German Chocolate Cake with German Chocolate Frosting

It's called a German Chocolate Cake, but zero German chocolate was used. So what does that make it? Really it's just a good ol' rich chocolate cake with that traditional coconut and pecan frosting. The frosting is CRAZY good. My 5 year old took a spoon to the pan and sat on a bucket in the kitchen scraping off the sides until there was absolutely no trace left.

So, legit German Cake or not, this recipe will be used and used again in our house! Hop over to A Dash of Sanity to check out the background on this amazing cake!

What you will need:

Cake

• 2 C white sugar
• 2 C all purpose flour
• 3/4 c cocoa
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 C milk
• 1/2 C vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 C boiling water

Frosting

• 1 C evaporated milk
• 1 C white sugar
• 3 egg yolk, beaten with 1 tsp water
• 1/2 C butter
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 C chopped pecans
• 1 C coconut
• 1 T cornstarch

Directions:

Cake

• Preheat oven to 350*
• Grease 2 9x9 round cake pans, 3 8x8 round cake pans, or 1 13x9 cake pan (I just made 2 9x9 cakes)
• Add all dry cake ingredients into a mixing bowl or Kitchen-Aid and blend well
• Add all wet ingredients except for boiling water one by one and blend well
• Add in boiling water little by little until mixed in
• Blend for about 1 minute after water has been mixed in
• Pour even amount of cake batter into each cake pan
• Bake about 30-35 minutes
• Allow to cool completely

Frosting

• In a sauce pan, mix evaporated milk and sugar together
• Add in cornstarch, mix well
• Add sugar and eggs, blend well
• Bring to a slow boil
• Start stirring constantly for 12 minutes while it thickens
• Add in vanilla and mix in
• Remove from heat and stir in pecans and coconut
• Let it cool before frosting

Caramelized Almond French Toast

I had French toast on the dinner menu tonight, but I wasn't feeling very thrilled about it by the time dinner time rolled around. I remembered this caramel sauce I use with my cinnamon rolls and thought it might be yummy to incorporate into the french toast somehow!

I wasn't positive how it was going to turn out with the almond flavoring and the caramel but OOOOO it turned out GOOD! No syrup necessary! It has such an amazing deep flavor. Aah.

What you will need:

French Toast

• 8 slices bread
• 4 eggs
• 1 C milk
• 2 tsp Almond extract

Caramel sauce 

• 1/2 C packed brown sugar
• 5 T butter
• 1 tsp water

Directions:

French toast

• Whisk together eggs, milk and almond extract in a baking dish
• On medium high heat, butter a pan or griddle 
• Dip each side of each slice of bread into the egg mixture
• Cook each side until golden brown and cooked through

Caramel Sauce

• Stir all ingredients together and heat until creamy and smooth
• Dip one side of each bread piece into the caramel sauce
• Place that same side back onto the pan/griddle and cook for about one minute

Fruit Salsa & Cinnamon Chips

I've made this a few times now and love it more each time. This particular recipe is a larger quantity, so you could cut this in half and still have plenty. I also doubled the brown sugar (just personal preference). It's been fun to play with. One thing to note, is to keep an eye on your cinnamon chips in the oven! Although they still taste okay burned, I don't recommend it :).

What you will need:

•  6 kiwi's, peeled and diced
• 16 oz. strawberries, diced
• 8 oz. raspberries
• 3 apples, peeled and diced
• 5 tortillas
• cinnamon sugar
• 4 T melted butter
• 1 T. sugar
• 1 T. brown sugar
• 1 1/2 T. fruit preserves (I used my strawberry freezer jam)

Directions:

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
• Spread a spoonful of melted butter around a tortilla
• Sprinkle with desired amount of cinnamon sugar
• Using a pizza cutter, slice the tortilla into wedges
• Repeat with all tortilla's and place them on a greased cookie sheet
• Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes
• While they are baking, dice up your fruit and combine into large bowl
• Mix together the sugar, brown sugar and fruit preserves in small bowl
• Toss the mixture with the fruit

Cinnamon Roll Cake

This is very...very....very good. Even if mine ended up a tad overdone (wasn't paying attention..what's new?) I will be making this again. I know it looks like a lot of work, but it's super easy and whips up fast. Also, I highly recommend pouring some glaze onto the cake when it's still really warm and eating it that way. It's basically heaven.

I'm sure it wouldn't look so transparent if I'd waited for it to cool off before glazing it, but I couldn't help myself.

What you will need:

CAKE-

• 3 C Flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 C sugar
• 4 tsp. baking powder
• 1 1/2 C milk
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 C butter, melted

TOPPING-

• 1 C butter, softened
• 1 C brown sugar
• 2 T flour
• 1 T cinnamon (I used 1 1/2 T)

GLAZE-

• 2 C powdered sugar
• 5 T milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla (after using 1 tsp. I tested it and decided it needed more, I think I ended up using more like 1 T!)

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
• Using a mixer/stand mixer, combine cake batter ingredients in order
• Pour cake batter into a greased 13x9 cake pan
• In a separate bowl, mix together the butter, brown sugar, flour and cinnamon until well combined
• Using a cookie scooper, drop the topping onto the cake batter in various places
• Using a butter knife, swirl the topping and cake batter
• Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes
• While it's baking, mix together the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla to make your glaze
• Once the cake is cooled, pour the glaze over the cake