German's Chocolate Cupcakes and Pecan Coconut Frosting

We love German's Chocolate Cake with pecan coconut frosting. A treat for me as a child -- baked only for company Sunday dinners. The German's Chocolate Cake was a 3 layered cake -- not two like the rest of our Sunday cakes. It was definitely a company cake!

The best part of German's chocolate cake to my childhood thinking, was licking both the frosting and the cake bowls!

We always called it German's -- not German for it is named not for a country but for a man -- a Mr. German. And it was in 1957, when a Dallas housewife submitted a recipe to the newspaper for "German's Chocolate Cake". From then on, the rest is history!

But I didn't want to do a cake today and so I took an easier route by making cupcakes. Inspired, perhaps by Ina Garten's German Chocolate cupcakes in the latest issue of House Beautiful.
Alas, I didn't use that recipe but the original one from my mother -- perhaps the same recipe that was originally submitted to the Dallas newspaper. Mother was an ardent clipper of newspaper recipes!


And, of course, you can't have German's Chocolate Cupcakes without the pecan coconut frosting. Like cream cheese frosting is to carrot cake (the cake is only the carrier for the frosting) so perhaps is German's chocolate cake to pecan coconut icing!

It's Friday again, and we all love to share our recipes at Designs by Gollum. Click to visit and see what else is cooking this Friday!

GERMAN'S CHOCOLATE CAKE
WITH PECAN COCONUT FROSTING

4 ounces Baker's German's Sweet Chocolate, melted and cooled
2 1/3 c. cake flour
1 1 /2 c. sugar
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
2/3 c. butter, room temperature
1 cup buttermilk, divided
1 t. vanilla
2 eggs

Grease two 9 inch layer cake pans and line bottoms with waxed paper. Sift together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Cream butter and sugar; add flour mixture, 3/4 c. buttermilk and vanilla. Stir until dry ingredients are moistened; beat at medium speed of electric mixer for 2 minutes, scraping bowl from time to time. Add melted chocolate, eggs, and remaining 1/4 c. buttermilk. Beat 1 minute longer. Pour batter into prepared cake pans. Bake in a preheated 350 oven for about 35 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pans on rack for 15 minutes. Remove and cool completely on racks. Frost with pecan coconut frosting.

Pecan Coconut Frosting

3/4 c. evaporated milk
1/2 c. light brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1/2 c. butter
1 t. vanilla
3 egg yolks, slightly beaten
1 1/3 c. Baker's Angel Flake coconut
1 cup chopped pecans

In a saucepan over medium heat, combine milk, sugars, butter and vanilla. Bring to a full boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat (mixture might appear a bit curdled). Quickly stir a small amount of the hot liquid into the beaten egg yolks; return egg yolk mixture to the hot mixture in saucepan and blend well. Return to a boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in coconut and pecans. Cool to spreading consistency, beating occasionally.