German Chocolate Cake

For my friend Adam's 20th birthday, I told him I would make whatever kind of cake he wanted. He asked for German Chocolate. I had never made a German Chocolate Cake, but I was excited for the challenge. I used David Lebovitz's recipe, but made boxed chocolate cake to save time and hassle (it doesn't give you quite the same rich chocolate flavor or dense, moist cake, but my friends didn't mind).

German Chocolate Cake

For the cake:

1 box chocolate cake mix

Eggs, oil, water as required by the mix

For the filling:

1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup sugar
3 large egg yolks
3 ounces butter, cut into small pieces
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup pecans, toasted and finely chopped
1 1/2 cups sweetened coconut

For the syrup:
1 cup water
¾ cup sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla

For the chocolate icing:
8 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 ½ ounces unsalted butter
1 cup heavy cream

To make the cake:

1. Make the cake according to the instructions on the box. Cook in 2 9-inch round pans. Allow to cool fully.

To make the filling:

1. Toast the coconut by spreading it out on a baking sheet and baking in a 250F oven until golden brown. You can toast the pecans at the same time if they aren't toasted yet, just make sure you take the coconut out earlier as it will brown faster.

2. Mix the cream, sugar, and egg yolks in a medium saucepan. Put the 3 ounces butter, salt, toasted coconut, and pecan pieces in a large bowl.

3. Heat the cream mixture and cook, stirring constantly (scraping the bottom as you stir) until the mixture begins to thicken and coats the spoon (an instant-read thermometer will read 170°.)

4. Pour the hot custard immediately into the pecan-coconut mixture and stir until the butter is melted. Cool completely to room temperature. (It will thicken.)

To make the syrup:

1. In a small saucepan, heat the sugar and water until the sugar has melted. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla.

To make the icing:

1. Place the 8 ounces of chopped chocolate in a bowl with the corn syrup and 1 ½ ounces of butter.

2. Heat the cream until it just begins to boil. Remove from heat and pour over the chocolate. Let stand one minute, then stir until smooth. Let sit until room temperature.

To assemble the cake:

1. Remove the cake layers from the pans and cut both cake layers in half horizontally, using a serrated bread knife (they will be pretty thin, but that's fine).
2. Set the first cake layer on a cake plate. Brush well with syrup. Spread 1/4 of the coconut filling over the cake layer, making sure to reach to the edges. Set another cake layer on top.

3. Repeat, using the syrup to brush each cake layer, then spreading 1/4 of the coconut filling over each layer, including the top.

4. Ice the sides with the chocolate icing, then pipe a decorative border of chocolate icing around the top, encircling the coconut topping. As David Lebovitz recommends, use all the icing, even though it seems like a lot.