German Chocolate Ganache Cake

Remember the iCake I made for my husband for his birthday last year? If you missed it, click over ... it was one of a kind. It was a lot fun to make, but what a labor of love rolling and cutting all that fondant to make the Apps!

This year, I made him his favorite cake-- a German Chocolate Cake, but with a twist. Normally, German Chocolate Cake is made with layers of chocolate cake that are filled and coated with coconut pecan frosting. This sophisticated version that I made today still has two layers of chocolate cake with a coconut pecan filling, but instead of having the coconut pecan frosting coating the outside of the cake ... the cake is drenched in chocolate ganache. Ooo la la.

The cake, coconut pecan filling and the chocolate ganache are all made from scratch, so this cake turned out to be more labor intensive than the iCake! But he's so worth it. ;)

Happy Birthday to my sexy, smart and fun husband.

I love you.

Recipe adapted from the Martha Stewart Living recipe for Inside-Out German Chocolate Cake.

German Chocolate Ganache Cake
10 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
2 teaspoons cocoa powder
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Coconut-Pecan Filling
1 fourteen ounce can sweetened condensed milk
10 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 large egg yolks
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans
2 cups shredded coconut

Chocolate Ganache
12 oz. package semisweet chocolate chips
2 cups heavy cream

To prepare the cake:

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Place butter, chocolate chips and cocoa powder in a heatproof bowl and set bowl over a saucepan of barely simmering water.


Stir the ingredients frequently as mixture melts.

Stir until smooth and remove from heat.


At this point, you may want to dip a spoon into the chocolate and butter mixture to taste. You know... a girl's gotta make sure her ingredients are top quality and oooh mmmmm so good, right?

Cut parchment to fit two 9" round baking pans.

Butter the bottom of the baking pans, insert the parchment circle and butter the top of the parchment paper as well.

Sift flour and salt in a small bowl.


Combine sugar and egg in a large bowl.


Beat until smooth.

Add vanilla extract and melted chocolate mixture to the sugar mixture.

Isn't that pretty? It looks like splattered paint. That you can eat.

Mix on low speed of your electric mixer.

I love this part!
Look at the pretty swirls...

mmmm doesn't that look yummy?


This is the part at which you ask yourself how I managed to hold the mixer in one hand and focus and shoot the camera in the other hand.

Add the flour mixture to the batter.

Stir with a wooden spoon or spatula until combined.


Pour batter into prepared pans and bake for 20 minutes or until the cake tests done.

Let cakes cool completely before removing cakes from pans.


Set cakes on wire racks until filling is prepared.


To prepare filling:

Chop pecans and measure 1 1/2 cups.


Combine condensed milk, vanilla extract and butter in a medium saucepan and heat over medium heat, stirring frequently until butter is melted.


While milk mixture cooks, place egg yolks in a small bowl and beat with a whisk until smooth.

Continuously whisk the egg yolks as you slowly add a small amount of the milk mixture (about 1 cup). If you don't whisk constantly, the hot milk mixture will cook the egg yolks, solidifying them, which you do not want. Eww.

Now add the egg yolk and milk mixture into the pan with the remaining milk mixture and continue to cook for 5 more minutes, stirring constantly


Remove mixture from heat and gently stir in the chopped pecans and coconut.


You may want to taste the filling at this point. You know... for quality control. You need to make sure it tastes perfect.

Let filling stand to cool. Store in refrigerator if not assembling cake right away.

Place one cake layer on a piece of 9" cake cardboard. If you don't have one, make one from a cut up cardboard box covered with parchment paper like so:




Spread filling evenly over top of the cake.

Carefully transfer second cake layer on top of filling and press gently.

Set aside until ganache is ready. Store in refrigerator if you're not preparing the ganache right away.


To prepare the ganache:

Place chocolate chips in a heat proof bowl.


Note: Do you see how the chocolate in the photo has that dull, white or chalky looking hue to it? This just means that the chocolate has been exposed to a shift in temperatures. For example, if you store your chocolate in a cabinet along an outside wall of your house, believe it or not, the seasonal shift in the temperatures outside your house are enough to make the chocolate develop this change in color. Be assured that the taste of the chocolate is not affected and it is perfectly fine for eating, baking and candy making. When heated or melted, the chocolate will regain a smooth, dark hue.

Heat 2 cups of heavy cream in a small saucepan over medium hight heat until it boils. Watch it carefully so it doesn't boil over.

Pour cream over chocolate chips and let stand for 10 minutes.


Gently fold and stir the chocolate and cream to fully melt the chocolate chips.

The cream may curdle a bit when combined with the cold or room temperature chocolate and look like this:
See the white lumps?

If that happens, simply use a whisk to whisk mixture until smooth.
Voila! Smooth chocolate ganache!

More taste testing would not be frowned upon at this stage.

Place cake on a wire rack over a rimmed cookie sheet.

Slowly pour some of the ganache over the cake, allowing the excess to drip over the sides, coating the cake completely.

Let the ganache set for several minutes and then repeat with more of the ganache to fully coat the cake.

Transfer the cake to a large serving plate.


The cake is dense and rich, so can serve up 12-15 people a 1 inch slice.

We've been eating the cake since Saturday evening and everyone loves it. It is rich, but not sickeningly sweet. The cake layers are a similar density of brownies, but are not fudgey like brownies, but have the more subtle chocolate flavor of German chocolate cake.

The ganache is amazing.

Ooo la la.

The end.

Enjoy! :)

I have about 1 cup of ganache left over, maybe more, that I've been storing in my refrigerator. I'm thinking of using it for a special Valentine's Day dessert, but I'm not sure how just yet. So help me out...

What would you do with a cup of leftover, decadent ganache?