Fudgy German Chocolate Pie Recipe (so easy!) (2024)

FAQs

What is German chocolate pie made of? ›

German chocolate pie is made with many of the same staples as the cake: chocolate, eggs, pecans, and shredded coconut. Instead of making a separate chocolate cake and coconut frosting, the pie combines everything in the filling! There's some sweetened condensed milk and vanilla that help tie it all together.

The Ancient Egyptians created the first example of what we know as pies today. Later on, closer to the 5th Century BC, the Ancient Greeks were believed to invent pie pastry as it is mentioned in the plays of the writer Aristophanes and it was possible to work as a pastry chef in this era, a separate trade to a baker.

German chocolate cake uses a particular kind of baking chocolate as its base, one which has a milder, sweeter profile thanks in part to lecithin, a fatty substance derived from egg yolks. In contrast, classic chocolate cake recipes often use cocoa powder or darker chocolate for a richer, more intense flavor.

It is sweeter than semi-sweet chocolate and contains a blend of chocolate liquor, sugar, cocoa butter, flavorings, and lecithin. Baker's® sells this chocolate which can be found on the baking isle of most grocery stores. The most famous recipe containing German's® Sweet Chocolate is German Chocolate Cake (recipe here).

The first recorded pie recipe is from the Romans. It is goat cheese and honey in a rye crust. The first recorded fruit pie was a cherry pie eaten by England's Queen Elizabeth I. Up to that point all pies were meat or cheese pies.

Apple Pie. Apple pie is arguably one of the most popular pie flavors. A symbol of America, the apple pie was actually invented by the British. Apple pie is simply made with sliced apples on double-crusted pastry dough.

The history of the pie has its roots in ancient Egypt and Greece. The ancient Greeks ate pie (artocreas), though it was of the savory type with meat in an open pastry shell. The Romans may have been the first to create a pie that included a top and bottom crust.

German's sweet baking chocolate is just that, sweeter baking chocolate— at least, sweeter than both semi-sweet and bittersweet chocolate. According to MyRecipes, to substitute semi-sweet chocolate for German's sweet baking chocolate you would need to add an additional 1/2 tablespoon of sugar per ounce of chocolate.

A common misconception is that German Chocolate Cake comes from Germany. In fact, the name comes from American baker, Samuel German, who developed a type of dark baking chocolate in 1852. The baking chocolate was then named Baker's German's Sweet Chocolate in honor of German.

A devil's-food cake is richer and darker, and has a strong cocoa flavor. German chocolate (a favorite here in south Texas) usually is a lighter-colored cake with a flavor of mild chocolate. True German chocolate cake has delicious pecan-coconut frosting, while the devil's food usually has a dark fudge frosting.

What is special about German Chocolate Cake? ›

What is German Chocolate Cake? German chocolate cake is a layered chocolate cake (usually with two to three layers) that's traditionally made with sweet baking chocolate and buttermilk. It's filled and topped with a frosting made from pecan, coconut, and evaporated milk.