German Chocolate Cake, a saga

Branden requested German Chocolate Cake for his birthday. All I knew about German Chocolate Cake was that it was a) chocolate, and b) covered in some sort of coconut-pecan frosting. So I had to do some research. In searching for a recipe, I uncovered a conspiracy as profound as the sweet potato scandal... German Chocolate Cake is not the least bit German. It is in fact Texan, and is named German after "German's Chocolate", which is made by Baker's (which is all awful pseudo-chocolate, by the way). Furthermore, German's Chocolate is not German; it was called German after this guy named German, but even he wasn't German, he was British.

German Chocolate Cake should have "German's" chocolate and should be made with buttermilk, being Texan. The frosting should indeed involve pecans and coconut, but may also involve caramel, and may share the cake with chocolate frosting.

I couldn't bring myself to use Baker's chocolate, but I did figure out how to make soy buttermilk. I made two frostings, one a lightly caramelized pecan-coconut and one a simple chocolate buttercream-type frosting. Also, I served some of my banana bliss ice cream with the cake.

The birthday-party-goers, all in Viking attire (even if that consisted only of an authentic viking name tag), exclaimed loudly about the cake and then immediately started to fall asleep on our living room floor. So be careful, don't eat german chocolate cake and drive.

Now onto the recipe...

For the cake, I used Morgana's Chocolate Cake recipe. However, I used soy "buttermilk" instead of water. To make the buttermilk, I mixed 2 c of soy milk with the vinegar (I used white vinegar) called for in the original recipe, and let it sit for about ten minutes before adding it to the other ingredients.

Coconut-Pecan Frosting
1/2 c margarine
3/4 c brown sugar
1/2 c soy milk
1 t vanilla
1 1/2 c shredded coconut
1 c pecans, chopped

Melt margarine, add sugar. Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thick, sticky, and lightly caramelized. Add remaining ingredients, bring to a boil, and cook, stirring frequently, for twelve minutes. Cool for a minute or two, until it is a spreadable consistency, before frosting the cake.

Chocolate Frosting
1/2 c margarine, softened
2 c sugar
1/3 c cocoa powder
2-4 T soy milk
1 T vanilla
pinch salt

Cream all the ingredients together, using only as much soy milk as is needed to make it spreadable. You may want to chill the cake in a refrigerator after frosting to make sure the frosting is totally set before serving.

Banana Bliss Ice Cream

Branden's parents gave us a nice little ice cream maker when they came to visit. It's taken us a little while to start experimenting with it, but this ice cream was worth the wait! We made an orange sorbet first (just orange juice and sugar). This is the first creamy ice cream we tried, and it just blew us away! It was so much better than I expected a first try to be. Just be warned: you may not be able to stop eating this once you've made it, the recipe makes something like a quart, and we finished it off in about 24 hours.

3 c soy milk
2 bananas
4-6 T oil
6-8 T liquid sweetener
1 T vanilla extract
2 T cornstarch
Pinch of salt

Blend everything until smooth.
Heat on low-heat, stirring constantly, until just about to boil (the first bubbles should just be starting to burst).
Let cool until at room temperature (I put the whole pot in the refrigerator).
Freeze according to the directions for your ice cream maker.