Hi chocolate lovers! This is Zainab from Blahnik Baker bringing you a decadent chocolate cake today. To be precise, four layers of moist chocolate cake soaked in rum syrup and filled with sweet coconut custard filling and wrapped beautifully in a chocolate ganache frosting. Yup, it’s a German chocolate cake; a classic chocolate (and coconut) lover’s dream cake.
Despite the long instructions, this cake is very EASY to assemble and you will not regret making it for a loved one. The chocolate cake bakes two 9-inch layer cakes that you can slice horizontally for more layers or you can leave as is. The rum syrup adds a great flavor and is used to soak the cake layers…nicely infused into the cake. The filling here is a coconut custard, made with unsweetened coconut flakes, eggs and cream. Adding pecans gives a great crunch as well. Finally the icing is a rich chocolate ganache, that’s chilled until thickened. Just a wonderful, decadent cake!
I made this cake for my Uncle Wayne as a special birthday request and we all loved it. Since it was a birthday cake, I didn’t get pictures of the inside for you but you can imagine it is filled with the coconut-pecan-filling that you see on top of the cake.
I hope you enjoy this cake as much as we did. Happy Baking!
German Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
For Cake:
- 4 ounces semi sweet chocolate, chopped
- 6 tablespoons water
- 4 large eggs, separated
- 1 ½ cups sugar, divided
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
For Rum Syrup:
- 1 cup water
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons dark rum
For filling:
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3 large egg yolks
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 cup pecans
- 2 cups unsweetened coconut flakes, toasted
For Icing:
- 8 ounce semisweet chocolate, chopped
- 2 tablespoon corn syrup
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 cup heavy cream
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans
- In a small microwaveable bowl, combine the chopped chocolate with water. Melt the chocolate in the microwave, stirring until smooth.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, whip the egg whites until soft peaks form. Slowly add in ¼ cup granulated sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. Transfer the egg whites to a clean bowl and return stand mixer bowl to mixer.
- Beat the butter and 1 ¼ cup granulated sugar together on medium-high speed for 5 minutes, until light and fluffy. Beat in the melted chocolate until combined. Add in the egg yolks, one at time and mixing each until combined. Beat in the vanilla extract.
- In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix in half of the dry ingredients into the batter on low speed. Mix in the buttermilk until combined and add in the rest of the dry ingredients. Mix until combined. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the egg whites into the batter.
- Divide batter evenly into the prepared pans and bake until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Let cakes cool in pan for 10 minutes before transferring to cooling racks.
- In the meantime, make the syrup and filling. For syrup, combine the water and sugar in a small saucepan set over medium heat. Heat until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and whisk in the rum. Transfer to a small bowl and let cool.
- For the filling, combine the cream, sugar and egg yolks in a medium saucepan. Heat and mix occasionally until the mixture starts to thicken and coats the back of a spoon, 3-4 minutes. In a separate mixing bowl, place the butter, pecans and coconut flakes. Pour the hot cream mixture over and stir until butter melts. Let cool completely.
- For the frosting: place the chocolate, corn syrup and butter in a medium bowl. Heat the heavy cream just until it boils and pour over the chocolate in the bowl. Let sit for 2 minutes then stir slowly until smooth. Chill until firm for decorating.
- To assemble cake: place the first layer of cake on a serving plate. Brush thoroughly with rum syrup. Then top with a 1/3 of the filling, spread evenly. Top with the other cake layer and soak the top and sides with the rum syrup. Frost the cake with the icing and top with the remaining filling.
- Decorate as desired.
Notes
recipe adapted from David Lebovitz
More Chocolate Cake Recipes:
Classic Chocolate Cake Recipe:
Stephanie says
Hi Roxana, the German Chocolate Cake looks gorgeous. I would like to make it soon, but the recipe for the filling did not include the amount of butter. Now I love butter, almost as much as chocolate, but I know that recipes depend on the proper ratio of ingredients to perform well. Based on my love of butter, if I wing it, there could be a disaster. Would you please post an update on the filling recipe? Thank you.
Stephanie
Joanne says
This cake looks gorgeous, and I love the rum added to it!
NJ-Cook4you says
WoW that cake looks delisious. Very nice, thank for sharing the recipe!