German Chocolate Cake

I must confess, I only make German Chocolate Cake once a year.

On my husband's birthday.

Having not been a huge fan of the frosting, each year I try a different recipe hoping for something a bit better.

This was the year.

The frosting wasn't too dry nor too runny.

Since we aren't huge fans of nuts in our desserts I usually leave them out of the recipe, but this year I tried candied pecans and what a difference!

And to avoid the overly sweet effect, I used a chocolate cake recipe using cocoa instead of a milk chocolate recipe.

And the result was delicious!

German Chocolate Cake Recipe

Ingredients:

1 c. butter

1/3 c. cocoa

1 c. water

2 c. flour

2 c. sugar

1/2 c buttermilk

1 1/2 tsp soda

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp salt

3 eggs

Directions:

Grease pans. Bring butter, cocoa, and water to boil. Cool. Mix in flour and sugar.  Then add buttermilk, soda, vanilla, salt and eggs. Bake 25 min. at 375 degrees.

Frosting

Ingredients:

1 c. sugar

1 c. evaporated milk

1/2 c. butter, cubed (not margarine)

3 egg yolks, lightly beaten

1 tsp. vanilla

3-4 c. coconut

1 c. candied pecans, chopped

Directions:

In a sauce pan, combine sugar, milk, butter and egg yolks. Cook and stir over medium-low heat until thickened and a thermometer reads 160 degrees, or is thick enough to coat the back of a metal spoon.  Remove from the heat.  Stir in vanilla. Fold in coconut about a half of a cup at a time, until desired thickness.  Fold in chopped pecans.  Refrigerate leftovers.

Tip: Want to make beautiful cake decorating all that easier?  

Try a revolving round cake stand.  The sides come out smooth!  And you don't need to be a professional.