One of my favorite combinations is the German Chocolate Cake filling and icing!
Coconut, caramel and pecans is the magic combo!
I am not sure why it took me so long to get this recipe out there
Especially after the success of my German Chocolate Cheesecake!
This recipe from start to finish will take you just about an hour!
It’s a simple one bowl recipe for Chocolate Cake and an equally easy recipe for date caramel with pecans & coconut folded in
You will be building this cake in no time!
So go ahead and get your base recipes prepared and start building this cake!
That would be Chocolate Cake~ German Chocolate Filling ~ and Vegan Ganache!
- Ganache
CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL YOUTUBE VIDEO TUTORIAL FOR HOW TO MAKE THIS CAKE!
Vegan German Chocolate Cake

The recipe below makes 1- 8" cake (in the video I made a smaller 6" cake) Prepare your 3-8" cake pans with grease & parchment paper, preheat the oven to 350°F
Ingredients
For the Chocolate Cake:
- All Purpose Flour 3 cups (375g)
- Natural Cocoa Powder 8 Tablespoons (40g)
- Granulated Sugar 2 cups (400g)
- Salt 1 teaspoon (6g)
- Baking Soda 2 teaspoons
- Apple Cider Vinegar 2 teaspoons
- Vanilla Extract 2 teaspoons
- Vegetable Oil ¾ cup (177ml) **see note above
- Strong Brewed Coffee 2 cups
- Or add 3 teaspoons instant coffee to hot water
For the German Chocolate Filling:
- Medjool Dates 1 cup packed (170g)
- Almond Milk ½ cup (120ml)
- Hot Water 2 Tablespoons (30ml)
- Shredded Un-Sweetened Coconut 1 cup (120g)
- Toasted Pecans ¾ cup (100g)
For the Vegan Ganache:
- Semi Sweet Vegan Chocolate 4 ounces (113g)
- Soy or Almond Milk ¼ cup (60ml)
Instructions
- First prepare the cake: Sift the flour, baking soda, salt, and sugar together in a large mixing bowl.
- Combine the natural cocoa powder with the hot coffee and then add the vinegar, oil and the vanilla extract.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the sifted dry ingredients and whisk vigorously with a hand whisk until smooth (about 15 strokes)
- Divide the batter evenly among st the greased and parchment lined 8" cake pans
- Bake immediately in a preheated 350°f oven for approximately 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with moist crumbs
- Next prepare the German Chocolate filling by combining the dates, hot water, almond milk and salt in a high speed blender or food processor.
- Blend smooth then fold in the coconut and toasted pecans
- Prepare the vegan ganache by combining the chocolate and milk in a small sauce pot and melt over a low heat stirring constantly. Allow it to set at room temperature to a pipe-able consistency.
- Assemble the cake as shown in the video.
Notes
German chocolate cake can stay at room temperature for 1 day but for best results refrigerate for up to 1 week.
Cake is best served at room temperature
Can I sub coconut milk for the almond milk? or are they not the same thickness in recipes?
would be totally fine *any plant milk would be fine
hi, I’ve been using this recipe for cupcakes recently. everything comes out fine except that the tops are extremely crunchy. any idea why? thanks.
Hi, thank you for the recipe. I’m really excited about making this amazing looking cake. Can I please ask if this could be baked in a deep cake tin as opposed to three tins?
Thankyou!! 😋
Hey thanks! You will LOVE IT! yes to 2-8″ pans vs the 3-7″ I am accustomed to! Really no matter what pan size you use, just be sure to fill pans slightly more than 1/2 full and bake UNTIL THEY ARE DONE
Made this cake for my birthday, love your chocolate cake recipe made a few of your cakes so far. I am in the UK and for the measurements for the coconut and the pecans they are not in metric and when I try to convert it says 240g for 1 cup which seems far too much so I just tried to follow the video instead.
Tried to do the piping for the first time and much harder than it looks ! So ended up with an ombre kind of look to it.
I’ve also found cake flour in the UK, its an organic flour that’s made in the UK which is much softer but I actually think its made my cake too soft where its almost falling apart. I’ll try the ratios you give the next time.
Also I don’t see any adds on your page as I wanted to click so you get paid not sure if that’s because I’m in the UK or not!
Anyway thanks for sharing your recipes with us!
Hi Thank you so much for your thoughtful consideration to help support me! It’s possible you have AdBlocker? Since that would prohibit any ads from showing up for you~ but thank you again anyway.
RE: Recipe Yes you are correct that DOES seem like a lot! Thank you for pointing that out, I will update the post since 1 cup coconut = 120g
Pecans is closer to 130g per cup
Additionally regarding Cake Flour I have found many people complaining about using cake flour lately with reports of cakes being gummy & raw. I would say to use Plain Flour (all purpose flour here in the US) instead. I do it often with great results
Looks awesome!, can I use it for carving?
Yes sure!
How much salt do you add to the filling? It doesn’t say. I added just a dash and seemed enough. This is SOOOOO delicious and almost too easy! Thank you!
Hey thanks for pointing that out! I will update the post!
Can this be converted to cupcakes easily? The cake isn’t even gone yet but I need to make more! And want to share with others.
YES!! Will convert GREAT!