german chocolate cake + a wedding cake

Make the cake: Line the bottoms of two 6-inch round cake pans with parchment paper — btw, I only have one and simply bake this half at a time so feel free to do the same — and coat the bottom and sides with butter or nonstick baking spray. Heat oven to 350 degrees F.Place chopped chocolate in a medium bowl. Pour hot coffee over, give it one minute, then whisk until smooth and chocolate is melted. Whisk in buttermilk; it might look gross, ignore it, it’s fine. Set aside.Beat egg whites in a clean medium bowl with clean beaters until stiff. Set aside.In a large bowl, use same beaters — no need to clean them, even — to beat butter, sugars and salt together until fluffy. Beat in yolks and vanilla until smooth, then buttermilk-coffee-chocolate mixture. Sprinkle baking soda over and beat in well to combine. Scrape down sides. Add cocoa powder and flour and beat until just combined. Fold/stir in a quarter of the egg whites to loosen batter. Fold in rest gently, just until no white spots remain. Divide between baking pans. Bake for 24 to 26 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out batter-free. Immediately run a knife around the cake but cool in pan on rack for 10 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack to cool completely.Make the filling: Spread pecans out on one small tray and coconut on another. Bake in 350 degree oven until pecans are deeply toasted (10 to 15 minutes, but check at the early end) and coconut is lightly toasted on top (15 to 20 minutes, but check early as well), tossing them once or twice for even coloring. Let cool. I prefer the coconut less “stringy” and pulse it, once cool, a few times in a food processor to chop it further. Place pecans and coconut in a large bowl and set aside. In a large saucepan, melt butter and keep cooking after it has melted, stirring often, until it becomes toasty brown near the bottom of the pan and smells heavenly. Remove from heat, pour into a small dish to cool slightly and let saucepan cool before cooking filling. Whisk egg yolks, half-and-half, sugars and salt together in empty saucepan until blended. Very slowly drizzle in semi-cooled browned butter, whisking the whole time. If your yolks and half-and-half were cold (which is fine), the butter might take on a clumpy appearance as it solidifies in the mixture; this is not a problem. Return saucepan to the stove and heat over medium-low, stirring the whole time so that it doesn’t scorch at the bottom, until the mixture is hot, steamy, and thick enough to coat a spoon. Learn from my lesson: Do not let it boil.Remove from heat and stir in vanilla (or vanilla and rum), then pour over bowl with pecans and coconut, stirring once to combine, and let filling cool before using. It will thicken up once cold. Assemble cake: Using a sharp serrated knife, cut cooled cake layers into two thinner layers. Place the bottom of the first one on a cake plate or stand. Scoop 1/4 of the cooled filling (my quarters weights 112 grams each) into the center and use a knife or offset spatula to push it just to the edge. Repeat three times (I like to end with the bottom of the second cake as the “top” for a flat finish), placing the last layer of filling on the top.To serve: Cut into wedges. Do ahead: Keep cake in fridge until needed. I tested — because I wanted to make sure the cake would not dry out over the days I needed to make it for the wedding — and found that even a 5-day old version of this cake wasn’t bad at all. I.e. It keeps well.