German Chocolate Poke Cake

I've been making LeDonna some sort of German chocolate dessert for a few years now - hopefully she still likes German chocolate because I haven't even asked her if she wants a change hahaha. This year I wondered if a German chocolate poke cake was a thing...and sure enough, found lots of recipes for it. So that's what I did and it turned out amazing, although I had my doubts...

It took much longer to bake then the recipe called for and I really worried that the cake would either get dried out from baking longer, or not be baked thru because it just never felt done. I pulled it out after 50 minutes with fingers crossed it'd be good. And luckily it turned out great. I didn't weigh it but it's seriously heavy; my friend Sydney (she's 8) tried to lift it from under the table where I had it "hiding" during dinner and struggled to pick it up! It's very dense and rich, almost brownie like but very very moist.

I followed a recipe I found here for most of it, but I did the ganache layer using my standard recipe.

Ingredients:

Cake ~

• 1 box Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix
• 1 (3.4) box Chocolate Fudge Instant Pudding
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup sour cream
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1 T. vanilla
• 1/4 t. kosher salt
• 1 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips, plus an additional handful for garnish on top of the frosting if desired

Filling ~

• 14 ounces sweetened condensed milk

Ganache ~

• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 8 oz. (1 1/3 cups) semi-sweet chocolate bar, chopped or chocolate chips

Frosting ~

• 1 cup evaporated milk
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 large egg yolks
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• ]1 t. vanilla
• 1/4 t. salt
• 1 cup chopped pecan pieces
• 1 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut (note you can use sweetened but I prefer unsweetened - this cake is already so sweet)

Cake directions:

Preheat oven to 350'.In a large bowl, combine all of the cake ingredients until fully mixed and pour into a greased 13x9" pan. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes (as I noted above, this easily took 50 minutes and still seemed like it might be underdone but I pulled it at 50). Remove from the oven and poke holes all over the cake with a big skewer. While the cake is still hot, pour and spread the sweetened condensed milk over the top of the cake, it will soak in while the cake cools.

Meanwhile, while the cake is baking and then cooling, prepare the ganache by heating the heavy cream in a glass measuring cup in the microwave (or on the stove top if you prefer). Place the chopped chocolate in a bowl, pour the hot cream over the chocolate and stir until the chocolate is melted. Let it rest for a while, it'll thicken up as it cools down. Once it's thick and creamy, spread evenly over the top of the cooled cake.

Top with coconut-pecan frosting and sprinkle on additional mini chips if desired (I like how it looks). Refrigerate until ready to serve. 

Frosting Directions:

Combine the evaporated milk, sugar, egg yolks, butter, vanilla, and salt in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture thickens, about 10-12 minutes. Remove from heat.  Add the coconut and pecans, stir to combine. Set aside until ready to use. Before putting on the cake, give the frosting a good stir to loosen and fluff it up a bit. 

I have to tell you that I had the nicest compliment from a stranger about this cake! We took it to a restaurant for her birthday and gave pieces of it to the waitstaff (I always try to leave some cake since they usually bring extra plates, a knife, and silverware which is just more work for them!), the manager came to the table and asked who baked the cake, he wanted to shake my hand and say it was the best cake they've ever been given and everyone was in the kitchen devouring it. Hmmm, now that I'm writing that, it's occurring to me that maybe it's the best because no one has ever given them cake before? Whatever, I'm taking the compliment hahahah!

9.18.18: plant hanger
9.18.15: laundry room tip

German Chocolate Cheesecake

Every year I make LeDonna something German chocolate for her birthday - in the past I've made layered cake, bread, stuffed cupcakes, this year I decided to try a German chocolate cheesecake (because I'm now on a cheesecake roll). I was a tiny bit hesitant to experiment with a different recipe after the other two (plain and strawberry swirl) turned out so flawless (!) but knowing that it was going to be topped with a thick layer of coconut-pecan frosting I wasn't as worried about it cracking.

