German's Chocolate Cake

On June 3, 1957, the recipe for German's Chocolate Cake appeared in the Dallas Morning Star "Recipe of the Day" submitted by Mrs. George Clay.  The recipe is named for the brand of chocolate used in the recipe, German's chocolate.  German's chocolate was created by Sam German for the Baker's Chocolate company in 1852.  German's chocolate is similar to semi-sweet chocolate in taste.  I first made this cake for my husband's birthday a few years ago.  Since then my youngest daughter has requested it for her birthday.  I made this cake for my daughter Haley's 10th birthday this weekend.   This recipe is completely homemade.  

Yummy cake, half frosting and half cake! Awesome!

Ingredients for Cake:

1 cup Butter

1 1/4 cups White Granulated Sugar

6 ounces Semi-Sweet Chocolate

1/2 cup Boiling Water

2 cups Cake Flour

1 teaspoon Baking Soda

1/4 teaspoon Kosher Salt

1 cup Buttermilk

4 Egg Yolks

4 Egg Whites

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Ingredients for Coconut Pecan Frosting:

3 cups Cane Sugar (White Granulated Sugar can be substituted)
1 3/4 cups Butter
2 1/2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
8 Egg Yolks
1 12 Ounce Can Evaporated Milk
2 cups Pecans
14 ounces Shredded Sweetened Coconut

Process for Cake:

Preheat Oven to 350 Fahrenheit

 Place butter and sugar in stand mixer bowl and mix with a whisk attachment until fluffy.

Does that look like fluffy sugar?  I always assume yes, since fluffy and sugar just don't make sense to me truthfully. Fluffy can be used to describe sugar spun into cotton candy but mixed with butter I don't get it.  Anyway, whip it good until it looks like this.

Place chocolate chips in a bowl and add hot water.  Allow to sit for 1 minute.

I used my electric water kettle to heat up the water.

 After the minute has ended, stir the chocolate until it looks uniform in appearance and texture.

 Add egg yolks to butter sugar mixture and beat on low until combined.  Add flour, baking soda, kosher salt, and mix until combined.  Mix in egg yolks.  

 Pour melted chocolate, buttermilk, and vanilla into cake batter and mix.

Whip egg whites until stiff peaks are formed.

 Gently fold in 1/3 of egg whites, and repeat until all egg whites are in the batter.

Now this looks light and fluffy, right?  I think so.  This is a beautiful chocolate batter.  I want to
 eat it all right now, but I will cook it first.

Prepare two 9 inch round cake pans by rubbing butter on the inside and placing parchment paper
 on the bottom.  Divide cake batter between the two prepared 9 inch cake pans.  I used my kitchen
 scale to measure and make sure both of these pans had the exact same amount of batter.  Yes I can
be that picky and obsessive compulsive.  When I was a kid, and people asked me why I was the
way I was, I told them, what do you expect, I have two perfectionist parents.  Of course, they
would have a child like me.  We didn't call it Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.  Does that make
me old?  I started being OCD before OCD was PC.  The term used in my home was being a perfectionist. I'm distracted, sorry.  Now bake your cakes in the middle of the oven for 24-28
minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.

Allow cakes to set in the pans for a few minutes and remove to cooling racks.

When cakes have cooled, place on parchment paper.

Process for Coconut Pecan Frosting:

                                      

Combine sugar, butter, evaporated milk, egg yolks, and vanilla extract in medium saucepan 

over medium heat.  Bring to a simmer and cook for 12 minutes or until thick.  

 Strain through a sieve.

 Stir in coconut and chopped pecans.

Chill frosting.

Look at all that frosting.  Yes, I doubled the frosting for my recipe and I am okay with it. 

Process for German's Chocolate Cake:

I placed a large plate on my cake and began slicing through with the knife butted up against the
plate to evenly cut the cake in half.  Cut both cakes, now you have four layers.

With the cut side up for the first layer, scoop some of your cooled frosting in the middle.  I started
with about 1 1/2 cups of frosting.  If that seems like too little, add more.

 Spread frosting evenly over cake.  Repeat until all four layers have been stacked together.

 Last step, take the remaining frosting and cover the whole cake.

Refrigerate cake until ready to serve.

Slice and serve.

Enjoy!

