The BEST German Chocolate Cake Recipe- homemade, dark chocolate moist cake, incredible chocolate frosting, and the BEST German Chocolate Cake Frosting EVER. You will not want any cake ever again!
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German Chocolate Cake Recipe
Recently I shared my Homemade Chocolate Cake Recipe and after making that I thought it’d be fun to make this beauty!
I love my German Chocolate Cake frosting that I used on my German Chocolate Cookies, and I figured I have a great chocolate frosting recipe too, so I might as well try to make a German Chocolate Cake- and boy I was not disappointed.
This homemade German Chocolate Cake is so moist and delicious and is really a show stopper.
Alright let's make this cake!
How do you make German Chocolate Cake from scratch?
- First- make your coconut-pecan frosting (aka German Chocolate Cake frosting). This needs time to cool before you use it on the cake so it’s best to make it first.
- Make your cake- this cake is a combination of whipping butter, sugar, and eggs on high so you get a fluffy/airy batter, and folding in the dry ingredients and the chocolate ingredients in order to keep the batter fluffy.
- Allow your cake to cool then make your Chocolate Buttercream.
- Assemble your cake, frost with a crumb coat, then a final coat, press on toasted coconut, add the drip, then add the top decorations and extra coconut/pecan frosting.
- Enjoy!
Batter should be light and airy both after whipping the eggs in and folding in the flour and buttermilk mixture!
What is the difference between chocolate cake and German chocolate cake?
Chocolate cake is a combination of chocolate cake paired with any delicious frosting. German Chocolate Cake is a chocolate cake paired with a delicious coconut pecan frosting, that is sweet and slightly caramelly in flavor.
How long is German Chocolate Cake Good For?
I recommend refrigerating the cake for up to 3 days. Any exposed caked pieces/cut pieces should be stored in an airtight container or wrapped with saran wrap.
Can I make this cake bigger?
Absolutely! If you want a larger cake you can double the recipe following my homemade chocolate cake recipe. Double the chocolate frosting, coconut pecan frosting, and drip recipe too.
I use three 6 in cake pans for this cake but you can also use two 9-inch cake pans, just make sure to check the cakes for doneness around the 20-minute mark.
How to add the filling to the cake layers?
Pipe a rim of chocolate frosting around the cake to act as a dam for coconut pecan frosting. Then fill the center with the frosting and stack the next layer on top.
Chocolate Ganache Tips
- Test the ganache on the side of a bowl to make sure you have the right consistency for a pretty drip.
- If your ganache is too hot or too thin it will run all the to the bottom of bowl when you test it.
- Allow the ganache to cool more then test again. If it’s still too runny add a few more chocolate chips to the ganache, reheat for a little (but make sure you reheat it in a microwave safe bowl), then allow it to cool and try the test again. This will thicken the drip.
- If the ganache cools too much it will be too thick and will form very short drips or won’t spread at all. Simply reheat the ganache in a microwave safe dish, allow it to cool a bit, and then test the drip.
- If the ganache is just too thick even though it’s still warm, just mix in a little more heavy cream, start with 1 tbs, stir, test the drip and repeat until you get the desired drip consistency.
If you want to see another gorgeous drip cake check out my Pink and Gold Cake I made for a friend’s baby shower!
Crumb Coat Vs Final Coat with Toasted Pecans Pressed onto the side
How to make German Chocolate Cake Frosting:
- Toast coconut and pecans and set aside (this is optional but I recommend it! Toasting gives so much depth of flavor!)
- In a saucepan combine egg yolks, brown sugar, sweetened condensed milk, and vanilla.
- Place over medium low heat and add butter.
- Stir, scraping the sides and bottom until boiling. Then continue stirring for 1 minute.
- Remove from heat and stir in the toasted pecans and coconut.
- Allow to cool before using as frosting or filling.
I used a 6b tip for the top decorations
Sweetened Condensed Milk vs Evaporated Milk for German Chocolate Cake Frosting?
Most recipes for German Chocolate Cake Frosting use evaporated milk but I much prefer the taste of using sweetened condensed milk.
Sweetened Condensed Milk adds a caramel flavor to the frosting and a little more sweetness. You also don’t need to boil the frosting for nearly as long as if you were using evaporated milk (using evaporated milk takes 5-10 minutes to get it to reduce!)
This is seriously one of the best cakes ever- let alone of the best German Chocolate Cakes!
If you like this recipe make sure to check out:
- Homemade Brownies
- Easy Chocolate Cake Pops
- Red Velvet Cookies
- Best Chewy Chocolate Cookies
- S’mores Stuffed Cookies
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The BEST German Chocolate Cake Recipe
The BEST German Chocolate Cake Recipe- homemade, dark chocolate moist cake, incredible chocolate frosting, and the BEST German Chocolate Cake Frosting EVER. You will not want any cake ever again!
