German's Chocolate Cake with a rich Chocolate Ganache

It's not very pretty (although it does have a rustic sort of charm), but where it counts...


It's ooey, it's especially Gooey and it is the richest, moistest, most chocolate filled German's Chocolate Cake you may ever taste.


BTW, did you know this is not a German (the country) recipe at all.  It is named for the German Chocolate baking bar that was originally used in making the recipe.  It first appeared in a Texas newspaper and was distributed around the country by the German chocolate folks.


But that's beside the point...


German's Chocolate Cake is my friend and neighbor, Jim's, favorite cake.  So, for Jim's 52nd birthday, he deserves his favorite cake!


I did step it up a notch with a thick layer of creamy sweet chocolate ganache in each layer, oozing and gooey-ing out the sides

My gods, this was indeed a great cake...


But first, I interrupt this recipe for a paid commercial from my sponser (well, they paid me in nuts, which is just as good as cash to me!!!).


The frosting in a German's Chocolate Cake has pecans as an ingredient. OK, here's that fair use and warning the good folks of the US Gov't have asked (ordered) bloggers to do.  I got the nuts FREE!!!  BWAHAHAHA FREE I SAY!  Yeap, the truly very good folks at the OH NUTS company contacted me and offered a few pounds of their nuts.  And Oh Boy, did OH NUTS ever come through for me.  I spent a few minutes navigating around their mail order site.  It was very easy to follow and amazing in the amount of products they carry.  Not just nuts (including the very rare unsalted cashews that didn't last long enough in my pantry to make it to any recipes.  Talk about good eats!), anyway, not just nuts, but dried fruits, chocolates, granola, candy and even specialty ice cream.  Take a minute and look over their site.  Very reasonable prices, easy to navigate site and a tremendous selection of bulk and gift items.


And now I am going to interrupt the recipe and commercial with a blogger tip...

Be a good blogger tip of the day... 

One of the few tangible advantages of blogging is on rare occasions we are rewarded with freebies.  If you like the product and use it, do yourself and the company that generously acknowledged your hard work as a blogger and do a post with or about the product.  If more companies see product placement ads in the blog world, more and more companies will offer bigger and better "deals".  I always see contests where freebies are offered, but rarely see a follow up post from the winners.  It's polite, it encourages others and it's good karma for you. 

'Course, if you don't like the product, drop them a polite note thanking them for the opportunity and shut up about it (on the blog).  Like your Mama taught you, "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all". 

Just my opinion, I could be wrong (but I'm not)...

But the OH NUTS company is VERY easy to write great things about.  Terrific products, FAST shipping, very reasonable prices and their nuts are terrific.  It was a shame to smash up the pecans for the frosting.  I got a bag with HUGE pecans, all beautiful, and would have made great presentation layer for a pecan pie.


But, the recipe called for smashed nuts, so smash I did.


Here's what I did...


Ingredients for the cake...

4 ounces German sweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup water
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 eggs, separated
1 tsp  vanilla extract
2-1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk

FROSTING:
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 cup evaporated milk
3 sticks butter
5 egg yolks, beaten
2 cups flaked coconut
1 1/2 cup chopped pecans
2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Chocolate Ganache
1 cup Heavy Cream
8 ounce semisweet chocolate

Directions

• Line three greased 9-in. round baking pans with waxed paper. Grease waxed paper and set aside. In small saucepan, melt chocolate with water over low heat; cool.
• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in 4 egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Blend in melted chocolate and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; add to the creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk, beating well after each addition.
• In a small bowl and with clean beaters, beat the 4 egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold a fourth of the egg whites into the creamed mixture; fold in remaining whites.
• Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.
• For frosting, in a small saucepan, heat the sugar, milk, butter and egg yolks over medium-low heat until mixture is thickened and golden brown, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat. Stir in the pecans and vanilla extract. Cool until thick enough to spread. 
• In a small sauce pan, heat the cream and melt the chocolate; stir until smooth.  The ganache will begin to thicken as it cools.  Assemble the cake before it gets too thick (but you want it a little thick).
• between each layer, pour 1/3rd of the chocolate ganache sauce on the cooled cake.  Add 1/3rd of the icing.  Sprinkle the coconut over the icing.
• repeat all three layers.  As you press down on the cake, the chocolate begins to ooze down the sides.
• When you get the look you like (rustic oozing ooey gooey was what I was after, you could make it neater if you like that look), put the cake in the fridge to allow the ganache to harden properly.

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