When was german chocolate cake invented

She called the recipe "German's" chocolate after Samuel German, who invented the chocolate while working for Baker's Chocolate. According to What's Cooking America , Benell's recipe was such a hit that it was picked up by other newspapers across the country, causing sales of Baker's chocolate to soar. At some point, Baker's German's Sweet Chocolate started getting left out of the recipes, but the name stuck—hence the mix up.

Confusion surrounding the origins of the German chocolate cake has been so widespread, in fact, that President Lyndon B. Now, more than 60 years later, we couldn't be happier to settle the score in Texas' favor. It turns out that the name is a misnomer and like so many other incidents, it can be attributed to a punctuation error. An employee of Baker's Chocolate Company named Sam German came up with a chocolate bar to be used for baking.

In honor of the inventor, the product was called Baker's German's Sweet Chocolate — however, the double possessives don't really roll off the tongue and most publishers wound up dropping the "'s" when they wrote about it.

Depending on what you read, German may have been American or he may have been British, but he was certainly not German — aside from the name on his birth certificate via NPR. The idea of cooking a frosting is not new, but I don't see this style used that much in the 's. There are many varieties of cooking, butter and milk and sugar, then adding goodies but this particular creation with the evaporated milk, pecans and coconut may be fairly unique.

Pecans are abundant in the southern part of the United States. Coconut frostings were popular in the south in the 50's but most that I found were for a coconut orange cake. Here is a recipe for an A Very Old Fashioned Southern Coconut Frosting for a cake that has a similar structure and has a cooked coconut filling and there is no frosting on the sides.

A similar style that may be an influence for Mrs. Clay when she was developing the German Chocolate Cake. As you can see below the filling is a nice cooked custard using, evaporated milk, eggs, butter and sugar with the addition of coconut and pecans. I don't find that used much in the 's or before. In reading the newspapers around the late 50's after it appeared in the Dallas Morning News, it was spread by word of mouth or several food editors would send it to other food editors which was unusual, but they said it was that good.

I mean you always want to share something that folks will go WOW that is awesome. However as soon as it became popular Kraft owner of he Baker's Chocolate Company took notice and started to send the recipe to newspapers all over the United States.

Sales for the chocolate skyrocketed and it has not decreased in popularity since. Wikipedia article on German Chocolate Cake. Search for more Food History Articles.

Food History Course 5 free E-Lessons. Who invented the first "Caesar Salad"? How about the first salad or what was the first salad dressing?

How did Salad get the name Salad? We explore different topics like famous restaurant dishes, famous fun foods like popcorn, famous Menus like Elvis's wedding reception, and popular food dishes that were invented by accident. Also tools and resources, that you can use to find information on different food and their origins. Just sign your name and email address and click the submit button.

More Links and Recipes.