Today is National German Chocolate Cake Day

No, this particular delicacy isn’t actually of German heritage and it’s not a pastry you’ll find in many German restaurants — although Margo at the Rheinland Restaurant in Independence just baked one today! — since the name of the cake wasn’t inspired by the country that gave us strudel, lebkuchen (gingerbread) and Gummi Bears…but an American man named Sam German.

And who, you’re asking, was Sam German? Well, in 1852, he was an employee at the Baker’s Chocolate company outside of Boston. He created a new sweet chocolate baking bar which the company named in his honor.

The first recipe for the cake — originally called German’s Chocolate Cake — was created in 1957 by a housewife in Dallas, Texas who sent a copy of her creation (a milk chocolate layer caked iced with a coconut-pecan frosting) to her local newspaper. The recipe proved quite popular and General Foods, which owned Baker’s Chocolate at the time (it’s now part of the Kraft empire) began distributing the recipe to other publications and magazines. At some point German’s was replaced by German.

It’s not that easy to find a great German Chocolate Cake. McClain’s Bakery makes one — not the most authentic version, mind you — but it has to be special ordered.

(Image via Flickr: musicpb)