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Author:
Franco Salzillo
The famous German chocolate cake has quite a story — one you won’t believe. No, this delicious, layered cake doesn’t come from Germany but the mind of Mr. German, Samuel German, who invented the cake in 1852 in the USA. The recipe calls for chocolate made by the very first chocolate company in America, the Baker’s Chocolate Company.
What was once German’s Chocolate Cake soon became the famous German chocolate cake, and now you can drink it in the form of a creamy mocha! Get ready for a cake in a mug. And the drink goes well with cake, too — how’s that for a double whammy!
To figure out what to put into a coffee drink to make it taste like German chocolate cake, you must know the dessert intimately. The popular layered cake is flavored+ with coconut and nutty pecans along with high-quality dark chocolate and, for this recipe, Nutella.
The coconut flavor is critical, and you can get it with coconut extract, coconut-flavored syrup or shaved coconut flakes — I prefer coconut cream. Either way, try not to skip it — oddly, it’s the coconut what makes this not-so-German cake distinctive!
The most crucial element, though, is probably the coffee. After all, this is a mocha recipe and a very chocolatey one at that! Use a nice single-origin Arabica with a medium to dark roast — the kind of coffee that just reminds you of roasted cacao beans.
You want to garnish this mocha with whipped cream, caramel sauce, chocolate syrup, pecans and perhaps a cherry to emulate the cake’s varied flavors.
Now that you know the German chocolate cake is an all-American treat, what if you would really want to make a European version? Why not make a Black Forest Mocha?
Use the same recipe below; just skip the coconut and pecans and add a splash of cherry syrup or cherry liqueur to give the chocolatey coffee a Black Forest feel. Whipped cream and chocolate shavings are the perfect garnishes for this one!
In a small saucepan, heat the milk and add the hazelnut spread and the coconut cream. Heat until steamy but not boiling.
Brew the espresso and divide it into two cups.
Top the espresso with the milk mixture.
Garnish with whipping cream and dust with cocoa powder and crushed pecans.
