Coconut Pecan Frosting for German Chocolate Cake.

German Chocolate Cake Frosting

evaporated milk

brown sugar

butter

vanilla extract

pecans

coconut

In a large saucepan combine evaporated milk, brown sugar, egg yolks, butter and vanilla. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until thick. Remove from heat and stir in pecans and coconut. Let cool to room temperature before spreading on cake.


This frosting recipe was easy and turned out fabulous. Make sure you cook over medium to medium heat while stirring constantly to obtain a thick consistancy. I'm a grandma and the smell of the brown sugar, milk, eggs and butter cooking reminded me of my first job in the summer of 1963 where I made carmel corn from scratch each day.
This recipe is well worth the little extra effort.

Wonderful frosting!  The key to this thickening up is to stir and cook over medium heat for about 12 minutes.  

I'm so glad I made this recipe and not one of the others that were on this site. This one looked a lot easier but didn't have as many ratings.  I decided to give this one a try and it was wonderful!  My husband loves German Chocolate cake and so I made it for his birthday. I decided to go for a home made frosting instead of out of the can, and I'm glad I did. This is easy to make. I boiled it for about 20 minutes on medium, added the nuts and coconut and let cool.  I didn't have to add anything to get it to be thick enough, like I read about in other reviews of other recipes. This one turned out great and my husband loved it!

This German Chocolate Cake Frosting is different from the others because it calls for brown sugar.  Most of the others call for White Sugar.  Brown sugar is what my friends like.  Also, I toasted the pecans and the coconut in a 350 degree oven for 15  minutes.  I hate using partial containers of things like 8 ounces of evap milk from a 12 ounce can, so I upped the other ingredients accordingly...12 oz evap milk, 1 1/2 c sugar, 4 egg yolks, 3/4c butter, etc.  You can't have too much of this frosting.  It's like eating candy.  Thanks, Denise.

Perfect traditional frosting for German Chocolate Cake!  Easy and so-sooooo much tastier than a container of store bought.  The recipe as written wasn't quite enough to frost a double layer 8 inch cake.  I will make an additional 1/2 recipe to this next time - and will double the recipe if making a 3 layer cake.  **After making this a few times since rating I would suggest the following slight changes: 1/2c white &amp; 1/2c brown sugar; also increase the coconut to 2c, pecans to 1.5c;  this perfects a box German Chocolate cake mix if you don't have time for scratch cake &amp; works very well on cupcakes.**And, you must use patience and let this cool - cooling = thickening; plan ahead and let it rest for a few hours.

It turned out Delicious, but.... this recipe lacks some key important steps/indicators, as a few other reviews have mentioned.... the "Cook time" is completely wrong at LOW heat. Given that stovetops vary, it would've been helpful to know just how THICK to make it... ie) until it runs off the spoon very slowly. It took almost 30min of stirring to become what I considered thick enough (not even very thick) and that was at 3-4 heat. It would've been nice to know, since I was on a time schedule. I'll make it again probably, but I'll be more prepared for the amount of time this recipe will take!

Initially, I thought this was not very smooth and had an eggy flavor (I added 13c condensed milk to counter this), but it improved after cooling.  My boyfriend loves this frosting. I cooked it for about 20-25 minutes, and it became very thick with a carmel flavor. I toasted the coconut and pecans before adding, and I would definitely recommend this.

This was absolutely the best frosting I have ever had.  Mine turned out great,and it smelled so good while it was cooking.  I could have eaten it all with a spoon rather than putting it on the cake.... YUM!

Fantastic! Delicious frosting for a german chocolate cake. Worth the effort! It tastes about 100 times better than the stuff you buy in the plastic can at the grocery store. I made a boxed german chocolate cake mix to save time, but used this recipe for the frosting and the entire cake was a hit. I made it in a 9x13 pan and there was plenty of frosting, enough so that I could enjoy a little straight from the spoon...you know, for quality control purposes. Will never try another version. It really is THAT good!

I am glad that I took the time to make this rather than opt for store bought filling. NOTE: It takes a long time to thicken. I can see how someone may not be patient enought to let it cook and give up, resulting in runny icing. Just keep stirring and it will happen.

