The Best German Chocolate Cake Recipe

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Need a yummy cake recipe to make for your next get-together? This really is the BEST German Chocolate Cake recipe! I hope you give it a try and love it as much as we do.

Need a yummy cake recipe to make for your next get-together? This really is the BEST German Chocolate Cake recipe! I hope you give it a try and love it as much as we do. #germanchocolatecake #germancake

The Best German Chocolate Cake Recipe

I don’t know about you, but every once in awhile I feel the need for the yummy taste of chocolate! I remember when I was child, my mom making this for my grandpa’ birthday​. I don’t remember much about the cake part although, for some reason I thought the frosting was the ultimate treat and that the rest of the cake should be pushed to the side. 🙂

So every once in awhile for a special birthday treat or event I like to bring up this recipe.

The Best German Chocolate Cake Recipe

The Best German Chocolate Cake Recipe

By Miranda

This delicious cake is the perfect mixture of coconut and chocolate. Yum!

Yield – 12 servings

Cake Ingredients

  • 4 oz Chocolate (I used chocolate chunks I bought from the local co-op)
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 2 1/4 cups Whole Wheat Flour
  • ​1 tsp Baking soda
  • 1 tsp Salt
  • cups Turbinado Sugar
  • 1 cup Butter
  • 4 Eggs
  • 1 tsp Vanilla
  • 1 cup Buttermilk

Coconut Pecan Frosting Ingredients

  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 cup Turbinado Sugar (I ground this so it was like powdered sugar)​
  • 1/2 Butter
  • 1 cup Evaporated Milk
  • 1 teaspoon Vanilla
  • 1 1/3 cups flaked coconut
  • 1 cup chopped pecans

 Pin it for later.

Directions

  • Heat the oven to 350°F.
  • Spray the bottoms and sides of 9×13 pan or Bundt Pan with spray.

    The Best German Chocolate Cake Recipe

  • In a 1-quart saucepan, heat the chocolate and water over low heat, stirring frequently, until chocolate is completely melted; remove from heat and cool.
  • In a separate bowl, separate yolks from whites in separate bowls.
  • In another medium sized bowl, stir the flour, baking soda and salt until mixed; set aside.

    The Best German Chocolate Cake Recipe

  • In another medium bowl, beat 2 cups sugar and 1 cup butter with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy; Then add eggs yolks,  melted chocolate, and vanilla.
  • Add in the buttermilk and flour mixture alternately to your sugar mixture.
  • Wash and dry mixer beaters. In a small bowl, beat the eggs whites on high speed until beaten eggs whites form stiff peaks when beaters are lifted. Fold in Egg whites to batter using a rubber spatula.
  • Pour batter into pan
  • Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
  • ​Cool cake for approximately 2 hours before frosting.

    The Best German Chocolate Cake Recipe

Frosting Directions

  • Separate the 3 eggs yolks from white; save the egg whites for another recipe.
  • In a 2-quart saucepan, stir the egg yolks, 1 cup turbinado, 1/2 cup butter, the evaporated milk and 1 teaspoon vanilla until well mixed.
  • Cook over medium heat about 12 minutes, stirring frequently, until thick and bubbly.
  • Stir in the coconut and pecans.
  • Cool about 30 minutes, beating occasionally with a spoon, until mixture is spreadable.

The Best German Chocolate Cake Recipe

I hope you enjoy this delicious cake recipe, I really do think it’s the best German Chocolate Cake recipe out there!

Need to print this German Chocolate Cake recipe? Grab it below!

The Best German Chocolate Cake Recipe

Ingredients

  • oz Chocolate
  • 1/2  cup water
  • 2 1/4 cups Whole Wheat Flour
  • ​1 tsp Baking soda
  • 1 tsp Salt
  • cups  Turbinado Sugar
  • 1 cup Butter
  • 4 Eggs
  • tsp Vanilla
  • cup Buttermilk

Instructions

  1. Heat the oven to 350°F.
  2. Spray the bottoms and sides of 9x13 pan or Bundt Pan with spray.
  3. In a 1-quart saucepan, heat the chocolate and water over low heat, stirring frequently, until chocolate is completely melted; remove from heat and cool.
  4. In a separate bowl, separate yolks from whites in separate bowls.
  5. In another medium sized bowl, stir the flour, baking soda and salt until mixed; set aside.
  6. In another medium bowl, beat 2 cups sugar and 1 cup butter with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy; Then add eggs yolks,  melted chocolate, and vanilla.
  7. Add in the buttermilk and flour mixture alternately to your sugar mixture.
  8. Wash and dry mixer beaters. In a small bowl, beat the eggs whites on high speed until beaten eggs whites form stiff peaks when beaters are lifted. Fold in Egg whites to batter using a rubber spatula.
  9. Pour batter into pan
  10. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
  11. ​Cool cake for approximately 2 hours before frosting.