Equipment
- Additional items used for decorating:
- 6in cake board
- Piping Bags
- Piping Tip- I used a 6b
- Bench Scraper- for smoothing the sides
- Small offset Spatula- for getting a nice edge on top
- Cake Decorating Stand (turntable)
- Squeeze bottle- for the drip
Ingredients
German Chocolate Cake Frosting
- 3 egg yolks
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 can sweetened condensed milk 14oz
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup pecans finely chopped
- 3 cups sweetened shredded coconut 2 cups for frosting 1 cup for decorating
Best Chocolate Cake
- 1 ¼ cup sugar
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- ½ teaspoon instant espresso
- ⅓ cup boiling water
- ⅓ cup special dark cocoa powder
- ½ cup buttermilk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ⅓ cup cake flour
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 extra-large eggs
- 1 extra-large yolk
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
Chocolate Frosting- make 2 batches of this!
- ½ cup cold butter cut into chunks
- ½ teaspoon espresso powder optional
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- Pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 5 cups powdered sugar
- ¾ cups heavy whipping cream
Chocolate Ganache
- 1 cup chocolate chips
- ½ cup heavy whipping cream
Instructions
How to make German Chocolate Frosting/Coconut Pecan Frosting:
- Place coconut in a large skillet and cook over medium low heat. Stir frequently until coconut is golden brown. Remove from skillet and place 1 cup in a small bowl and 2 cups in separate bowl. The 1 cup will be used when you decorate the cake so set that aside for a while.
- In same skillet place chopped pecans and heat over medium heat, stirring intermittently. Heat until browned and fragrant. Remove from skillet and set aside.
- In a medium sized saucepan add the yolks, sugar, sweetened condensed milk, and vanilla and stir until combined.
- Move sauce pan to stove, add butter and heat over medium-low.
- Bring mixture to a low boil, stirring constantly, and then once boiling continue to stir for one more minute, until the mixture is thick. Remove from heat and stir in the 2 cups toasted coconut and the toasted pecans.
- Allow frosting to cool completely before frosting /filling your cake.
How to make German chocolate cake from scratch:
- Preheat oven to Preheat oven to 350°F and move the an oven rack to the second to the lowest position. Grease three 6 inch round cake pans.
- Using a stand mixer, mix sugar and butter until fluffy. About 5 minutes.
- While mixing the butter and sugar microwave water for 30 seconds then add espresso to it, stirring until dissolved.
- Whisk cocoa powder, then buttermilk and vanilla into water/espresso mixture.
- In a separate bowl sift flour, baking soda and salt together.
- Once butter and sugar are lighter color and fully mixed, add each egg and the yolk, one at a time, into the butter mixture, letting each one fully mix into the batter before adding the next. Add in oil and mix until fully combined. Then beat mixture on medium high speed for a minute- the mixture will be light and fluffy.
- Fold in ½ of the flour and then fold in ½ of the buttermilk mixture to the batter. Then fold in remaining flour and then remaining buttermilk mixture.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Try baking the cakes on the same rack, or baking them one at a time. This will ensure even baking.
- Once the cakes are done let them cool completely before decorating.
How to make the best chocolate frosting:
- In a stand-up mixer whip your butter until light and fluffy.
- Mix in cocoa powder and salt. Alternate stirring in the powdered sugar and heavy cream in increments. I like to do 1 cup powdered sugar, 1 splash of heavy cream, stir and repeat.
- Stir in vanilla.
- Make sure to make 2 batches of this recipe!
Chocolate Ganache
- Wait to make this until you are on step 7 of the cake assembly.
- Microwave heavy cream and chocolate chip for 30 seconds, stir, repeat until melted and smooth. Usually take only 30-60 seconds.
- Pour into a squeeze bottle and allow to cool.
Assembling the cake:
- Level the cakes if needed.
- Place bottom cake layer on a 6-inch cake board, using a little frosting on the bottom of the cake to stick it to the board. Place on the cake stand.
- Fill piping bag with frosting and cut the tip off to for a medium/large hole (no need for a piping tip for this bag). Pipe a ring of frosting around the top rim of the first layer to create a dam. Then add a nice layer of coconut pecan frosting to the top of the first layer, spreading it into a nice even layer out to the edges of the chocolate frosting ring.
- Place the second cake layer on top and repeat with the chocolate and coconut pecan frosting.
- Place the third cake layer upside down on top of the second layer. Then either using your piping bag filled with frosting or just a spatula, frost the entire cake in a thin layer of frosting- this is the crumb coat. Try to smooth out the sides and get a nice flat top and sharp edges using your bench scraper and offset spatula, then refrigerate for 10 minutes. You want the frosting to be firmed up a little and not sticky before adding the final coat.
- Once your crumb coat has set up frost the cake with the final coat. Use your bench scraper and off set spatula to get really nice and smooth sides and edges. Then gently press the toasted coconut that you set aside when making the coconut pecan frosting around the bottom third of the cake, reserving a little for a step later on.
- Refrigerate the cake again for another 10 minutes to allow the final coat to set up. Now is the time to make the ganache. Once your ganache is smooth, pour into the squeeze bottle and allow it to cool until it is just warm. Test out the drip on the side of a bowl. You want the drip to be thick but still run a few inches before it stops and hardens. See notes on how fix a ganache that is too runny or too thick.
