After having baked, served and relished myself, I can proudly say that this is the Best Eggless German Chocolate Cake ever !!!
What is German Chocolate Cake?
The only German connection here is the chocolaty taste of the cake – dark, but mild in sweetness. Not digging more into its origin, what makes one crave for this cake even more is its unique assemblage, ingredients and taste. Well, this cake is known to be a no-cream frosting cake, with layers of chocolate cake and pecan-coconut mixture sandwiched in between. Ideally it is supposed to be left as is. But yes, there certainly is no harm in including cream frosting.
Rich chocolate cake sandwiching the distinctive pecan-coconut frosting in between makes this cake even more special leaving its signature behind in every bite. Once you try this, I am sure you will agree with me that there is perhaps no cake which is more special and better than this.
German Chocolate Cake and eggless?
Yes. The chocolate cake and its frosting, are completely egg-free, without dropping any hint of it in its taste!
Isnt it difficult to prepare at home?
Not at all. And for all the newbies there, this bake may sound very difficult and time cosuming, but trust me, it is anything but difficult, though it does take some time. But all said and done, it is worth the duration. Most importantly, decorating this cake can be skipped or left minimal, as even without any cream frosting, it looks rich and tastes rich !!! Here, I have done the cream frosting only in the sides and left the top open. You may pour in your creativity to decorate the top. I usually write some text over the top with a few floral designs or edible decoratives.
In place of cream frosting, you may even opt to use chocolate ganache to top it. And it tastes equally delicious.
For this Thanksgiving, surprise your family with home baked German Chocolate Cake.
What more, get started !!!
Total time: 140 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Baking time: 40 minutes
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooling time: 60 minutes
Ingredients:
For the Cake:
Wheat flour: 1 3/4th cup
Thick yogurt / curds: 1 cup
Sugar: 1 cup
Oil: ½ cup
Baking powder: 1 tbsp.
Vanilla essence: 1 tsp.
Chocolate powder: ½ cup
Coffee powder: A pinch
Edible decoratives: as per your choice as toppings
Honey / Maple syrup: For brushing
For the German Chocolate frosting:
Evaporated milk: 1 cup
Coconut Powder: 1 cup
Chopped pecans: 1 cup
Chia seeds: 3 tbsp.
Water: 9 tbsp.
Sugar: 1 cup
Butter: 0.5 cup
Vanilla essence: 1 tsp.
For the chocolate cream frosting:
Whipping cream: 1 cup
Vanilla essence: 1 tsp.
Sugar: 3 tbsp.
Cocoa Powder: 3 tbsp.
Quick Video :
Method:
German Chocolate Cake preparation:
- Egg replacer: As the first step, prepare the egg replacer following the steps mentioned under “Chia seed egg replacer” section
- Cake preparation: As a next step, follow the steps mentioned under “Cake preparation” section to prepare the cake
- German chocolate cake frosting: While the cake is being baked, you can prepare the heart of this cake – pecans frosting as mentioned in the section below “German Chocolate frosting preparation”
- Chocolate Cream frosting: While the cake is cooling and German chocolate cake frosting is settling down, prepare the chocolate cream as mentioned in the below section “Chocolate cream frosting preparation”. Refrigerate and let it set for about 15 minutes
- Now, we have all the building blocks in place. As a next step, we need to arrange the layers and use the blocks to the best of our creativity. There is no hard and fast rule as to what needs to be done and how. Nevertheless, this is what I have done and you may opt to do the same too.
