Family, summer - and cake!

We celebrated Jake's 16th birthday yesterday. It seems not that long ago that Gabi and I were in Togo, getting ready to head back to the states, and Gabi got word from her brother that he and Jen were new, proud parents of a wonderful baby boy.

Now this baby boy is much taller than I am and plotting the means to buy a car with $635 and no plans of how to pay the insurance. So very sixteen.

So the whole family came together yesterday, and it was a wonderful thing. At one point I was in the house and looked out at the scene: Gabi playing lawn games with the kids, Jen, Nick, and both grandmothers sitting at the garden table laden with chips and cherries, talking like old friends. I've been thinking too much about my family of birth lately, and that moment crystalized for me just how good and precious the heart-family can be.

As dusk and mosquito-time neared, we headed indoors for cake. Ah, cake. I made, per Jake's request, German Chocolate Cake. It was named, in case you don't know, not because it has any Germanic heritage but due to the name of it's creator: an Englishman named Samuel German. In 1852, Mr. German created the cake as a showpiece for Baker's Chocolate (for more on the story, go here).

But Jake has recently returned from a five-week trip to Germany and Switzerland, and so it seemed only fitting to make this particular cake.

Yesterday was the first time I'd made German Chocolate, and it turned out lovely. I've seen (and tasted) homemade versions where the frosting was made with evaporate or sweetened condensed milk (I think that's the version on the Baker's Sweet Chocolate package). I was never too impressed. Leave it to Bon Appetit to come up with a version that lifts the bar. The frosting has a true caramel flavor that melds beautifully with the coconut and nuts (the original BA recipe called for macadamia nuts, but I used the more traditional pecans).

So, here's to heart-family, summer days and, of course, good cake. Nothing better than a real good cake to celebrate the blessings of a real good day.

*****

German Chocolate Cake

from The Bon Appetit Cookbook, edited by Barbara Fairchild, © 2006

CAKE

½ cup water

1 4-ounce package sweet baking chocolate, chopped

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

2 cups sugar

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

4 large eggs, separated

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup buttermilk

pinch cream of tartar

FROSTING

1 ½ cups (packed) golden brown sugar

1 cup whipping cream

¼ cup whole milk

4 large egg yolks, beaten to blend

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups sweetened flaked coconut, lightly toasted

1 cup coarsely chopped pecans or macadamia nuts, lightly toasted

FOR CAKE:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter 3 9-inch-diameter cake pans with 1 ½-inch sides. Line bottoms with parchment paper. Butter parchment. Bring ½ cup water to simmer in heavy small saucepan. Remove from heat. Add chocolate and stir until melted and smooth.

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat sugar and butter un large bowl until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add chocolate mixture and vanilla; mix until blended. Add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture and beating well after each addition. Using clean dry beaters, beat egg whites and cream of tartar in large bowl until stiff but not dry. Fold whites into batter in two additions.

Divide batter equally among prepared pans. Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Cool cakes in pans on racks 15 minutes. Turn cakes out onto racks. Remove parchment; cool completely. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and store at room temperature.)

FOR FROSTING

Combine first 5 ingredients in heavy medium saucepan and whisk until blended. Stir constantly over medium heat until mixture thickens to consistency of caramel sauce and coats spoon, about 10 minutes (do not boil). Remove from heat. Stir in coconut and pecans/macadamia nuts. Let frosting stand at room temperature until cool and spreadable, about 1 ½ hours. (Can be prepared 4 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.)