We are so excited to have friends coming in from California who have become like family. When we began to plan when they could come, I immediately knew what we would be having for dinner their first night here….chicken fried steak! So after deciding on the main course, and knowing the only things you MUST have with the steak is mashed potatoes, black eyed peas/green beans, we didn’t spend too much time on the side dishes. Looking through different recipes, I remembered that not only is German Chocolate cake is Randy’s favorite cake, it is also one of theirs. So I decided to make one. This one is a little different from the original. Because the homemade cake is so light, it doesn’t hold up well to what I wanted to do, so I used the Betty Crocker, pudding included German Chocolate cake mix and made it in a glass pyrex 9×13. When it was baked and still warm, I poked holes with the handle of a large wooden spoon so the homemade German Chocolate frosting could seep into the cake. This gives the cake such a gooey-gooey texture and allows for the coconut-pecan mixture to ooze through out the entire cake. Then, of course to cover up the holes, what does one do? Well, one makes homemake chocolate frosting to drizzle over the top of that. And to top it off, we will have a side dish of Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla, sitting ever so lovely beside it.
Directions:
Bake a Betty Crocker German Chocolate Cake according to instructions on box. While cake is still warm, poke homes and pour the homemade frosting over the top. Then drizzle the chocolate over entire cake.
Frosting:
3 egg yolks
1/2 cup butter
1 cup evaporated milk (not Eagle Brand)
1 cup light brown sugar
1 1/3 cup coconut flakes
1 teas vanilla
1 cup crushed pecans
In a medium size saucepan, combine the butter, egg yolks, milk and brown sugar. Stir continually until mixture is beginning to thicken. (about 7-9 minutes).
Remove from heat and add the vanilla, coconut and pecans. Stir until mixture has thickened a little more and then pour over the baked cake.
Chocolate drizzle:
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup cocoa
1 tables white Karo syrup
1/4 to 1/3 cup milk or half & half
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teas vanilla
Melt butter, cocoa, syrup together in microwave bowl. When butter is melted, stir until cocoa is dissolved in the butter. Add the powdered sugar, one cup at a time, stirring until lumps are gone and it is well combined. Add the vanilla.
Drizzle over the cake. If chocolate mixture is a little thick, you can thin with a little extra milk and/or place in microwave for about 15 seconds to get it easy to drizzle over the cake.
This weekend we were invited to a dinner party, where I had volunteered to bring the dessert. It has come to my attention that we aren’t that well liked, they just invite us so I will bring the dessert, as folks know that I love to bake and use any opportunity for a reason to do so. Also, Jodi had invited some of their friends over on Saturday night and of course, and I had volunteered to make her dessert for her gathering as well. When given her choice of what she wanted me to make she choose banana pudding. Being that that is not one of my favorite desserts with the vanilla wafers, I quickly remembered Paula Deens banana pudding which steps up traditional banana pudding about 10 notches. That was my deciding factor, remembering standing in our kitchen, licking the bowl of Paula Deens banana pudding several years back. She uses Pepperidge Farm Chessman cookies instead of vanilla wafers and adds several ingredients making this a most richly flavored dessert. By the time I got to the store, I decided to just make a double batch, one for the Duprees and one to take to our dinner party. Walking through the grocery store I started thinking about the chessman cookies and decided that I would use a crust that is so easy and yet so delicious instead of the Chessman cookies! It is the crust which is used for Texas Panhandler Yum Yum’s. Now, it was all coming together. That would be the crust, and Paula Deens filling for the pudding. All that to say…….here is the version that was made and devoured Saturday night.
Chocolate Castles as wel 