Willard Family German Chocolate Cake

Description

This recipe has been in my family for a very long time. My great-grandma could make this with her eyes closed. My father was born on her birthday so she made this cake for him every year. Even shipped it to him in Korea when he was stationed there in the army.

Ingredients

  • 1 (4 ounce) package sweet baking chocolate (such as Baker’s German’s Sweet Chocolate®) – broken into pieces
  • ½ cup boiling water
  • 1 cup margarine, softened
  • 2 cups white sugar
  • 4 eggs, separated
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 ½ cups sifted all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1 cup evaporated milk
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 3 egg yolks
  • ¼ cup margarine
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 ⅓ cups sweetened flake coconut
  • 1 cup chopped pecans

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour 3 8-inch cake pans and line bottoms with parchment paper.
  2. Place the chunks of chocolate into the boiling water and stir until the chocolate has melted; set aside to cool. In a large bowl
  3. beat 1 cup of softened margarine with 2 cups of sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Stir in 4 egg yolks
  4. one at a time
  5. beating well after each addition. Beat in 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and the chocolate-water mixture until thoroughly blended.
  6. Sift the flour
  7. baking soda
  8. and salt into a bowl. Beat the flour mixture into the liquid ingredients
  9. alternating with buttermilk
  10. in 3 or 4 additions. Beat until batter is smooth
  11. about 1 minute.
  12. In a metal or glass bowl
  13. beat the reserved egg whites until they hold stiff peaks when the beaters are lifted straight up. Gently fold the beaten egg whites into the batter
  14. keeping as much volume as possible. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pans.
  15. Bake in the preheated oven until the cakes have browned lightly and a toothpick inserted into the center of a cake comes out clean
  16. 35 to 40 minutes. Allow the cakes to cool in pans before removing.
  17. To make frosting
  18. pour the evaporated milk into a large saucepan
  19. and mix in 1 cup of sugar
  20. 3 egg yolks
  21. 1/4 cup of margarine
  22. and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. Bring to a boil
  23. reduce heat to medium
  24. and cook until thickened
  25. stirring constantly
  26. about 12 minutes. Remove from heat
  27. and mix in the coconut and pecans
  28. beating the frosting until cooled and spreadable. Frost and fill the cake with the coconut frosting.

Prep Time: 30 mins

Cook Time: 50 mins

Total Time: 2 hrs 20 mins

Servings: 10

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