German chocolate cake

Not to be confused with the German Black Forest gateau.

German chocolate cake, originally German's chocolate cake, is a layered chocolate cake filled and topped with a coconut-pecan frosting. Originating in the United States, it was named after English-American chocolate maker Samuel German, who developed a formulation of dark baking chocolate that came to be used in the cake recipe. Sweet baking chocolate is traditionally used for the cake's flavor, but few recipes call for it today. The filling or topping is a custard made with egg yolks and evaporated milk; once the custard is cooked, coconut and pecans are stirred in.^[1] Occasionally, a chocolate frosting is spread on the sides of the cake and piped around the circumference of the layers to hold in the filling. Maraschino cherries are occasionally added as a garnish.^{[citation needed]}

German chocolate cake

A German chocolate cake
Alternative names	German's chocolate cake
Type	Layer cake
Course	Dessert
Place of origin	United States
Region or state	Texas
Created by	Unknown
Invented	1950s
Main ingredients	Chocolate cake, icing (egg yolks, evaporated milk, coconut and pecan)

History

The earliest known published recipe for this cake appeared in 1956, in the Dallas newspaper The Irving News Record, where it was listed as "Summer German Chocolate Cake". It was submitted by Daisy Pearce, who obtained the recipe from her daughter, Francis Beth (Montgomery) Tomlinson.^[2] It used the "German's Sweet Chocolate" baking chocolate introduced over a century earlier in 1853 by American baker Samuel German for the Baker's Chocolate Company of Boston, Massachusetts.^[3]

In 1957, another recipe for "German's Chocolate Cake" appeared as the "Recipe of the Day" in The Dallas Morning News.^[4] It was created by Lucy Clay,^[5] frequently cited as Mrs. George Clay, a homemaker from Dallas, Texas.^[4]

General Foods, which owned the Baker's brand at the time, took notice of the recipe and distributed the cake recipe to other newspapers in the country. Sales of Baker's Chocolate are said to have increased by as much as 73% and the cake became a national staple. The possessive form German's was dropped in subsequent publications, forming the "German Chocolate Cake" identity and giving the false impression of a German origin.^[3][6][7]

In 1958, Mrs. Jackie Huffines’ recipe for “Samuel German Chocolate Cake” was published in General Foods’ cookbook.

In a 1959 General Foods Co. newsletter, a St. Louis homemaker reported that she was given a similar recipe in the 1920s but couldn’t bake it at the time because she couldn’t afford the ingredients during the Depression.^[8]

Hawaii

Chantilly cake in Hawaii

Popular throughout Hawaii is the Chantilly cake, a modified German chocolate cake without coconut or nuts in its frosting, although it is occasionally topped with macadamia nuts. Otherwise, recipes between German chocolate cake and Chantilly cake are nearly identical.^[9][10] This frosting, also known as "Chantilly," can also be applied on cream puffs.^[11] Despite its name, it does not contain Chantilly cream.

See also

• Black Forest cake, or Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte, a chocolate- and cherry-flavored cake that is of contested German origin
• List of desserts
• Sheet cake