constantly for 3-5 minutes until the mixture starts to thicken.
- Remove from the stove and stir in the vanilla, coconut, and pecans.
- Allow to cool completely before adding to the cake.
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting Ingredients:
1/2 cup Butter
2/3 cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
3 cups Powdered Sugar
1/3 cup Evaporated Milk
1 1/2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting Instructions:
- Melt the butter in a small saucepan (or in a microwave).
- Stir in the cocoa powder until well blended.
- Alternately add the powdered sugar and the milk while beating to a spreadable consistency. (If you need to thin the frosting to meet your desired consistency, add a small amount of extra milk)
- Stir in the vanilla
CAKE ASSEMBLY:
- Place one cake round on your serving plate.
- Add a thin layer of the chocolate frosting to the cake round.
- Use half of the coconut frosting to create an even layer of coconut frosting (saving half of this frosting for the cake’s top). Leave 1/2 inch of space between the coconut frosting and the edge of the cake all the way around.
- Stack with the second cake round.
- Frost the entire cake with the chocolate frosting.
- Spoon the remaining coconut frosting on the top of the cake.
- Decorate with a piping bag if you wish around the edges.