Happy Birthday To Me!

Yes, it's my birthday, and yes, I did bake my own birthday cake. :) I've been baking my own cake for a while now, but I have the say the most distinctive cake, was my sixteenth birthday. That was a pretty awesome cake, all chocolate and lopsided. It was sweet. I really wish I had a picture of it to show you.

However, for this year, I decided to bake a German Chocolate Cake, which is one of favorites! One of the things that I love about this cake is the trivia behind it. The reason it's called a German chocolate cake is because it is named after the man who developed the specific type of chocolate used for it; his last name was German. :)

This cake is great because it's a very tender cake, even if you don't use cake flour, and it doesn't really need any frosting because of the sugary, sweet filling. Here's the recipe I used.

German Chocolate Cake

1 pkge German's Sweet Chocolate (I use Baker's)

1/2 cup water

2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

2 cups sugar

4 eggs, separated

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup buttermilk

Coconut-Pecan Filling

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and prepare 3 9" cake pans. I also grease and flour the pans and then place a circle of parchment paper in the bottom. Microwave chocolate and water together until it is melted.

Mix together flour, soda, and salt; set aside. Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks, 1 at a time, blending well after each. Beat in chocolate and vanilla. Add flour mixture, alternating with buttermilk.

Beat egg whites in a clean bowl until stiff peaks form. Gently fold whites into chocolate batter. Pour evenly into prepared pans. Bake fore 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool in pans 15 minutes, and then turn onto cooling rack. I always cover mine with a damp paper towel. Prepare filling.

Coconut-Pecan Filling

4 egg yolks

1 can evaporated milk

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups sugar

3/4 cup butter

7 oz coconut

1 1/2 cups pecans

Beat egg yolks, milk, and vanilla in a saucepan until thoroughly combined. Add sugar and butter and cook over medium heat for about 12 minutes, until thickened and golden brown. Pull off of heat and add coconut and pecans. Mix well and then allow to cool completely.

To assemble cake, place one layer onto a cake plate and top with 1/3 of filling. Repeat, using all layers; you will have a nice layer of filling on the top. And that's all she wrote!

The cake really doesn't need anything else, just slice and serve. What's also very nice about this is because you fold in those egg whites, you have a wonderful light texture, with a melt in your mouth deliciousness. :)

This is definitely a great choice for a birthday cake.