German Chocolate Cake

It was my husband's birthday yesterday. So I decided to try this German Chocolate Cake recipe that my friend Jen recommended. I was a little nervous when the cake was finished baking because it wasn't as sweet as store bought cake mix, but after I added the icing the combination is delicious. It was my husband's 33rd birthday, but he didn't want that many candles on the cake so I thought that three candles was a nice compromise. One for my husband and one for each of the girls who wanted to blow out candles, too.

Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare 2 9 inch cake pans by greasing and flouring lightly.

3c flour
2c sugar
2t baking soda
1t salt
1/2c cocoa
3/4c canola oil
1t vanilla
2T vinegar
2c water

Sift flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt together. Mix sugar, canola oil, vanilla, vinegar, and water together in another bowl. Combine the wet and dry ingredients and beat with an electric mixer until smooth. Divide the mix evenly between your two pans and bake for about 30 minutes.

German Chocolate Icing

1c soy milk (I used regular milk because that's what I had in the fridge.)
1/3c coconut milk
1 1/4c sugar
1t vanilla
1/3c cornstarch mixed with 1/4c water until smooth
2 1/2c sweetened flaked coconut
1 1/2c chopped pecans

In a saucepan, mix the soymilk, coconut milk, sugar, and vanilla. Add the cornstarch mixture and cook over medium high heat, stirring constantly, until mixture boils and thickens. Cook for 1 min after it boils. Remove from the heat and stir in the coconut and pecans. Allow this to cool 10 mins before spreading. The mixture should still be warm as you are icing the cake.

This makes for a 2 layer 9 inch cake.