My mom was well known for her German Chocolate cake and it was also one of the few sweets that my brother Steve really liked. So Mama would make it for his birthday and other special occasions. The rest of us all liked it too. But, because it can be a bit of a pain making the frosting, we didn’t have it all that often. After not making one for a long time, I have had the pleasure to make two in the past week. And, everyone that ate them was very pleased in how it turned out. You can just as easily make the cake using a mix, but here is a simple cake recipe that you can also use for homemade flavor. As always, enjoy!
An Easy Chocolate Cake (this is the traditional recipe from Hershey’s, but with a couple of additions of my own. It is very easy, tender and moist. Great flavor, too!
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9X13 inch cake pan and set aside. In a large mixing bowl add the following:
2 cups white sugar
¾ cup cocoa powder, dark or regular
2 cups flour
1 ½ tsps. Baking powder
1 ½ tsps. Baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp instant coffee (unless using hot coffee instead of the hot water)
Stir well to combine.
In another bowl beat together:
2 eggs
1 cup milk
½ cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla
Stir this into the dry ingredients and mix about 2 minutes or until well blended, scrapping the bowl once. Then, all at once add the boiling water or coffee.
1 boiling water (or coffee)
Continue to beat until well mixed, then pour into the prepared pan and bake about 35-45 minutes. The cake will feel dry on top, pull slightly away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick in the center will come out clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.
When the cake comes out of the oven, you can make the frosting.
In a heavy pan, an enameled Dutch oven is perfect, beat together:
1 ½ cups white sugar
1 12-ounce can of evaporated milk (1 ½ cups)
5 egg yolks
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
Cook over medium heat while stirring constantly. Bring to a boil, add 1/2 cup butter and then cook until the mixture becomes very thick, about 9 minutes or so. Remove from heat and add 1 ½ tsps. Vanilla. Stir in 2 cups of sweetened coconut, lightly toasted is good, but untoasted is good too, and about 1 ½ cups chopped pecans, again lightly toasted is very tasty, but untoasted is good too.
Allow to cool completely, then frost the cooled cake.
