When I first came to San Diego, fresh from the old country, my new friends would try to help with the transition. “Come on over for dinner tomorrow,” they’d say, “We’ll have German Chocolate Cake for dessert. That will make you feel right at home.” Their eyes would twinkle, suggesting we understood each other. I’d smile back and say, “I’d love to. Thanks for inviting me.” Then I’d ponder the rest of the day what they might have meant by “GERMAN” Chocolate Cake. After all, what makes a chocolate cake German? When I learned that the key ingredients were sweet baking chocolate, coconut, and pecans, I was even more baffled. Delicious as the cake was, I had never tasted anything even similar in all of my years in Germany. So what made my friends think this was a German cake?
German Chocolate Cake
Chicken a la Germany
Sometimes I wondered whether the cake got its name the way my recipe for “Chicken a la Germany” had come about. The latter owed its title to a minor mishap in my kitchen. Not being an experienced cook, I once had burned the chicken only minutes before the arrival of the guests. To cover up my blunder, I peeled off the skin, rubbed the chicken meat with lemon juice and drizzled spicy yoghurt sauce over the pieces. My guests loved it, but my lips remained sealed when I shared the recipe. As it turns out, the German Chocolate Cake story is quite different.
History of German Chocolate Cake
In 1852, an American named Sam German, created a bar of sweet baking chocolate while working for the Baker’s Chocolate Company. The company named the bar in his honor: Baker’s German’s Sweet Chocolate. http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/Cakes/GermanChocolateCake.htm. In 1957, more than 100 years later, Mrs. George Clay of 3831 Academy Drive in Dallas, Texas, submitted her cake recipe to the Dallas Morning Star. The newspaper printed it in the “Recipe of the Day” section. The cake, made with Baker’s Sweet Chocolate, gained in popularity. Sales of Baker’s chocolate increased dramatically. Over time, the name of Mrs. Clay’s award-winning cake was simplified and the all-American cake became known as German Chocolate Cake.
For a sneak peek at the first 20+ pages of my memoir, Walled-In: A West Berlin Girl’s Journey to Freedom, click “Download a free excerpt” on my home page and feel free to follow my blog about anything German: historic or current events, people, places or food.
Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War. Juxtaposing the events that engulfed Berlin during the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the Berlin Wall and Kennedy’s Berlin visit with the struggle against my equally insurmountable parental walls, Walled-In is about freedom vs. conformity, conflict vs. harmony, domination vs. submission, loyalty vs. betrayal.
Tags: Baker's Chocolate company, Chicken a la Germany, Dallas Morning Star, German Chocolate Cake, Mrs. George Clay, Sam German