Best recipe. You have to have patience when it comes to the mixture thickening. Turn that heat to low or medium, and keep stirring!!!! I made this frosting before. It was a disaster because I didn't follow instructions about the heat and the constant stirring. Second time around I aced it.

I've used toasted unsweetened coconut and toasted pecans. It turned out great without any modifications. My husband was very happy about his all-from-scratch german chocolate cake.

Tasty!  I only had sweetened condensed milk, so I cut back on the sugar a bit and it worked great!

Exactly what I was looking for. Why buy a can frosting when you can make it from scatch so easily???!! Thanks for a great recipe!

I didnt like it at all. Maybe I didnt make it right. I couldnt get it to get thick.

I made the GC Frosting today and it is spectacular - easy to make and most delicious..  It does require medium heat for about 12-15 minutes..  I will make many times over.

This great.  I adapted it for my food allergens.  I exchanged the evaporated milk for coconut milk (regular) from the can (make sure you stir it well before measuring) for the evaporated milk and used dairy free butter.  It came out great!

This turned out great!  I have my own recipe for it, but it's much easier to go to allrecipes.com to find it.  I did add some cornstarch to help thicken it.

I couldn't find my recipe book, so I hopped on here thinking I could find one like my great grandmothers... I noticed the brown sugar, but thought "why not?"   Decent enough to say not to try it, but not good enough for me nor even close to traditional! It tastes way more like caramel and less nutty/coconut as it should be. German chocolate cake icing should NEVER have brown sugar!!! That being said, you have to use way more nuts and pecan dust as well. Sorry, I will stick to my great grandmothers....

This is my go to frosting recipe for the Chocolate Rum cake I make (http://allrecipes.com/recipe/chocolate-rum-cake/detail.aspx - and yes, I put the glaze on the rum cake and let it soak in before frosting it). Thank you!

Perfect every time! I even make it sugarfree

This was very good. It has kind of a milky taste to it which is yummy and different than the canned frosting you get from the store. It did take a while to thicken. I have an electric stove and kind of played with the temperature between 2 and 3. It took about 30 minutes for everything to thicken.

I boiled the first five ingredients until the mixture reached 208F. It took about 15 minutes on med-high. I doubled the coconut (sweetened, flaked)and pecans just because I love them. Frosting turned out great. Perfect consistency, not too sweet.

This recipe is exellent!!  But when cooking it make sure not to put the egg in the pan first.

My husband requested German chocolate cake for his birthday and I am normally don't bake.  This frosting was delicious.  However, I took the advice of one of the other reveiwers and toasted the pecans and cocount and burnt it!  I had to run to the store to get more pecans and did not toast the second batch and it turned out wonderfully.

The recipe is excellent except, like the others have said..you must cook it on medium and for about 20 minutes...becareful not to ignore the frosting while its cooking, the egg in it will begin to look as if it going to scramble...and you must continually stir it...I found it easy to use a whisk. For this to be my first German Chocolate Cake, it turned out great!

This frosting was absolutely delicious! The cake disappeared in less than two days! It was easy to make, and I had no problem getting it to thicken. The key is to cook it on medium heat.

Oh my goodness, loved this frosting! I did temper my egg yolks for a perfectly smooth base before I added the coconut and pecans. I've been looking for this one for years. Thank-you so much. The brown sugar is the secret ingredient.

I followed the recipe exactly as written, and it was perfect. I made a 9 x 13 cake and it covered it very nicely. I cooked it over low heat for about 20 minutes.

I followed this recipe to the letter and it was perfect . I will use this recipe again and again.

Made this today to frost a boxed German Chocolate cake.  It was delicious.  Very easy recipe.  I thought that I hadnt cooked the mixture long enough because it didnt seem overly thick, but once it cooled it was the perfect consistency.  I will definitely use this recipe again.

Made this frosting, just as listed---it's absolutely amazing. Cooking took approximately 20 min...but well worth the time. I put it between the layers, and on the top, frosting the side with rich mocha frosting (of my own) Soooo good!

This was the best frosting! The hardest part was stirring it for 15 minutes. I followed the advice of others and used the entire 12 oz. can of evaporated milk and adjusted the remaining ingredients accordingly. I made a 13 x 9 German chocolate cake and was able to put frosting in the middle and frost the top. My advice is not to have the heat too high because I noticed some of the egg starting to scramble a bit. I immediately turned the heat down. I ended up straining the liquid mixture to make sure I had no egg in the frosting and to keep it creamy. I then added the pecans and coconut. I did toast the pecans a coconut a for about 10 minutes and 300 degrees. I let the frosting cool and it thickened up nicely! I highly recommend this!

