My all-time favorite cake

🥮 German chocolate cake + a recipe

1983 recipe for German Chocolate Cake. This recipe was featured on a cake plate from Royal China.

Fun fact! Did you know that German chocolate cake, despite its name, has American roots and is not of German origin?

The name comes from the baker Samuel German, who developed a sweet baking chocolate in 1852 for Baker's Chocolate, which was then named Baker's German Sweet Chocolate.

Samuel German, an English-American baker, created a new baking chocolate in 1852 that was higher in sugar and lower in cocoa butter. Baker's Chocolate purchased the recipe and marketed it as Baker's German's Sweet Chocolate.

The Cake's Origin:

The cake recipe used German's sweet chocolate, was first published in the Dallas Morning News in 1957 and credited to Mrs. George Clay.

Name Evolution:

The name "German" likely evolved from the "German's" in Baker's German's Sweet Chocolate, and the cake became known as "German chocolate cake". The possessive apostrophe may have been dropped over time, leading to the misattribution of its origin to Germany.

Texas Roots:

While the chocolate is named after Samuel German, the cake itself is considered an American, specifically a Texas, creation.