German Chocolate Cake

This is the birthday cake I made for my husband this year. I got lots of good feedback on it, and my mother-in-law said she thought I had bought it from a "fancy bakery" and couldn't believe I made it - aww! This is a very dense, rich cake - you could get away with just adding some additional chocolate chips, baking it in a bundt pan, and serving it with just a dusting of powdered sugar if you like. The coconut pecan topping recipe can be found on the German Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies post.

GERMAN CHOCOLATE CAKE

INGREDIENTS:

1 (18.25 ounce) package devil's food cake mix
1 (3.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
2 cups sour cream
1 cup melted butter
5 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup semisweet mini chocolate chips

Chocolate frosting of your choice

Coconut Pecan topping

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour two 9" round cake pans.

2. In a large bowl, stir together cake mix and pudding mix. Make a well in the center and pour in sour cream, melted butter, eggs (you may want to temper the eggs and butter together to prevent scrambling) and vanilla extract. Beat on low speed until blended. Scrape bowl, and beat 4 minutes on medium speed. Blend in chocolate chips. Pour batter into prepared pan.

3. Bake in preheated oven for 30-35 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let cool, then remove from pans. Frost one layer with a thin layer chocolate frosting and a layer of coconut pecan topping. Stack top cake layer on top and frost entire cake with chocolate frosting and top with remaining coconut pecan topping. Drizzle with melted chocolate if desired.