German Chocolate Cake

We all know that the "German" in "German Chocolate Cake" has nothing to do with Germany, but comes from the brand name of chocolate in the original recipe. Still, a couple of weeks ago there was an article on the subject in Wisconsin State Journal (December 29, 1997). Here is an excerpt:

Forty years ago, the recipe for German Chocolate Cake - a cake that rose from the obscurity of a home kitchen to become an American classic - was first published - not in Germany, as many believe, but in Dallas.

A Texas homemaker sent the recipe for German's chocolate cake to a Dallas newspaper in the fall of 1957, says Patricia Riso, a spokeswoman for Kraft Foods. The resulting spike in German's Sweet Chocolate sales put General Foods (which then owned Baker's Chocolate) on alert; the company quickly sent copies of the recipe and photos of the cake to newspapers across the nation.

Everywhere the recipe was published, food editors were swamped with requests for information on where to buy the chocolate. In a year, sales jumped 73 percent. Readers who missed the recipe asked that it be reprinted.

Today, food manufacturers turn out mixes for the sweet chocolate-buttermilke cake and coconut-pecan topping as well as dozens of spinoff products, including "German chocolate" pies, brownies, sheet cakes - even cheesecakes. And it has become a staple of grocery store bakeries.

The cake's name comes from the sweet chocolate baking bar, close in character to milk chocoalte, developed for Baker's Chocolate Co. in 1852 by Sam German. Hence the name Baker's German's Sweet Chocolate. However, in most recipes and products today, the apostrophe and the "s" have been dropped, fueling the assumption that it's German. See photo below.

So entrenched is this notion, even in Texas, that "Lone Star Legacy II," a cookbook by Austin Junior Forum, has a recipe for Bavarian Chocolate Pie. An obvious refernece to the cake's assumed lineage, the pie contains those key ingredients: sweek baking chocolate, coconut and pecans.

The remainder of the article goes on to provide the recipe.

Almost forgot: the title of the article is "Happy birthday, German Chocolate Cake." There is a half-page size picture of a cake with the caption "German Chocolate Cake isn't German at all; it's an American original celebrating its 40th birthday."

Charles J. James
Madison, Wisconsin

German Chocolate Cake is an American creation. According to Steve Sax in Classic Home Desserts: "It was not brought (as is sometimes reported) to the American Midwest by German immigrants. The "German" in the name refers to German's sweet chocolate, named for Englishman Sam German, and now made by Baker's Chocolate. The cake was first popular in either Texas or Oklahoma. After the recipe was published by a Dallas newspaper in 1957, German Chocolate cake swept the country."