Recipe: Dairy Free German Chocolate Cake

July 04, 2019

This is a recipe that I had to make. I mean, what could be more German than German chocolate cake, right? Wrong! German chocolate cake is NOT from Germany. Seriously? Pecans and coconut? Neither of those ingredients even grow in Germany. So, why is it called German chocolate cake? Well, the recipe was developed by a cocoa powder company, whose head engineer, who also developed the cocoa refining process, was named Samuel German. The recipe was originally called German's Chocolate Cake. Over the years, the 's was dropped and it was called German Chocolate Cake. But, ironically, German chocolate cake is as American as Apple Pie or Hot Dogs.

This particular recipe is adapted from my mother's recipe. I changed it to be lactose free. In so doing, I actually made it dairy free. It would be vegan if you can figure out a substitute for egg yolks. We came close.

The cake recipe I used was my vegan chocolate cake. The actual cake recipe you use is NOT what makes German chocolate cake special. German chocolate cake is all about the frosting. Some people insist that the cake part is lighter and less sweet than typical chocolate cake, but in my opinion, it's not that big of a difference. Thus, I used the regular vegan chocolate cake recipe I already love so much. Feel free to use your favorite chocolate cake recipe.

If you need a good chocolate cake recipe, find my vegan chocolate cake recipe here: https://americanbakeringermany.blogspot.com/2019/03/vegan-chocolate-cake-recipe.html

German Chocolate Cake Frosting:
2/3 cup (130g) sugar
2/3 cup (150mL) cooking grade coconut milk
1/3 cup (80g) shortening
2 egg yolks
1/2 tsp vanilla extract or 1 1/2 tsp vanilla sugar
1 cup (100g) roughly chopped pecans
1 1/3 cup (80g) shredded coconut

Let's talk about the coconut milk for just a moment. If you aren't concerned about the milk factor, my mother's recipe originally calls for evaporated milk. Feel absolutely free to use that instead, if you would prefer. This was just my way of making the recipe okay for my daughter to eat. If you decide to use coconut milk like I did, make sure it's sold in a can like this and not in a carton for drinking. There are two different kinds of coconut milk. The one in the can has a higher fat content and that's the one you want for this recipe.

Put the first four ingredients in a saucepan (first five if you're using vanilla sugar) and heat them over the stove on medium high heat.

Heat until the shortening completely melts

and the mixture comes to a boil.

Allow it to boil for a couple minutes until it starts to thicken. Maybe three minutes in total.

Then fold in your vanilla (if you haven't already), pecans and shredded coconut.

Allow the mixture to cool. It will continue to thicken as it cools.

And fill and frost your cake with this lovely, decadent frosting.

It's easier to just fill and frost the top, as this frosting is quite soft and does not hold its shape.

But with a little perseverance, you can frost the sides as well.

This recipe was enough to fill and completely frost a seven-inch layer cake. I used every last bit of one recipe, though, so if your cake is larger than mine, you might want to make a double batch.