I woke up the other morning in an adventurous, “destroy the kitchen!” kind of mood, and of course, craving chocolate – – what else?! – – and with my hubby’s suggestion of a German chocolate cake, I headed out to my happy place to make the biggest mess possible! The bigger the mess, the better the cake, right? Only, I wasn’t in the mood for just “cake”. So a quick decision was made to venture into a sinful torte! A rich, dense, decadent, chocolatey, triple-layer torte! What could beat that? This turned out to be the most exquisite torte I’ve ever made, or tasted, for that matter. Crazy-rich, though! So be warned! You’ll definitely need to share a few slices or serve to company and still send them home with a doggy bag of a couple more pieces! But soooo worth it! I used of my very own stand-by recipe, but this time, I decreased some of the leavening to turn it into an actual “torte”, rather than a fluffy cake. Worked like a charm! VERY fudgy and dreamy-creamy rich!
Next came the homemade coconut-pecan frosting. DO NOT buy that icky canned stuff. Homemade is easy-peasy and there’s just no comparison! Only 7 little ingredients, a quick cook, and you’re there! Trust me, if it were difficult, companies wouldn’t make a hefty profit on it and sell it in little plastic tubs by the billions. 😉
I forgot to get a shot of the cakes cooling, but you can still see them peeking through all the frosting! Messy, ain’t I?!
All dressed and pretty now!
Fill the layers and use the rest for the top and sides and you can stop right here if you’d like! Or….
…you can take it one step further and whip up some chocolate frosting to pipe and decorate it to really make it “wow”!
I was on a roll, so I just went for broke and made one insanely spectacular torte! (I just wish my cake decorating skills were a little better!)
It sliced like a dream and I can’t wait to share with the neighbors and our mail lady! She’ll be so excited to see the flag up! 😉
So if you have a birthday, anniversary, special celebration, or just need a li’l spoiling, this is one heck of a fabulous triple-layer torte to keep in mind to let the ones that love you know just how much they mean to you, too! Hope you enjoy this recipe for many years to come! Much love to all and have a most wonderful day! 🙂
TRIPLE-LAYER GERMAN CHOCOLATE FUDGE TORTE with ESPRESSO
Serves 10-12
For Cake:
1 1/2 cups strong hot coffee with an additional 1 tsp. espresso powder added and stirred until dissolved, then cooled
2 cups white sugar
1 cup dark brown sugar
2 3/4 cups flour
1 cup good quality unsweetened baking cocoa (I used Ghirardelli )
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
3/4 cup canola oil, ok to sub vegetable oil
1 Tbl. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. almond extract
1/2 tsp. coconut extract
3 extra-large eggs
For Coconut-Pecan Frosting:
1 ( 12 oz.) can evaporated milk
1 ( 5 oz.) can evaporated milk
2 cups sugar
6 egg yolks, lightly beaten
1 cup soft butter (2 sticks)
1 Tbl. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. butter rum extract
3 cups chopped pecans
3 cups sweetened flaked coconut
For Chocolate Buttercream Frosting:
2 oz. cream cheese, room temp.
1/2 stick butter, room temp.
1/3 cup good quality unsweetened baking cocoa
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar (scoop and level method)
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. coconut extract
1-2 tsp. milk or cream (more if needed)
DIRECTIONS:
For Cake:
Brew strong coffee (“americano”), stir in espresso powder until dissolved, place in fridge to cool.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In large bowl, stir and whisk to mix well next 7 (dry) ingredients. Set aside.
In mixer bowl, mix buttermilk oil and extracts on low. Add dry ingredient mixture slowly, then beat until mixed.
Add eggs, one at a time, beating 2 minutes each and scraping sides, bottom of bowl, and paddle after each addition well.
Slowly add coffee/espresso mixture. Mix until well combined. Batter will be thin.
Pour into 3 – 8″ parchment paper-lined and sprayed round cake pans. (Nope, you don’t need to flour them.)
Bake for 35-37 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. Place onto racks to cool for 10 minutes, run a knife around edges, then turn tortes out onto racks to cool completely. They will be very dense. (Remove parchment paper from tops.)
For Coconut-Pecan Frosting:
In small saucepan over medium heat, constantly stir evaporated milk (from both cans), sugar, beaten egg yolks, and butter until it comes to a full boil and thickens, about 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in extracts, pecans and coconut, and set aside to cool completely. When cooled, place one layer of cake onto plate and generously top with frosting. (*About a 1/4 of the mixture.) Repeat with rest of layers and frost top and sides.
For Chocolate Buttercream Frosting:
In mixer bowl, beat cream cheese and butter for about 3-4 minutes until well combined and light. Add cocoa, powdered sugar, vanilla, and 1 tsp. milk or cream and beat for 3 minutes. Add more milk or cream if too thick. Add more powdered sugar or cocoa if too thin. Decorate cake to heart’s desire. (*I used my mega “1 M” tip.)
*Cut into thin slices. Very rich and OH so good!!
