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National German Chocolate Cake Day

Food · June 11

A day for German chocolate cake, the American layer cake of sweet chocolate topped with a cooked coconut and pecan frosting.

National German Chocolate Cake Day falls on Friday, June 11, 2027. That is 227 days away.

German chocolate cake is a layered chocolate cake topped with a thick frosting of coconut and pecans. Despite the name, it is an American cake. The "German" comes from a person, a man named Samuel German who developed a sweet baking chocolate. The possessive apostrophe wandered off somewhere along the way.

The cake itself is fairly mild as chocolate cakes go, because it is made with sweet chocolate rather than bitter. The frosting is the part people remember. It is cooked on the stove from evaporated milk, sugar, butter and egg yolks until it thickens into something close to caramel. Then coconut and toasted pecans are stirred in. It goes between the layers and across the top, and the sides are often left bare, so you can see stripes of dark cake and golden filling.

Home bakers tend to make it for birthdays and family gatherings, and plenty of families have a recipe on an old index card with a few stains on it. Bakeries and diners sometimes sell it by the slice. Some versions add a chocolate frosting around the sides for a tidier look.

If you bake one, toast the pecans first and let the frosting cool and thicken before spreading it, or it will slide off the layers. The cake keeps well for a day or two, and many people think the frosting tastes better once it has had time to settle into the cake.

Ways to celebrate

• Bake a German chocolate cake from a family or classic recipe.
• Look for a slice at a local bakery or diner.
• Try making just the coconut pecan frosting to top brownies.
• Share a slice with a neighbor or coworker.
• Ask an older relative if they have a handwritten recipe.

Dates

All national days on June 11

Also on June 11

• National Corn on the Cob Day

Categories: Food days