Baking Friday - Cake # 11

Cake # 11?  Cake # 11!??  When did this happen?  This Baking Friday adventure of 2014 really is coming down to our last few entries.  How crazy is that?!

We are now in November.  That means Thanksgiving.  I heart Thanksgiving.  It truly is my favorite holiday of the year!  All of the food, all of the family, all of the thankfulness plus it's the one that says "Christmas is almost here!"

Thanksgiving elicits ideas of home and family and simple and comfort food - those family favorites supplemented by the something new to try.  Our cake this month is all about family homeyness - simple, chocolaty, nutty, coconutty, sweet - German chocolate.  Our family wouldn't normally have a cake on the dessert board for Thanksgiving - we tend to be a pie family for Thanksgiving - but if we did add a cake, this is definitely one I would include as a possible contender.

I enjoy making German chocolate cake.  There are so many recipes out there, that I won't share any particular recipe with you.  I just simply add LOTS of nuts and coconut to the icing.  LOTS!

For the cake, I simply used the Texas Sheet Cake recipe featured in June baked in three 8" round pans.  I used only 3 tablespoons of cocoa instead of 4 since German chocolate is typically a lighter chocolate flavor than a more devil's food end of the chocolate spectrum.  But using the full 1/4 cup called for in the standard recipe wouldn't be a bad thing by any means!

The other thing that I like to do is frost the outside of German chocolate cakes with chocolate frosting - a softer chocolate consistency made interesting with a bit of sour cream.  If you need a sour cream chocolate frosting recipe, here is what I like to do, and this would make enough to frost the outside of an 8" round cake plus borders:

1/2 cup softened butter
1/2 cup shortening
Dash of salt
Splash of vanilla
3 cups powdered sugar
4 T. cocoa or 3oz unsweetened chocolate (melted)
1/3 cup sour cream
2 T. cream or half-n-half

Beat all of these together until smooth and creamy.  If it's too stiff or too soft, adjust consistency by adding more cream or powdered sugar until desired creaminess is reached.

Back to the coconut pecan icing.  As I said, I like to make sure that this icing has plenty of coconut and pecans!  I also glazed a few pecan halves to use as a garnish.  I simply toasted in butter...

...with a few tablespoons of brown sugar and a splash of almond syrup (like folks use in coffee and other fun drinks.)

Once glazed and toasty (and I'd caught a picture of my left foot!), I laid them in a single layer to cool and crisp up.  These are yummy just like they are or added to salads or other dishes!

Using the same pan, I made the coconut pecan frosting using the standard ingredients of butter and brown sugar, cream and beaten egg, finishing with coconut and pecans.  If you like less coconut and pecans, that's cool.  I just happen to like them to be abundant!

To assemble, I start by piping a dam of icing around the outside edge of the bottom layer.

And then fill in with some of the coconut pecan icing.

My middle tier tore a bit, so I "glued" it back together with some of the chocolate icing.  (True confession right there!)

But it held, so I kept layering coconut pecan icing and layers of cake, ending with coconut pecan on the top layer.  Then I frosted the outside with the rest of the chocolate icing and gave it a top and bottom border.  The final garnish was those glazed pecan halves!

And here's how it looked after being cut.  See the layers!

Simple.  Yummy.  Delicious.  Plentiful.  Thanksgiving cake material to me!

Thanks for stopping by and sharing this Baking Friday journey with me!  Pie Nights are coming!!!