German's Chocolate Cake

Printable Recipe Found Here

Ingredients for Cake:

1 cup Butter

1 1/4 cups White Granulated Sugar

6 ounces Semi-Sweet Chocolate

1/2 cup Boiling Water

2 cups Cake Flour

1 teaspoon Baking Soda

1/4 teaspoon Kosher Salt

1 cup Buttermilk

4 Egg Yolks

4 Egg Whites

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Ingredients for Coconut Pecan Frosting:

3 cups Sugar

1 3/4 cups Butter

2 1/2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract

8 Egg Yolks

1 12 Ounce Can Evaporated Milk

2 cups Pecans

14 ounces Shredded Sweetened Coconut

Process for Cake:

Preheat Oven to 350 Fahrenheit

Place butter and sugar in stand mixer bowl and mix with a whisk attachment until fluffy.

Place chocolate chips in a bowl and add hot water.  allow to sit for 1 minute.

After the minute has ended stir the chocolate until it looks uniform in appearance and texture.

Add egg yolks to butter sugar mixture and beat on low until combined.  Add flour, baking soda, kosher salt, and mix until combined.  Mix in egg yolks.  

Pour melted chocolate, buttermilk, and vanilla into cake batter and mix.

Whip egg whites until stiff peaks are formed.

Gently fold in 1/3 of egg whites, and repeat until all egg whites are in the batter.

Prepare two 9 inch round cake pans by rubbing butter on the inside and placing parchment paper on the bottom.  

Divide cake batter between the two prepared 9 inch cake pans. Bake for 24-28 minutes.

Allow cakes to set in the pans for a few minutes and remove to cooling racks.

When cakes have cooled, place one of the cakes on a parchment paper lined cake stand.

Process for Coconut Pecan Frosting:

Combine sugar, butter, evaporated milk, egg yolks, and vanilla extract in medium saucepan over medium heat.  Bring to a simmer and cook for 12 minutes or until thick.  

Strain through a sieve.

Stir in coconut and chopped pecans.

Chill frosting.

Process for German's Chocolate Cake:

Cut both cakes, now you have four layers.

With the cut side up for the first layer, scoop some of your cooled frosting in the middle.  I started with about 1 1/2 cups of frosting, if it seems to little add more.

Spread frosting evenly over cake, repeat until all four layers have been stacked together.

Use the remaining frosting and cover the whole cake.

Refrigerate cake until ready to serve.

Slice and serve.

Enjoy!

Kem Flan

I was going for a Vietnamese food theme tonight, and since my oven quit working, I couldn't make the pie that I wanted to. My quest for dessert became a little easier to decide when I remembered I had just bought a flan pan and thought I should use it.  My husband really likes flan.  This flan is the Vietnamese version.  If you don't already know, flan is a custard based dessert that has a wonderful caramelized sugar topping.

 The caramelized sugar and creamy texture are truly divine!

Ingredients for this Recipe Are:

Caramel:

1/2 cup Cane Sugar

Flan:

6 Eggs

6 Egg Yolks

1 14 oz can Sweetened Condensed Milk

14 oz Milk

14 oz Hot Water

2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract

Pour sugar into small saucepan over high flame on stove.

Cook and stir sugar with wooden spoon until sugar begins to bubble and caramelize.

Remove pan from stove and pour sugar into a 1.5 Quart Flan pan, 9 inch square pan, or oven safe oval baking dish.

Mix eggs and egg yolks together with a whisk in a bowl.

Pour condensed milk in a bowl.  Add hot water to can to top then pour into condensed milk. 
Add milk to can to top and add to mixture.

Mix milks and water together.

Add milk mixture to eggs and whisk until combined.

 Pour flan mixture into pan with caramelized sugar and cover with flan lid or aluminum foil.

Place wok on stove top.

Place steamer insert in wok and fill wok with water to within a 1/2 inch of bottom of steamer.

Boil the water.

Place flan pan inside steamer, cover steamer with lid.

Reduce heat to medium and steam flan for 30 minutes.

Allow flan to cool then refrigerate for 2 hours before serving.

 Invert flan using the flan lid if you used a flan pan or a plate.

The Flan has been revealed.

Enjoy!

Kem Flan

Printable Recipe Found Here

Ingredients:

Caramel:

1/2 cup Cane Sugar

Flan:

6 Eggs

6 Egg Yolks

1 14 oz. can Sweetened Condensed Milk

14 oz. Milk

14 oz. Hot Water

2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract

Caramel Process:

Pour sugar into small saucepan over high flame on stove.