- Starting on the top edge of the cake, squeeze a little ganache on to the top allowing it to spill over the edge creating a drip, spin the cake a little, squeeze a little more to create another drip and repeat until you have created a nice border drips all around the cake. Then add ganache to the very top/center of the cake. Spread this out (I like to use the offset spatula to do this) to the edges to where it meets up with border. Refrigerate the cake for another 10 minutes, or until the ganache sets up.
- Once the ganache is set up pipe on decorative border on the top of the cake using a piping bag, piping tip (I used the 6b tip) and chocolate frosting. Then add more coconut pecan filling to the top of the cake and sprinkle with remaining toasted pecans.
- Enjoy!
Notes
Lisa’s Tips
*If you want a larger cake you can double the recipe following my homemade chocolate cake recipe. Double the chocolate, coconut pecan frosting, and drip recipe too. *I use three 6 in cake pans for this cake but you can also use two 9 inch cake pans, just make sure to check the cakes for doneness around the 20 minute mark.Cake
- I like to grease my cake pans with Baker’s Joy Flour Spray; you can find this in the baking isle near other spray oils like Pam.
Chocolate Frosting
- You will probably have a little extra frosting when you are done decorating the cake.
- To get the air bubbles out of the frosting so it is easier to work with and has a smoother finish, once you are done making the frosting use a large wooden spoon to hand beat the frosting for a minute or so. This help get the air bubbles out of the frosting while keeping it fluffy. Also- you will notice I forgot to do this step if you look closely at the pictures. Do as I say not as I do!
German Chocolate Frosting
- You will have leftover filling/frosting from this recipe- about ⅓rd of the batch. Go make some of my German Chocolate Cookies to use it up!
Chocolate Ganache
- If your ganache is too hot or too thin it will run all the to the bottom of the bowl when you test it.
- Allow the ganache to cool more then test again. If it’s still too runny add a few more chocolate chips to the ganache, reheat for a little (but make sure you reheat it in a microwave safe bowl), then allow it to cool and try the test again.
- If the ganache cools too much it will be too thick and will form very short drips or won’t spread at all. Simply reheat the ganache in a microwave safe dish, allow it to cool a bit, and then test the drip.
- If the ganache is just too thick even though it’s still warm, just mix in a little more heavy cream, start with 1 tbs, stir, test the drip and repeat until you get the desired drip consistency.
Decorating
- I like to tape the cake board to the cake stand to keep it from moving around while decorating. The tape is easily removed when you are done decorating.
- I place the last layer upside down to get a nice flat top and a well-defined edge.
Nutrition
Calories: 983kcalCarbohydrates: 121gProtein: 8gFat: 56gSaturated Fat: 34gCholesterol: 190mgSodium: 340mgPotassium: 286mgFiber: 4gSugar: 103gVitamin A: 1238IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 89mgIron: 2mg
Did you make this recipe?Tag me on Instagram at @atablefullofjoy
Katherine Rowland
Traditionally and historically, German Chocolate cake is not actually any chocolate cake, paired with the coconut-pecan frosting. It must be made with German’s chocolate (named for Samuel German). It is a lighter chocolate cake. With time, the apostrophe s was dropped, and people started calling it German Chocolate Cake. A lot of folks thought the recipe came from the country of Germany. Not so. Very American cake.
Lisa
That's fascinating! Thanks for sharing!
Jessi
Do you think there’s any change for high altitude? I’m at 8,700 ft.
Lisa
Great question- I am 3,900 ft and this has turned out great for me. Definitely bake the cake on the 2nd to lowest rack position. As far as changing the ingredients to adapt for higher altitudes I haven't tried. People have made my cake at lower altitudes with no problems- but I'm not sure about higher. Let me know if you try it- I'd love to hear how it went!
Leana Evans
Can I freeze the cake? I would like to make one to send to my aunt.
Lisa
Hey! You can freeze it before frosting just fine. Just wrap each layer in seran wrap and then put in a zip loc baggie. If you want to freeze a slice of cake I would put the entire slice in a freezer safe container. If you can wrap the slice in seran wrap that might help the cut sides stay moist. Are you mailing the cake? I've never frozen the entire cake all assembled but I would still try to wrap it in seran wrap and then place in a freezer baggie. Let me know how it goes!
Kathy
Complete failure…tasted great but the layers titled and way to much frosting (both) left over.
Lisa
I'm sorry it failed for you (but glad it still tasted good!). Did you level the cake layers after baking so they were flat? Was the frosting too runny/soft in-between the layers so it wouldn't hold up or create a stable barrier?
Courtney
Gave this recipe a shot as a new-ish baker for my Anniversary cake (we had this at our wedding and didn't save any as some traditionally do) - I followed the recipe to a T and did pretty well overall, but we found the frosting to be WAY (WAY!) too sweet. In looking at other recipes, I see the powdered sugar amount is much less, by half even. How did you come to this amount? (This also took me 5 hours to make, FYI, for the new bakers out there!)
Lisa
Glad you liked it. The frosting is a variation of my regular chocolate buttercream. A more traditional German chocolate frosting probably uses a more bitter chocolate. You can also try using less powdered sugar but the structure of the frosting will be looser.