I have only made three cakes in my whole life (remember my expertise lies with loaf shaped meat) and it just so happens that two out of the three recipes came from the very fabulous Ms. Karen Linebarger, and both blew me away. The hubster and I made this together today for Easter and it was unbelievably good and really, all in all, ended up being pretty easy to make. Let’s see if I can resist having a piece for breakfast tomorrow…doubtful.

Cake Ingredients:
2 packages of German sweet chocolate (4 oz), one for cake and one for drizzle
½ boiling water
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
4 egg yolks & 4 egg whites (separated)
1 tsp vanilla
2 ½ cups sifted cake flour
½ tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup butter milk

Frosting Ingredients:
1 cup evaporated milk
1 cup sugar
2 egg yolks, slightly beaten
1/2 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/3 cups coconut flakes
1 cup chopped pecans

Preheat the oven to 350. Cover the bottoms of two 9-inch round cake pans with parchment paper, and grease the sides with butter then set aside. Break one of the 4 oz chocolate bars into pieces and put in a glass bowl, then pour 1/2 cup boiling water over the chocolate and stir until melted and smooth, set aside and cool. In a standing mixer with the paddle attachment, or in a bowl using a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy and light in color. Add egg yolks one at a time beating well after each addition. Add in the vanilla, then the chocolate and continue mixing until blended. Separately, in a large bowl, mix the flour, baking soda and salt. Then add the flour mixture and the buttermilk to the chocolate mixture alternating between the two, beating after each addition until smooth. Set aside. In a small bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form, then gently fold the beaten egg whites into the chocolate mixture and combine until just mixed – not too much or else the eggs will deflate. You should have a fairly airy batter that looks like chocolate mousse. Pour the batter into the two separate pans equally. Bake for 30-35 minutes at 350 until a toothpick comes out with only a couple of crumbs. Cool in the pans for five to ten minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool. Don’t frost until cake is cooled.

For the frosting, mix the evaporated milk, sugar, egg yolks, butter, and vanilla, in a sauce pan stirring over medium heat until thickened, anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes. Once thickened, immediately stir in the coconut and pecans. Cool until thick enough to spread, stirring occasionally. Let cool completely before icing the cake.

Once you’ve iced the cake (with one layer between the two cakes and also covering the complete outside), melt the 2nd package of chocolate and drizzle over the top of the cake. DELICIOUS.