Dark German Chocolate Cake with Toasted Almond-Coconut Goo

Courtesy Gale Gand, “Butter Sugar Flour Eggs” by Gale Gand, Rick Tramonto, Julia Moskin, Clarkson N. Potter Publishers, 1999

Show: Sweet DreamsEpisode: Chocolate Madness

Rated: 4 stars out of 5Rate itRead users' reviews (26)

RECIPE
COMMENTS & REVIEWS(26)

Cook Time:
45 min
Level:
--
Yield:
12 servings

Times:

Prep: 15 min
Inactive Prep: --
Cook: 45 min
Total:: 1 hr 0 min

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Ingredients

1 1/4 cups flaked or shredded coconut
1 1/4 cups sliced almonds
3 cups sugar
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons best-quality cocoa (recommended: Dutch-process)
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
2 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups whole, 2 percent fat, or 1 percent fat milk
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups very hot water

Caramel:

1 1/2 cups sugar
1/3 cup water
1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Spread the coconut and almonds on separate baking sheets and toast, stirring occasionally, just until golden brown, 10 to 15 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Line the bottom and sides of a 14 by 17-inch baking sheet (with sides) with parchment or waxed paper. Sift together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Transfer to a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment (or use a hand mixer) and blend briefly.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla extract. Add to the dry ingredients and mix at low speed for 5 minutes. Gradually add the hot water, mixing at low speed just until combined. The batter will be quite thin. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until a tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean (a few crumbs are okay), 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool in the pan.

Caramel: Pour the sugar into the center of a deep saucepan. Carefully pour the water around the sugar, trying not to splash any sugar onto the sides of the pan. Do not stir; gently draw your finger through the center of the sugar to moisten it. Over medium-high heat, bring to a boil without stirring. Reduce the heat to a fast simmer and cook without stirring until amber-caramel in color, 10 to 20 minutes. Immediately remove from the heat. Using a wooden spoon, slowly and carefully stir in the cream (it will bubble up and may splatter). Stir in the toasted coconut and almonds. Set aside.

When ready to serve, cut the room-temperature cake in the pan into 6 even strips, each 3 inches wide. Using diagonal strokes of the knife, cut each strip into 4 triangles. If the sauce has stiffened, rewarm it over low heat (or in a microwave) until softened. Place a triangle on each plate, drizzle with sauce, and rest another triangle on top at a different angle. Drizzle with more sauce and serve.

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Comments & Reviews

recipe Dark German Chocolate Cake with Toasted Almond-Coconut Goo
Erin Cheyenne, WY 10-28-2009
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Wonderful!
Rated: 5 stars out of 5

This cake is wonderful!! Very moist and great flavor. If you don't want to use the pan suggested you can use three 9 inch... round pans (as another commentor suggested don't fill it more than half full). Let the cakes cool completly before taking them out of the pans. The cake is super moist so handling it can be tricky but it is well worth it. Read more
recipe Dark German Chocolate Cake with Toasted Almond-Coconut Goo
Adrienne Lansing, MI 10-10-2009
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Great cake, horrible Goo
Rated: 3 stars out of 5

My husband and I baked this dessert this evening. The cake was fantastic. We used Hershey's Special Dark cocoa and the cake... came out perfectly chocolaty and super moist. The goo however was way too sweet. I love sweets as much as the next woman, but this was over the top. We both ended up with a tummy ache and felt generally yucky after consuming it.Luckily we did not cover the entire cake with the goo. We tossed the goo and plan to eat the remaining cake with another topping.Read more
recipe Dark German Chocolate Cake with Toasted Almond-Coconut Goo
Dwight Valrico, FL 08-22-2009
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Cake is great! Goo, not so great...
Rated: 5 stars out of 5

The cake by itself is worth a 5 star rating. It's moist, delicious, and my cake of choice when I'm in the mood for chocolate... cake. With that said.... I searched for a 14x17 pan, and never found one. I used a standard cookie sheet instead, but as other have noted, the thing simply exploded out of the pan creating quite a mess. No matter which pan you use, don't fill more than half, and just under half works best. I prefer using a 13x9 or 9" round pans. I've tried the goo part several times and it has never come out right. I've given up and use another frosting for german chocolate cake instead.Read more
recipe Dark German Chocolate Cake with Toasted Almond-Coconut Goo
Ashley Torrance, CA 11-29-2008
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This recipe sucks!!
Rated: 1 stars out of 5

My mother and I are very experienced in the kitchen. We tried the "goo" for the german chocolate cake, and it was WORSE than... a goo, it was slop!! It was way too sweet, and the sugar to water proportion caused it to crystalize, even cooking at a low heat. It never turned amber at all. Total waste of time, and made a HUGE mess, AVOID THIS RECIPE they should take it off the site!!Read more
recipe Dark German Chocolate Cake with Toasted Almond-Coconut Goo
Lucy Hanover, PA 11-06-2008
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Um... Goo topping must be wrong...
Rated: 1 stars out of 5

Totally didn't work, never saw the amber color, and instead have a sugary crusty mess in my pot. ANNOYING!
recipe Dark German Chocolate Cake with Toasted Almond-Coconut Goo
Nicole Charlotte, NC 10-09-2008
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Finally figured it out
Rated: 5 stars out of 5

After trying the goo almost 4 different times in 4 different ways- I finally figured out that if you use brown sugar for the... goo instead of white sugar- it works just fine. I never got the caramel color with the white sugar. When I used the brown sugar, and stirred it the whole time- it FINALLY worked out. Maybe it's a misprint?Read more