German Chocolate Cakes

German chocolate cakes are a popular dessert. But German chocolate cakes didn't originate in Germany.

German Chocolate Cakes

German chocolate cakes are like the underdogs of the cake world. Nobody ever talks about them, but people sure seem to like them! To dispell any myths, however, let us clarify: German chocolate cake didn't originate in Germany.

Thanks, Sam!

Back in the late 1800s, Baker's Chocolate company had an employee named Sam German who invented a new kind of chocolate for baking. It was sweeter than baking chocolate and similar to milk chocolate. Baker's named the chocolate after him--Baker's German's chocolate. Sounds a little odd, doesn't it? Over the years, the apostrophe s dropped off, and since German chocolate cakes are made from Baker's German chocolate, people logically thought that German chocolate cakes were from Germany. As you can see, it's not some European chocolate inspired dish.

However, it wasn't until 1957 that German chocolate cakes gained in popularity. Now, housewives in the south had been making chocolate buttermilk cakes for quite some time, and since pecans are so readily available there, it's no surprise that someone came up with a recipe for German chocolate cake. In 1957, a housewife in Dallas submitted the recipe to a Dallas newspaper, and it became wildly popular. The newspaper received several requests to reprint the recipe. Sale of Baker's German chocolate spiked up, and suddenly, German chocolate cakes were everywhere! And they've been a popular dessert ever since.

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