Recipe Notes

Coconut Pecan Frosting Ingredients
3 large eggs
1 cup Turbinado Sugar (I ground this so it was like powdered sugar)​
1/2 Butter
1 cup Evaporated Milk
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 1/3 cups flaked coconut
1 cup chopped pecans
Frosting Directions
Separate the 3 eggs yolks from white; save the egg whites for another recipe.
In a 2-quart saucepan, stir the egg yolks, 1 cup turbinado, 1/2 cup butter, the evaporated milk and 1 teaspoon vanilla until well mixed.
Cook over medium heat about 12 minutes, stirring frequently, until thick and bubbly.
Stir in the coconut and pecans.
Cool about 30 minutes, beating occasionally with a spoon, until mixture is spreadable.

Have you ever made a German Chocolate Cake?

miranda

This recipe for the Best German Chocolate Cake was originally posted on Little House Living in April 2014. It has been updated as of June 2019.

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44 Comments

  1. what is a local co-op and how do you find out if you have one? I’ve never heard of such a thing in pa

  2. When I grew up this was the family birthday cake. Same receipe however mom would alway make a two layer cake. Put choc frosting in the middle then on top of that the coconut. choc frosting on the sides and just the coconut frosting on the top. YUM. I now make this for my family. I love family traditions.

  3. My mom always used to make a 2 layer German Chocolate Cake for our birthdays too! Well, for those of us that loved her German Chocolate Cake. I love your healthy spin on the recipe and I love cooking with buttermilk since it makes cakes and breads moist. Thanks for sharing your recipe!

  4. I had a girl friend who was from Germany! Her mom was an amazing cook!
    She made the best German Chocolate Cake… I would sleep over her home and we sneak downstairs and eat so much of it..her mom would be annoyed at us lol.. Great memories

    Thanks Maria

  5. Thank you so much for linking up to our new party, Cook it! Craft it! Share it! This cake recipe reminds me so much of the one my grandma use to make. I am going to have it to give it a try. Have a great weekend and hope to see you next wednesday night at 8:30 est. -Doree

  6. This does look so delicious!
    Thank you for sharing and linking up for our Sunday Brunch link party

  7. Oh gosh, this looks delicious! I just love anything with coconut!
    Visiting from Sunday Brunch at Mums Take Five. xx

  8. Hi Merissa, I was just wondering if you used German Chocolate specifically, or just regular?

    Little bit of history: German Chocolate cake is not remotely German. It’s named for the sweet chocolate created by Samuel German, who I think lived in Boston, MA and was at first called German’s Chocolate Cake. The first known German’s Chocolate Cake recipe actually originated in Texas. 🙂

  9. My husband loves german chocolate cakes so I’m definitely trying this. Thanks for the recipe!

  10. German Chocolate is my husband’s absolute favorite cake. He is very particular about the recipe though so I don’t ever change it up. Thanks for sharing at Saturday Dishes.

  11. German Chocolate cake is my absolute favorite kind of cake in the world! I pinned this the minute I came to your site because it looks divine. Thank you for sharing this with us.

  12. YUM- my husband would LOVE this cake. He is a chocolate fanatic. I might just have to make it for him soon. Thank you for linking up with Small Victories Sunday this week. I have pinned this to the Small Victories Sunday board!

  13. I have never made one, because I’m fully aware that I’m capable of eating the entire thing … well, maybe not the ENTIRE thing, but I know I’d give it a mighty effort! That said, German Chocolate is (obviously) my favorite cake! I still remember the first time I ever had it as a kid. It was love at first bite! 🙂 [#TastyTuesdays]

  14. Wonderful! This is one of my favorite cakes!! Do you think regular sugar would work? I don’t typically use Turbinado. Guess I am not familiar with it. This looks delish!!

  15. My kids will really enjoy this! Thank you for linking up at the Thoughtful Spot Weekly Blog Hop!

  16. This cake looks so good! Thanks for sharing with us at Simple Supper Tuesday.

  17. I’ve never made a german chocolate cake before. Yours looks great! Thanks for linking up to Sweet and Savoury Sunday, stop by and link up again. Have a great weekend!!

  18. Your recipe for german chocolate cake calls for wheat flour and turbinado sugar….can I subsititue regular sugar and white flour for your ingredients?

  19. I have to agree with you the coconut pecan frosting sounds amazing. Pinned. Thanks for sharing this with us on Weekend Bites.

  20. mmmm… Nothing beats a good chocolate cake! Thanks for linking up at the Thoughtful Spot Weekly Blog Hop! We hope you stop by again next week!