Brittany's German Chocolate Birthday Cake

My daughter Brittany's favorite cake is German Chocolate.  This is the old school traditional German Chocolate Cake.  She DOES NOT want me to mess with the recipe and apart from lowering the sugar content minimally, I haven't altered it. ​

Butter 3 8 inch round cake pans and place a round of parchment paper in the bottom of each to assist in clean & perfect removal of your baked cakes.


Cake
1/2 c water
1 4 oz bar sweet (56%) baking chocolate
Melt chocolate and water together in 30 second intervals in the microwave until smooth and let cool slightly.
1 1/2 c sugar
1 c butter, softened
4 eggs, separate white from yolks
1 t vanilla
2 1/2 c flour  (cake flour is great for this, but I used regular flour)
1 t baking soda
1 t salt
1 c buttermilk


Combine all dry ingredients together in a bowl and whisk to combine.
In a mixing bowl beat the sugar and butter together until well combined and sugar dissolves.  Beat in the yolks one at a time then add the vanilla and melted chocolate.
In thirds, beat in the dry ingredients and buttermilk.  Make sure the batter is smooth after each addition before pouring in the next third.  I like to end with the buttermilk.

Beat the egg whites until very stiff in a separate bowl and then slowly fold them in by hand into the batter.

Divide evenly between the 3 prepared cake pans and place in a preheated 350 degree oven for 35-40 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Let cool 10 minutes and then invert out of the cake pans onto a wire rack to cool completely.  At that point you can either proceed to ice them or wrap them up tightly in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator until you’re ready to proceed with icing them.


Frosting
3/4 c sugar
1/2 c butter
1 c evaporated milk (not sweetened condensed)
1 t vanilla
3 egg yolks (save the extra whites for a nice meringue or egg white omelet)
1 1/3 c flake coconut (the sweet kind)
1 c chopped pecans

Mix together everything except the coconut and pecans in a medium saucepan.  Cook over medium heat until thick, which should take about 10-12 minutes.  Stir in coconut and pecans until the frosting becomes spreadable.  Let cool to room temperature before icing the cake.

I like to  leave the side of the cake bare and simply frost the top and in between layers for a beautiful looking cake.

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