Cook and stir sugar with wooden spoon until sugar begins to bubble and caramelize.

Remove pan from stove and pour sugar into a 1.5 Quart Flan pan, 9 inch square pan, or oven safe oval baking dish.

Flan Process:

Mix eggs ands egg yolks together with a whisk in a bowl.

Pour condensed milk in a bowl, add hot water to can to top then pour into condensed milk, add milk to can to top and add to mixture.

Mix milks and water together.

Add milk mixture to eggs and whisk until combined.

Pour flan mixture into pan with caramelized sugar and cover with flan lid or aluminum foil.

Steamed Process:

Place wok on stove top.

Place steamer insert in wok and fill wok with water to within a 1/2 inch of bottom of steamer.

Boil the water.

Place flan pan inside steamer, cover steamer with lid.

Reduce heat to medium and steam flan for 30 minutes.

Baked Process:

This process may also be done in an oven set 350 Fahrenheit.

The flan pan should be placed in a large dish with water coming up 2/3 of the pan.  

Bake flan for 45-50 minutes, until the flan is firm in texture.

Enjoy!

Vanilla Bean Gelato

Our family Christmas gift last year, that is so weird to say since it was just a couple weeks ago, was an ice cream maker.  It was the same one I believe my sister in law Rachelle uses and makes the best ice cream according to my husband.  Yesterday I started the process to make vanilla bean gelato.   That is correct.   To make this gelato you will need to start it the day before.  I should probably explain what gelato is.   It isn't ice cream first of all.  Why don't I list what gelato is: it is made with whole milk and cream and has less fat because of this.   Ice cream has more cream.  It has egg yolks, and closely resembles a frozen custard in this way.   It is processed in an ice cream maker for a shorter period and is 30-40% air versus ice cream's 80-90%.   It has a matte finish (it isn't shiny like ice cream), and finally it is an Italian desert and tastes so much better than ice cream. Are you interested in vanilla bean gelato? 

 Look at that beautiful homemade gelato. Mangia mangia gelato.

Ingredients for this recipe are: 2 1/2 cups whole milk, 1 1/2 cups heavy cream, 3/4 cup white sugar, 

1 vanilla bean split, 5 egg yolks, and...

3 ounces of olive oil, the secret Italian ingredient.

 Slit vanilla bean, scrape beans and add all the ingredients in your blender except olive oil and 

blend for six minutes, then drizzle in olive oil through the lid.  If you happen to be blending this 

in your Vita-Mix (I know some of you do) then you blend for 2 more minutes on high and 

you will have reached the right temperature.

 For the rest of us, pour the ingredients into a stock pot and put on stove with the burner set to
medium.  Attach candy thermometer and heat ingredients to between 185-195 Fahrenheit.  If
you do have a Vita-mix I envy you and would gladly come to your home and make this in your
blender for you.  As soon as your mixture reaches temperature remove from the stove.

 Pour into a lidded container and refrigerate overnight.

 Pour refrigerated gelato base into ice cream maker and use ice cream maker as directed
by the manufacturer.   Process for 20 minutes or so.

 I processed mine, and as you can see it looks so pretty.  It was soft serve straight out of my
machine, so I also froze it for two more hours.

Again I say mangia mangia gelato, who's with me?

Enjoy!

French Toast

I learned that French Toast could be amazing, verging on bread pudding amazing.  To make amazing French toast, you will need some good bread, (I used my not your average white bread from yesterday), half and half, egg yolks, sugar and vanilla. Yes you can make French Toast with these ingredients, and it is yummy.

Do you like French toast?

 Ingredients for this recipe are: 4 egg yolks, loaf of bread, 2 cups half and half, 1 tablespoon sugar
(I used Turbinado), and 2 teaspoons Vanilla.

 Mix the ingredients together.

 I put my sliced bread in two sheet pans and poured the milk mixture on them and turned the bread
over after a couple of minutes.  I let the bread soak up the milk mixture for five minutes.

 Place bread on a rack placed in sheet pan and allow them to drain for another five minutes.

 Preheat griddle to medium low.

 Brush griddle with your choice of grease or spray with oil.  Cook French Toast until 

golden brown and flip and repeat.

Enjoy!