It's a similar recipe though with 4 eggs and a bit of flour (or corn starch) and her technique is along the same lines with turning the oven off for a bit, and then cracking the door for a while before removing it from the oven to cool. This one also turned out great tho - no cracks, creamy and smooth and very rich. My new-found love of making cheesecakes continues!

Before I added the frosting I weighed the cake because it's so heavy and I was curious - 4.5 pounds. And then I added the frosting and weighed again - 6 pounds! 6! Goodness. I texted LeDonna that she needed to have a party to have help eating all of this dessert ;)

I looked at a bunch of different recipes before deciding on this one from Life Love and Sugar, click here to see the original source. I didn't change a thing so am just copying her recipe for you (and me, so I don't misplace it for next time - and there will be a next time!). Oh wait, I did change a couple things - no drizzle of chocolate sauce, I used unsweetened coconut flakes, and I made the filling in a food processor because I read somewhere that doing that versus in a mixer creates less air in the filling which helps keep down cracking. Don't know if that's true, but it didn't crack so...

You make a crust out of oreo cookie crumbs - I bought a small package of oreo thins and put all of them in the food processor, it took the whole package which was 40 thins to make 2 cups (actually it was 39 thins because Dave ate one before I could stop him!).

INGREDIENTS

COCONUT PECAN TOPPING 

• 4 egg yolks
• 12 oz can evaporated milk
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup butter, cubed
• 2 2/3 cups sweetened shredded coconut
• 1 1/4 cups chopped pecans

CRUST

• 2 cups Oreo crumbs (leave filling in Oreos)
• 4 tbsp butter, melted

CHEESECAKE FILLING 

• 24 ounces packages of cream cheese, room temperature (three 8 oz packages)
• 1 cup sugar
• 8 oz german chocolate, melted
• 1 tbsp flour
• 3 tbsp cocoa
• 4 eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

INSTRUCTIONS

COCONUT PECAN TOPPING 

1. In a large saucepan, combine the egg yolks, milk and vanilla and whisk until well combined.

2. Add sugar and butter and cook on medium heat for 12-15 minutes, or until thickened (almost pudding-like) and golden brown, stirring constantly.

3. Remove from heat and add coconut and pecans. Mix well.

4. Allow to cool completely.

CRUST

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees.

2. In a small bowl, combine crust ingredients and mix well.

3. Press mixture into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch springform pan.

4. Bake crust for 10 minutes then remove and set aside.

5. Cover the outsides of the pan with aluminum foil and set aside.

CHEESECAKE FILLING

1. Reduce oven to 300 degrees.

2. In a large bowl, blend the cream cheese, sugar, chocolate, flour and cocoa with an electric mixer until combined (Use low speed to keep less air from getting into the batter, which can cause cracks). Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

3. Add eggs one at a time, beating slowly and scraping the sides of the bowl after each addition.

4. Add the sour cream and vanilla extract. Beat on low speed until well combined.

5. Put a little bit of the cheesecake filling in the bottom of the crust. Then add about 1 1/2 cups of coconut pecan topping and spread evenly.

6. Pour remaining cheesecake filling into the springform pan and spread evenly. The pan will be very full.

7. Place springform pan inside another pan. Fill outside pan with enough warm water to go about halfway up the sides of the springform pan. The water should not go above the top edge of the aluminum foil on the springform pan.

8. Bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes.

9. Turn off heat and leave cheesecake in oven with door closed for 20 minutes.

10. Crack oven door and leave the cheesecake in the oven for another 20 minutes or until set. This cooling process helps the cheesecake cool slowly to prevent cracks.

11. Remove cheesecake from oven and chill.

12. Once the cheesecake is completely cool, remove springform pan sides from cheesecake and place cheesecake on a serving plate.

13. Top cheesecake with remaining coconut pecan topping and drizzle with chocolate sauce.

#lifeloveandsugar.com 

one year ago: paper sunflowers in wine corks
two years ago: wood box with chalkboard message
three years ago: the hulk sized zucchini!