German Chocolate Sheet Cake

An easy German Chocolate sheet cake recipe with a spiffed-up cake mix base and homemade caramel, pecan and coconut icing.

JUMP TO RECIPE

Remember the God Bless America Cake? The minute I tasted that caramel icing with all the pecans and coconut I knew I had to use it on a German Chocolate Cake. And soon!

I thought about making a traditional layer cake but wasn't sure if the icing would set up thick enough for that. And, well, I just like sheet cakes better.

They’re easier to make, store, serve and transport. I’m kinda practical like that.

You can totally make a homemade cake for this but I like using a box mix for this cake for three reasons.

1. Obviously, boxed cake mixes are easier - no measuring, no creaming the butter and sugar, no taking out and putting up and dozen different ingredients.
2. By using a mix for the cake, I don't mind the time and effort it takes for homemade frosting.
3. Certain cake recipes – and this is one of them – just need that moist, tender (but still sturdy) body you can only get from a mix

WHY ARE CAKE MIXES MORE MOIST AND TENDER THAN HOMEMADE CAKE?

EMULSIFIERS – cake mixes use emulsifiers that bond fats and liquids on a molecular level. We can whip oil and water together to emulsify it but it will eventually separate. Egg yolks can help (because of the lecithin) but they won’t do what the cake mix emulsifiers do.

SHORTENING – cake mixes bond the flour with the shortening (don’t ask me how) so the air and moisture in the shortening stays in the cake and makes for a much more tender crumb.

FLOUR – the flour in cake mixes is chlorine-treated (sounds scary but it’s not) which oxidizes the starch and changes how the flour absorbs water. The treated flour holds onto the water in the batter and doesn't let much evaporate.

HOW AND WHY TO MAKE GERMAN CHOCOLATE CAKE FROM A REGULAR CHOCOLATE CAKE MIX

Most stores carry box mixes for German Chocolate Cake. The main difference in these and regular chocolate cake mix is the German Chocolate has less cocoa powder and is a little less sweet.

To get the same affect and appearance (less sweet and lighter brown color), we'll simply add sour cream to a regular chocolate cake mix. The sour cream knocks the sweetness down a bit and lightens up the color.

So we get an extra rich cake with max chocolate flavor (and I like all the chocolate flavor I can get - especially when paired with this caramelly icing)!

A FEW NOTES WORTH READING

• The cake does not have to be completely cool to top with icing but you don’t want it to be hot from the oven either. The time needed to prepare the icing will give the cake time to cool enough so wait until the cake is done to start the icing.
• You can make this in a 13x9 pan! Use a 3-quart 13x9 pan then bake cake 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
• If you can't find the small 7-oz bags of coconut, use 2 packed cups.
• Use sweetened flaked coconut, not desiccated or shredded coconut (they are not the same).

MORE COCONUT CAKE RECIPES!

EASY COCONUT TRES LECHES CAKE - Mexican "three milks" cake made with a butter cake mix soaked in a mixture of Cream of Coconut, sweetened condensed milk and whole milk.   

GOD BLESS AMERICA CAKE - An easy scratch-made cake recipe with crushed pineapple and brown sugar topped with a caramel pecan coconut icing. 

ITALIAN BAKELESS CAKE - A layered no-bake dessert recipe with sweetened condensed milk, lemon juice, pineapple, vanilla wafers, cool whip, coconut and cherries. 

COCONUT TEXAS SHEET CAKE - A velvety tender Texas sheet cake recipe made with coconut milk for a super moist texture and tons of coconut flavor. 

Recipe for How to Cook German Chocolate Sheet Cake

German Chocolate Sheet Cake

Yield: 15 Servings

Author: Mandy Rivers | South Your Mouth

Prep time: 5 MinCook time: 20 MinInactive time: 2 HourTotal time: 2 H & 25 M

An easy German Chocolate sheet cake recipe with a spiffed-up cake mix base and homemade caramel, pecan and coconut icing.

Ingredients

Cake:

• 1 box chocolate cake mix
• Eggs, oil & water for cake
• 1/2 cup sour cream

Icing:

• 1 12-ounce can evaporated milk
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 7-oz bag sweetened flaked coconut
• 1 1/4 cups chopped pecans

Instructions

Cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 10x15 baking pan with cooking spray; set aside.
2. Mix cake per manufacturer’s instructions, adding sour cream halfway through mixing the batter. 1/2 c. sour cream
3. Pour batter into prepared pan then bake cake for 13-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
4. Remove cake from oven then prepare icing.

Icing:

1. Heat and stir evaporated milk, butter, sugar and salt in a saucepan over medium-high heat until mixture starts to boil. 1 can milk, 1 c. butter, 1.5 c sugar, 1/4 tsp salt
2. Reduce heat to medium-low then boil mixture for 10-15 minutes or until caramel colored and thickened; stirring occasionally.
3. Remove from heat then stir in vanilla, coconut and pecans. Let icing cool 5 minutes then spread over warm cake. 1 tsp vanilla, 1 bag coconut, 1.25 c pecans
4. Rest cake, uncovered, 2 hours before serving.
5. Once cool, cover to store.

Notes

• The cake does not have to be completely cool to top with icing but you don’t want it to be hot from the oven either. The time needed to prepare the icing will give the cake time to cool enough so wait until the cake is done to start the icing.
• You can make this in a 13x9 pan! Use a 3-quart 13x9 pan then bake cake 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
• A 7-ounce bag of coconut physically measures 2 packed cups for me though the manufacturer states on the package the bag contains 2 2/3 cups.
• The cake does not need to be refrigerated to store.
• Some folks have commented that the icing never thickened for them but I have never, ever had that problem. Just keep heating and stirring and it will thicken.
• To store, cover and set at room temperature – cake does not need to be refrigerated.

https://www.southyourmouth.com/2014/03/german-chocolate-sheet-cake.html

Images and text © South Your Mouth LLC 2014

sheet cake, german chocolate, easy, box mix, cake mix, regular chocolate, sour cream, hack, german chocolate icing, frosting, coconut, pecans, caramel, recipe, best, how to

dessert

American

Keep up with my latest shenanigans by following South Your Mouth!

FACEBOOK | PINTEREST | INSTAGRAM | TWITTER