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German Chocolate Cake

By Cheryl Day

3.7

(10)

German chocolate cake sliced into squares.
Photo by Angie Mosier

If you’ve never heard the history of German chocolate cake, you might figure that the dessert originated in Germany. But that’s not the case. In 1852 Sam German, an employee of Baker Chocolate Company, created a sweet baking chocolate that was used to make German’s Chocolate Cake. It became famous a century later when it was featured as a “Recipe of the Day” in the Dallas Morning News in 1957. The original frosting was made with evaporated milk, sugar, butter, and coconut; I use sweetened cream of coconut instead of evaporated milk for more flavor. The pecans were added later, and the name for this beloved dessert was shortened to German chocolate cake.

For more chocolate cakes, including an inside-out version of this classic, browse our recipe collection →

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