German Chocolate Cake

Happy Birthday To Me!! Well, that was 3 weeks ago now but still, this was my birthday cake recipe so we'll keep the Happy Birthday! :) To be honest, I don't even really like German Chocolate Cake, however we were watching a 'Throw down with Bobby Flay' and the recipe was for this cake. I watched and drooled and decided I had to try my hand at this. I'm not going to lie, this cake required a lot of work and took a long time. However, I was in the mood to bake so I spent the morning on it and believe me, it was well worth the effort!

Happy Birthday to me!

GERMAN CHOCOLATE CAKE

What you need for the cake: 
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon fine salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter (at room temperature) plus more for pans
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons good quality cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups brewed black coffee (at room temperature)
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 

Topping/Filling:
1 1/2 cups evaporated milk 
3 egg yolks, slightly beaten
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup butter
2 1/2 cups flaked coconut
2 cups chopped pecans (I think I would have gone lighter the next time; maybe 1.5 cups. I also would have chopped them finer than what they were in the bag.)

Ganache:
8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped 

2 tablespoons light corn syrup
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup heavy cream (in the future, I would go a little lighter with this; maybe 3/4 cup because I would have liked the ganache a little thicker)

To make the cake:
1. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Butter and flour two round cake pans and line with parchment paper. (I know this is a tedious process but it's well worth it because your cakes will out cleanly and easily). Also, this is probably pretty obvious to all of you but since I didn't know (had to ask my mom!)-trace your cake pans on the parchment paper and cut out for a perfect fit. 

2. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.

3. Melt the 12 tablespoons of butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the cocoa powder and cook for 1 minute. Remove from heat, add the sugars and whisk until the sugar is dissolved.

4. Next, add the coffee, buttermilk, eggs and vanilla extract and continue to whisk until smooth and just combined. 

Slowly add the buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture until combined and divide the batter evenly between the two pans.

5. Bake on the middle rack until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached (but still firm) about 45-50 minutes. Let cool in the pans on a baking rack for 20 minutes. Next, invert the cakes onto the baking rack (should come right out if you buttered, floured and lined) and let cool for at least 1 hour. 
6. While your cakes are cooling you can make the filling by combining the evaporated milk, slightly beaten egg yolks, granulated sugar, brown sugar, vanilla and butter in a large saucepan over low heat. When the butter melts, raise the heat to medium, stirring constantly. The mixture will thicken and bubble after 10 to 12 minutes. 

 

 7. Remove from the heat. Add the coconut and pecans and cool before frosting the cakes.

8. To assemble the cake, slice each cake in half horizontally with a serrated knife. Put 1 cake layer on a platter or plate and spread 1/3 of the frosting evenly over the top, repeat to make 3 layers and top with the remaining topping/frosting top side up (this means you need to pay attention to which pieces you're stacking...save the prettiest one for the top- even though it does get covered so if you make a mistake, it's okay :) ) 

Cake all assembled without the chocolate ganache.

9. Finally, you need to make the chocolate ganache frosting. To do so, place the 8 ounces of chopped chocolate in a bowl with the corn syrup and 3 tablespoons of butter.
10. In a small sauce pan, heat the cream until it just begins to boil. Turn heat to low and add your chocolate mixture. Stir until just smooth and then remove from heat. Let the frosting sit until room temperature (I then put mine in the fridge to firm up a bit as I was hoping to pipe it...if I had used less cream it would have piped better.)
11. Spread the ganache around the sides of your cake until smooth and all edges are covered. Then pipe or spread a rim of chocolate around the top edge of the cake. 

I'm sorry, I can't get this to turn the right way but you get the idea!

ENJOY!!

Texas Chocolate Chip Cookies

Happy 4th of July weekend everyone!! As usual, things have been a bit busy around the Hlavek household and with some travel mixed in it's made it difficult to find time for the kitchen. Nevertheless, last weekend I wanted to use up some pantry items so I went on a hunt for a new recipe. I know these sound weird- believe me, I didn't think I'd like them either. However, they are surprisingly tasty, especially the day or two after you bake them! I had so many of these stinking Jiffy corn mixes in my pantry that I just had to use one or two of them up. I figured I would give these a whirl and, worst case, just bring them into work if we didn't like them. That didn't happen- we ate them all up right here!!

TEXAS CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

What you need for the cookies:
4 Tablespoons of butter (softened)
3 Tablespoons of sugar (I did heaping tablespoons)
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
1 Jiffy box corn muffin mix
1 cup chocolate chips (again, I was a bit generous here)
Sea Salt for sprinkling

To make the cookies:
1. Mix your softened butter with sugar. 
2. Mix in the egg and vanilla until combined.
3. Next, add your box corn muffin mix and the chocolate chips and mix until all is incorporated.

4. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes until the dough is stiffened.
5. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
6. While your oven is preheating you can start to form your balls of cookie dough on a parchment lined cookie sheet. 

7. Bake for 10-12 minutes until the edges are golden brown. Cool on the cookie sheet about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. Sprinkle a teeny bit of sea salt on top as soon as they come out of the oven- I swear this makes the cookies!

ENJOY!