Kay's German Chocolate Layer Cake With Coconut-Pecan Filling

Submitted by BeansnRice

"I finally got it!! The recipe for THE BEST GERMAN CHOCOLATE CAKE I HAVE EVER EATEN. It is so decadent without being too sweet (if that makes sense). My co-worker's girlfriend gave me this recipe. I usually don't eat the frostings on cakes because they are too sweet but I eat every morsel of THIS cake! It's a bit of work but worth it if you have the time."

 

• Ready In: 1hr 55mins
• Ingredients: 19
• Serves: 12

ingredients

• cake

• 1 1⁄4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1⁄4 cup nonalkalized cocoa (Hershey's)
• 2 teaspoons instant espresso or 2 teaspoons instant coffee powder
• 1⁄3 cup boiling water
• 1⁄3 cup buttermilk or 1/3 cup plain yogurt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened but still cool
• 1 1⁄4 cups sugar
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1⁄2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt

• frosting

• 4 large egg yolks
• 1 cup sugar
• 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened but still cool
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1⁄2 cups toasted pecans, chopped
• 2 cups lightly packed sweetened flaked coconut

directions

1. CAKE.
2. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position.
3. Generously grease two 8" round cake pans and cover the bottoms with parchment or waxed paper. Grease the paper and dust the pans with flour, tapping out the excess.
4. Mix the cocoa, espresso (or coffee) powder and add boiling water. Mix until smooth.
5. Cool the mixture to room temperature and stir in the buttermilk and vanilla.
6. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat the butter until smooth and shiny (about 30 seconds).
7. Gradually add the sugar and beat until mixture is fluffy and almost white (3-5 minutes).
8. Add the eggs 1 at a time beating for 1 full minute after each egg.
9. In another bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda and salt.
10. With the mixer at the lowest speed, add 1/3 of the dry ingredients to the butter mixture.
11. Add 1/3 of the cocoa mixture. Alternate until all ingredients are mixed in and batter appears satin-like.
12. Divide the batter evenly between the two pans and bake until toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean (23-30 minutes).
13. Transfer the pans to wire racks and cool for 10 minutes.
14. Invert the cakes onto another rack and peel off the paper liners. Cool completely before frosting.
15. FILLING.
16. Mix the egg yolks, sugar and salt.
17. Beat in the butter.
18. Gradually beat in the cream and vanilla.
19. Pour mixture into a saucepan and cok over low heat, stirring constantly until the mixture is puffy and just begins to thicken (15-20 minutes).
20. Pour the mixture into a bowl to cool to room temperature.
21. Stir in pecans and coconut.
22. TO ASSEMBLE.
23. Cut each layer of cake in half horizontally so that each cake forms 2 layers.
24. Place 1 of the cake halves on a serving platter and spread about 1 cup of filling over the cake half.
25. Repeat the layers and frost the entire cake when done.

Reviews

[Charles F.]

I made this for a holiday bake-off at work. Everybody that tried it loved it, even some people that said they didn't like coconut. My only concern was that the recipe doesn't make enough filling to coat the sides of the cake. If you want to cover the entire cake, I'd suggest increasing the icing ingredients by about 25%.

 

[Some Girl]

The filling for this cake is AMAZING. People who said they don't even like German Chocolate Cake said that they loved it! I'm sorry to say that I was short on time and used a box mix for the cake itself, but the filling more than made up for that! I can't wait to try making the cake from scratch, too. Thank you!