34/99: German Chocolate Cake

The German Chocolate cake actually turned out better than I expected. I don't know what happened to me in the process of making it but I spaced out. Thank goodness I took time to prep because If i hadn't, the cake would be missing eggs, canola oil, and vanilla.

First I made the Classic German Chocolate Cake Filling complete with pecans, condensed milk, egg yolks, coconut, and a few other little goodies.  After basically letting it simmer on the stove for a bit, you cover it up and let it sit for three hours. My goal was to plan the cake to where it was completely cooled by the time that three hours was up, just before I had to leave to go to fellowship group where it was to be served.  The filling went really well.  Combine all the ingredients. They thicken. Then they cool. Done.

Then for the cake. Sorry I didn't take pictures on this one- maybe that's part of my strange baking day. Here's an overview of what your supposed to do:

1. mix cocoa and boiling water. let cool.

2. add oil, vanilla, and egg yolks. mix for a bit until it resembles a buttercream icing.

3. add dry ingredients.

4. add egg whites and mix for a bit.

OK so for some reason, I completely forgot steps 2 and 4 until I was looking at the batter wondering what the heck was going on. So I had this really thick, almost crumbly chocolate mixture that was not very moist and I was at the end of the recipe. Meanwhile I had eggs, vanilla, and oil prepped right behind me that were begging for there turn.

The problem with the ingredients that I skipped though is that they are eggs.  If you read my blog you know how much of a fit I've had over eggs. Eggs can make it or break it. Thank goodness this is not a génoise. 

So i decided to do step 2 anyway and mix it up a LOT before doing step 4 because the egg whites are so temperamental.  Once I was finished, it tasted fine and looked fine. 

I've learned lately though that you can't judge a cake by it's batter.

I poured it in the pans and it seemed a little low but who cares. I'm starting to get less OCD about the cakes.

Once they came out of the oven they smelled good but were about 1/4 inch too short.  One of them gave me tons of problems getting out of the pan and as a result the edges were a bit jagged.

But did it turn out OK? Absolutely. The only problem that I saw was that the bottom layer didn't cook all the way so it was still a bit fudgy. Personally, I kind of liked that but i'm also the person who would rather eat brownie batter than the actual brownies.

Tasting notes:

Great reviews all around.

I think my favorite quote came from the mayor.  After saying that it was the best German
chocolate cake he ever had, he finished it off by adding, "damn good."

Monica said that the recipe is definitely a keeper (and that means a lot because she has some pretty awesome recipes).  

Everyone else seemed to enjoy it too. It seems like a recipe that is easy to please because everyone has a story about a German Chocolate Cake that they love.

Rose's Heavenly Cakes

batter- page 137

Classic German Chocolate Cake Filling- page 140