- On the working board, place the cake base paper and place the first layer of cake over it:
- With a toothpick, prick the cake randomly
- Next, spread some maple syrup / honey over it
- Carefully spread the pecans spread / German chocolate frosting over it
- Next place the second layer of cake over it
- Once again, prick it with a toothpick randomly
- Spread some maple syrup / honey over it
- Spread the remaining pecans spread / German chocolate frosting over it. The cake as such is ready now, and trust me, even without cream frosting, it tastes heavenly. But being a non-pro baker that I am, I wanted to cover up the rough look of the cake and make it presentable. Also, kids love it when there is some amount of cream on it, thus proceeding with the next step
- As a next step, take the cream from the refrigerator and with a spatula (I use a silicon spatula here, which gives me enough flexibility), spread the chocolate cream liberally around the layered cake, giving it a much smoother finish
- Well, after the above step, the edges looked a little untidy. No worries. That’s how we learn and improvize. Not even the best completed cake would have a perfect looking intermediate stage. So, take out your frosting bags, if you have it, fill some frosting in it and give some random shapes to cover the edges. If you don’t have a frosting bag, take a clean plastic sheet / butter paper and create a cone. Fill it will the frosting and tie the open end. Cut out a small designed opening on the other side and quickly draw some random designs on the edges of the cake
- You may further decorate it with some edible decoratives of your choice or leave it blank or write some text in the open space. The choice is all yours. But, the above steps involving the cream frosting should be carried out as fast as possible, before it melts and put the cake back in the refrigerator
Cake preparation:
- In a bowl, sieve together the dry ingredients except sugar and keep aside
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven @ 180 °C
- In another bowl, add sugar, yogurt / curds, oil, essence and mix together using a hand mixer or blender for a few minutes. Once everything is mixed well, add the dry ingredients to it with continuous mixing and form a smooth paste which is of the consistency similar to molten chocolate
- Divide the batter into two equal parts. In a greased and lined baking mould (here I have used a round shaped mould of 20 cm diameter), pour one part of the batter and spread evenly. If you have multiple moulds of the same dimension, you can use the second part of the batter and bake parellely. Else, no worries, you can bake one after the other
- Now, place the mould with batter in the preheated oven and bake at 180 °C for about 35 to 40 minutes
- Do perform the toothpick test to check the completeness of the cake. Once it is completely baked, let it cool
- Repeat the process with the remaining batter (if you do not have multiple moulds with same dimensions)
- The 2 layers of cake are ready
Chia seed egg replacer:
- Take the chia seeds in a mixer jar and make a smooth powder of the same
- Soak the chia seeds in water for about 10 to 15 minutes. Keep aside
- Using a hand mixer, mix the chia seed – water egg replacer mixture well. Keep aside
German Chocolate cake frosting preparation:
- Coarsely powder pecans
- Take a sauce pan, roast the pecans and coconut flakes for a few minutes and keep aside
- In the same pan, bring in all ingredients except the roasted coconut flakes and pecans, stir and bring it to boil. In medium heat, cook for about 12 minutes with continuous stirring until the mixture turns thick and bubbly
- Now stir in the coconut flakes and pecans and remove from heat. Let it cool for about 30 minutes, until the mixture is spreadable. When it is slightly cool, you can even refrigerate it for a few minutes.
Chocolate cream frosting preparation:
- Mix all the ingredients mentioned under the chocolate cream frosting section and use a hand mixer or blender, until peaks are formed. For best results, use refrigerated cream.
Note :
- You can use any egg replacers that you wish. Be it chia seeds or apple sauce or flax seeds or oil. Here, I have used oil in the preparation of cake and chia seeds in the preparation of the German Chocolate cake frosting – Pecan Coconut flakes mixture
- While working on the cake and the cream frosting, ensure that the cake is completely cooled. Else there are chances that the cream starts to melt even before you are done with your work
- I have pierced the cake randomly and brushed it with maple syrup before applying a layer of the pecan – coconut frosting. This ensures that the chocolate cake layers absorb the flavour and taste from the pecan-coconut frosting
- If you are preparing the cake for birthday or other events, I would recommend you to prepare this the previous day so that you have enough time and so, you don’t have to rush, and second, the cake sits well and tastes great!
- To those of my friends in Germany, I have used pecans here (known as Pekanuss in German, and purchased from Kaufland) and coconut flakes in the frosting. I have used Kondensmilch(Evapourated milk) along with it. For the cream frosting, I have used whipping cream (Schlagsahne in German). Kaufland happens to be my favourite shopping destination when it comes to baking. I get a variety of options there, from baking the cake to frosting, decorating, and the like. The options are simply endless.
- Difference between Evapourated milk and Condensed milk – As per my understanding, evapourated milk with sugar is condensed milk. Just in case you use condensed milk in the recipe, ensure to adjust the sugar input accordingly.
German Chocolate Cake stories:
Our stinct with this cake started with the planning of our daughter’s first year birthday. We had ordered a huge 7 kg German Chocolate Cake from ‘CakeWala’ (Popular bakers in Bangalore). We (including the guests) fell in love with the cake so much so that every year, though the menu of her birthday parties changed, the cake remained the same.
Recently, we celebrated our daughter’s birthday here in Germany and I wanted to include German Chocolate Cake in the menu again !!! Only this time, homemade. As part of the planning, my trial and error to get the perfect Eggless German Chocolate cake went on for some time. The guests couldn’t even make out that it was an eggless version of the popular German Chocolate Cake. My daughter was the happiest along with the rest of the kids and what more could I wish for?!!! My husband opined that it is much tastier than the store purchased one. Well, this definitely had to be the ‘icing on the cake’.
The joy of home baking your family’s favourite bake and seeing them happy is beyond words!!! Each time I prepared, when there were some guests at home, the cake plate would be emptied within no time. Never did it happen that even a single piece got back to the fridge, to be carried over to the next day.
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