{{Short description|Layered chocolate cake named after Samuel German}} {{Not to be confused with|text=the German Black Forest gateau}} {{Infobox food | name = German chocolate cake | image = GermanChocolateCake.jpg | image_size = 250px | caption = A German chocolate cake | alternate_name = German's chocolate cake | country = United States | region = Texas | creator = Unknown | year = 1950s | course = Dessert | type = Layer cake | served = | main_ingredient = Chocolate cake, icing (egg yolks, evaporated milk, coconut and pecan) | variations = | calories = | other = | no_recipes = true | no_commons = true }}
'''German chocolate cake''', originally '''German's chocolate cake''', is a layered chocolate cake filled and topped with a coconut-pecan frosting. Originating in the United States, it was named after English-American chocolate maker Samuel German, who developed a formulation of dark baking chocolate that came to be used in the cake recipe. Sweet baking chocolate is traditionally used for the flavor of the cake, but few recipes call for it today. The filling or topping is a custard made with egg yolks and evaporated milk; once the custard is cooked, coconut and pecans are stirred in.<ref>{{cite web |author=Elizabeth McWhorter |title=German Chocolate Cake recipe |work= My Home Cooking |archive-date =2010-05-15 |url=http://www.myhomecooking.net/german-chocolate-cake/German-Chocolate-Cake-Recipe.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100515175153/http://www.myhomecooking.net/german-chocolate-cake/German-Chocolate-Cake-Recipe.htm |access-date=1 March 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
==History==
The earliest known published recipe for this cake appeared in 1956, in the Dallas newspaper The Irving News Record, where it was listed as "Summer German Chocolate Cake". It was submitted by Daisy Pearce, who obtained the recipe from her daughter, Francis Beth (Montgomery) Tomlinson.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Irving News Record from Irving, Texas |work= The Irving News Record|url= https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-irving-news-record/32463149/|access-date=24 June 2025 |date=10 May 1956|page= 17}}</ref> It used the "German's Sweet Chocolate" baking chocolate introduced over a century earlier in 1853 by American baker Samuel German for the Baker's Chocolate Company of Boston, Massachusetts.<ref name="snopes_ref"/>
In 1957, another recipe for "German's Chocolate Cake" appeared as the "Recipe of the Day" in ''The Dallas Morning News''.<ref name="Sammarco">{{cite book |last=Sammarco | first=Anthony Mitchell | title=The Baker Chocolate Company: A Sweet History | location=Charleston, SC | publisher=History Press | year=2009 |isbn=9781596293533 |url=https://archive.org/details/bakerchocolateco00samm | url-access=registration | page=[https://archive.org/details/bakerchocolateco00samm/page/81 81] | quote=george clay chocolate. | access-date=1 March 2013}}</ref> It was created by Lucy Clay,<ref>{{cite web |title=Dallas City Directory, 1957 |url=https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth806909/m1/564/|access-date=24 June 2025 |date=1957}}</ref> frequently cited as Mrs. George Clay, a homemaker from Dallas, Texas.<ref name="Sammarco" />
General Foods, which owned the Baker's brand at the time, took notice of the recipe and distributed the cake recipe to other newspapers in the country. Sales of Baker's Chocolate are said to have increased by as much as 73% and the cake became a national staple. The possessive form ''German's'' was dropped in subsequent publications, forming the "German Chocolate Cake" identity and giving the false impression of a German origin.<ref name="snopes_ref">{{cite web |title=Fact Check: Is German Chocolate Cake Really German? |url=https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/germanely-chocolate-cake/ |first=Barbara |last=Mikkelson |work=Snopes |date=December 31, 1998 |access-date=1 March 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=Is German Chocolate Cake Really German? | url=http://www.kitchenproject.com/html/Is_German_Chocolate_Cake_Really_German.html | work=Kitchen Project | date=30 May 2007 | access-date=1 March 2013 | archive-date=12 November 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112025235/http://www.kitchenproject.com/html/Is_German_Chocolate_Cake_Really_German.html | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | author= Linda Stradley| title=German Chocolate Cake - History of German Chocolate Cake | url=http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/Cakes/GermanChocolateCake.htm | work=Whats Cooking America | year=2007 | access-date=1 March 2013}}</ref>
In 1958, Mrs. Jackie Huffines’ recipe for “Samuel German Chocolate Cake” was published in General Foods’ cookbook.
In a 1959 General Foods Co. newsletter, a St. Louis homemaker reported that she was given a similar recipe in the 1920s but couldn’t bake it at the time because she couldn’t afford the ingredients during the Depression.<ref>{{cite web |title=German in Name, American in Origins |url= https://tastecooking.com/german-in-name-american-in-origins/|access-date=24 June 2025 |date=22 January 2018}}</ref>
==Hawaii== thumb|Chantilly cake in Hawaii Popular throughout Hawaii is the '''Chantilly cake''', a modified German chocolate cake without coconut or nuts in its frosting, although it is occasionally topped with macadamia nuts. Otherwise, recipes between German chocolate cake and Chantilly cake are nearly identical.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Shimabukuro |first1=Betty |title=Yummy chantilly frosting requires real butter and a double boiler |url=https://archives.starbulletin.com/2001/06/06/features/request.html |website=archives.starbulletin.com |publisher=Honolulu Star-Bulletin |access-date=23 September 2023 |date=6 June 2001}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Tom |first1=Lynette Lo |title=Back in the Day: A Maui baker has perfected the luscious, buttery frosting for chantilly cake |url=https://www.staradvertiser.com/2021/01/19/food/back-in-the-day-food/back-in-the-day-a-maui-baker-has-perfected-the-luscious-buttery-frosting-for-chantilly-cake/ |website=Honolulu Star-Advertiser |access-date=23 September 2023 |date=20 January 2021}}</ref> This frosting, also known as "Chantilly," can also be applied on cream puffs.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Chan |first1=Kathy YL |title=9 Must Eat Hawai'i Desserts |url=https://www.eater.com/2017/10/25/16533108/mochi-shave-ice-malasadas-hawaii-desserts |website=Eater |access-date=23 September 2023 |language=en |date=25 October 2017}}</ref> Despite its name, it does not contain Chantilly cream.
==See also== * Black Forest cake, or Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte, a chocolate- and cherry-flavored cake that is of contested German origin * List of desserts * Sheet cake
==References== {{Reflist|2}}
==Further reading== * {{cite web|title=Celebrating Not-So-German Chocolate Cake|language=en|format=Audio with transcript |work=All Things Considered |publisher=NPR|date=23 Jun 2007|url=https://www.npr.org/transcripts/11331541}}
{{Cakes}} {{Chocolate desserts}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:German Chocolate Cake}} Category:Chocolate desserts Category:Cuisine of the Southern United States Category:American cakes Category:Layer cakes Category:Custard desserts Category:Chocolate cakes