German chocolate cake is the common name of an American cake that was originally known as German's chocolate cake. The cake is a layered, chocolate cake filled and topped with a coconut-pecan frosting. It owes its name to an American chocolate maker named Sam German, who developed a formulation of dark baking chocolate that came to be used in the cake recipe. Sweet baking chocolate is traditionally used for the chocolate flavor in the actual cake, but few recipes call for it today. The filling and/or topping is a caramel made with egg yolks and evaporated milk; once the caramel is cooked, coconut and pecans are stirred in. Occasionally, a chocolate frosting is spread on the sides of the cake and piped around the circumference of the layers to hold in the filling. Maraschino cherries are occasionally added as a garnish.
Read more about German Chocolate Cake: History
Famous quotes containing the words german, chocolate and/or cake:
“Some of us prefer Austrian voices risen in song to ugly German threats.”
—Ernest Lehman (b. 1920)
“Venice is like eating an entire box of chocolate liqueurs at one go.”
—Truman Capote (1924–1984)
“Much of the ill-tempered railing against women that has characterized the popular writing of the last two years is a half-hearted attempt to find a way back to a more balanced relationship between our biological selves and the world we have built. So women are scolded both for being mothers and for not being mothers, for wanting to eat their cake and have it too, and for not wanting to eat their cake and have it too.”
—Margaret Mead (1901–1978)