One of the neat things about cooking, and especially baking, is there are so many different ways to create the ‘same’ thing. Take for instance German Chocolate Cake. Look in any handful of recipe books and I bet you all the recipes will be different. That is one thing that makes it so fun. You can sort of screw it up and just say you meant to do it that way.
For instance with German chocolate cake you can add chocolate chips into the batter. That makes it a little crunchy. More so than just the coconut or nuts on top. Bobby Flay uses goats milk in his. He even adds whipped cream on the side. Generally the main ingredients are chocolate cake and icing which is made from egg yolks, evaporated milk, coconut and pecan but who is to say you can’t make your own style?
Bobby Flay said, “I don’t think less is better in baking. The more decadent the better.” Personally, I couldn’t agree more.
Since I like to give you all a little knowledge to go along with something that may make you smile like it does me, here is some information about German chocolate cake:
(Now don’t just skip over this part because I am going to drop a bomb that just might make you go look something up yourself because you are not going to believe it is true…and, it could win you a bar bet. You are welcome.)
Contrary to what every one seems to believe, German chocolate cake did not originate in Germany. We can jump in the Way Back Machine and travel to 1852 when American Sam German developed a new type of dark baking chocolate for the American Baker’s Chocolate Company. Baker’s German’s Sweet Chocolate was the brand name of the product they named in honor of him.
Fast forward to June 3, 1957, a recipe created by Mrs. George Clay, a homemaker from 3831 Academy Drive, Dallas, Texas, for “German’s Chocolate Cake” appeared as the “Recipe of the Day” in the Dallas Morning Star. I do not know why a woman was named George but it was different times I guess. This recipe used the Baker’s German’s Sweet Chocolate baking chocolate introduced 105 years earlier and became quite popular. General Foods, which owned the Baker’s brand at that time, took notice of Mrs. Clay’s recipe and thankfully distributed the cake recipe to other newspapers across the country. Sales of Baker’s Chocolate increased by as much as 73% and the cake became a national staple. Somewhere along the line the possessive form (German’s) was dropped forming “German Chocolate Cake” and giving the false impression of a German origin.
Who knew right?
June 11 is National German Chocolate Cake Day in America so you have got some time to get your favorite recipe and ingredients together and make a German chocolate cake for yourself. In fact, to get you started here is a recipe you can use.
Growing up I would always ask my mother to make me German chocolate cake for my birthday. It always made me smile back then and it still does today.
Do you make (or like to eat) German chocolate cake? Do you have a special ingredient you like to use in yours? Let us know in the comments. Would love to hear from you.