For as long as I can remember, my family has loved German Chocolate Sheet Cake as a dessert. Every birthday, my dad asks for it; and every family member has a carefully stashed recipe box with grandma’s renowned recipe. I never questioned the presumption that German Chocolate Cake was, well, German because my dad’s side of the family did indeed come from Germany. You may thus understand my astonishment when I discovered that was not the case!
Two cups all-purpose flour
Two white cupboards
¹ ½ cup cocoa powder
1 cup water; ½ cup butter (one stick)
½ cup thinning
German baking chocolate weighing four ounces
½ cup buttermilk.
One tsp baking soda
½ tsp Salt
Two eggs:
One teaspoon vanilla is used here.
Fostering
One twelve-ounce can of evaporated milk
Three yolks for eggs
¼ cup butter
one cup of sugar
Two-thirds cup brown sugar
1 ½ cups finely shredded coconut
One half cup pecans, roughly chopped
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
German Chocolate Sheet Cake Made Right Here
Greas a sheet pan and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Combine in a large bowl the flour, sugar, and cocoa powder.
Add to a small saucepan the water, butter, shortening, and chocolate. Over medium heat, boil everything. Add the mixture to the dry ingredients after it is smooth and completely blended; whisk will help to mix.
First add the buttermilk, baking soda, salt, eggs, then vanilla stirring between each addition.
Spoon batter onto ready sheet pan; bake for 20 to 22 minutes. Let cool before applying frosting.
FROSEING
To a medium-sized saucepan set over medium heat, add the milk, egg yolks, butter, and sugars. Cook mixture until boiling; then, reduce heat to a simmer. Stirring constantly will help the mixture to thicken throughout 10 to 12 minutes of simmering. Get off the burner.
Stir in vanilla, pecan, and coconut.
Once frosting gradually cools, spread it over the cooled cake.
Chill one to two hours; then, serve.