German Chocolate Cake is not from Germany
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German Chocolate Cake is not from Germany. The recipe’s name originated from a Englishman named Sam German. He invented a dark sweet baking chocolate for Baker’s Chocolate Company in 1852. The new bar was named for him: “Baker’s German’s Sweet Chocolate.”
The original recipe was sent by a woman to a Dallas, Texas newspaper1 in 1957 and titled German’s Chocolate Cake. The recipe became so popular that brand owners General Foods (now owned by Kraft Foods) sent the recipe to papers across the country. This led to the popularity it has today, that and it being fantastic. The apostrophe “s” eventually dropped off the recipes through the years.
An Englishman was the namesake and a Texas house wife made it famous, it is most definitely not German. It is however delicious.
Image from Wikimedia Commons – Commons.Wikimedia.org 
Random Facts
- National German Chocolate Cake Day is June 11
Recipes
Footnotes
- 1 – This same story can be found in a thousand places, however I was never able to find the lady’s or the paper’s name.
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- German Chocolate Cake is not from Germany
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