Birthday Cake - German Chocolate Cake

My husband's birthday cake request every year is German Chocolate.

Honestly, I used to have German Chocolate cake. Canned frosting that was oddly textured. Having made it now several times with fresh ingredients, I can honestly say that it is growing on me.



Ok, so I still cheat on the cake and use a mix for the cake. But boxed cake mix usually turns out quite nice. And yes, I made a heart-shaped cake. My husband is a Valentine's baby. I bought a heart-shaped cake pan years ago, and it gets plenty of use.

Not everyone in the family is in love with the coconut pecan frosting that differentiates this cake from every other chocolate cake, so I made sure to start with the best chocolate frosting and serve the coconut-pecan on the side.

For the coconut-pecan frosting, I use the recipe from the America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook. To ice the cake, I made Bunny Frosting.

Bunny Frosting


Ingredients

• 8 oz dark chocolate Easter bunnies. (A pair of formerly 6-oz bunnies, now headless, is slightly more than enough)
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

	1. Chop the chocolate into small pieces and place in a large heat-proof mixing bowl.
	2. In a separate heat-proof mixing bowl or measuring cup, microwave the cream until hot, about 1.5 minutes (I use the "beverage" button).
	3. Add extract to hot cream then pour hot cream over the chopped chocolate
	4. Whisk until all the chocolate is melted. It should look like shiny brown fudgy syrup at this point.
	Frosting options: Pour warm ganache over cake Cool ganache until it is thick and spread like normal frosting Whisk with an electric mixer until fluffy and then ice Skip the cake and eat plain or use as a fudge sauce for ice cream or other desserts