My hubby loves it when I make this homemade frosting!  Delicious!!

1st time I have ever made or tried this type of cake &amp; I found it deliscious.  Everyone else, indcluding two who love German Choc cake said it was the best they'd had.
I toasted the coconut &amp; pecans, and paired this recipe with the Hershey's cocoa buttercream on the sides.

This frosting is simple to make and tastes fantastic! I was a little concerned when the frosting looked a bit 'cloudy' when first finished however, overnight the frosting resting in the refrigerator looked exactly the way it should the next morning for icing the cake.  Great color ~ great texture ~ great taste!  Absolutely delicious!!  Aunt Tilly

The only reason I rate this 4 stars is because, personally, I am not much of a German chocolate cake eater.  But I made this recipe for someone else.  I followed the instructions as much as possilbe (a little difficult for me to get the egg yolk out without much of the white getting into it)  but for the most part, I think I did a good job.  We'll let the person I made this for be the judge.  I made it with my own homemade chocolate cake recipe.  I'll re-post the review from the guest of honor :-)  Update 11/27/2010 Well the guest of honor had the cake and have asked me to make three more, wow!!!  She was having friends over for Thanksgiving and she told me that she had to literally hide the cake because her guests loved it so much.  As a matter of fact, they are the ones that called and placed an order.  Like I said, the German Chocolate Cake isn't a cake of my choice, but I'll be making this a lot more since people seems to love it so much.  Thanks for posting a wonderful recipe.  Kudos to you Denise!!!

This frosting is worth the effort just for how amazing it makes your home smell. But in addition to that,  it also tastes out of this world! Does take a while to thicken properly on medium heat but you'll know when you've hit the sweet spot by the color and amazing Carmel fragrance. Very worth the effort and patience!

Good easy recipe but did not cover a two layer cake which was something that I was not prepared for and didn't have time to make more.

Made this for my nieces birthday. I toasted the coconut and pecans before adding and that was the ticket! I doubled the recipe and had a cup left over after generously frosting double layered cake so I made another cake 3 days later. Very good.

Love, love, love this simple recipe for coconut &amp; pecan frosting for german chocolate cake.  This is the same base recipe I use for making homade caramel frosting.  *Note cook frosting for about 20 minutes to get it to thicken then let cool as previously stated.

This was my first attempt at homemade german chocolate frosting and it turned out amazing! I am a scratch cook who is extremely health conscious and this was a special Valentine's treat for my sweetheart to top the homemade healthier chocolate cupcakes I made. I used sugar in the raw in place of the brown sugar (I don't keep any type of refined sugar in the house)  and fat free evaporated milk. I also swapped out the pecans for chopped almonds because I was out of pecans and it still turned out great. I cooked it on medium until it started to bubble and then I reduced the heat a notch and stirred until it thickened. Yum!

Versatile and easy.  I scaled it down to 1/3 the size and substituted heavy cream for the evaporated milk.  Very rich and very delicious.  Wish I'd had pecans or walnuts on hand -- would have been even better!  Slathered it all over a tiny chocolate cake over some chocolate icing.  Yum!

This frosting is very good. To lower the cholesterol, I omitted all egg yolks and instead dissolved one tsp cornstarch in one Tbsp evaporated milk. I added this while cooking and it was thickened in 20 minutes.

The recipe as is needs work. With all the modifications suggested by others it was ok. I’ll keep looking for the perfect German chocolate cake frosting recipe

This turned out too thin for my liking. The taste, however, was phenomenal! A few tips:
first, I doubled the recipe. As one of the other reviews pointed out - it's a wast to dump 1/2 a cup of evaporated milk. I was making three layers anyhow, so I needed the extra frosting. I added 1/2 cup coconut milk to make 2 cups of 'milk'. 
next, I toasted my pecans and coconut. This really pronounced the flavors of each.
thirdly, after simmering the liquid on the stove before adding the nuts and coconut, I strained it through a fine mesh strainer to catch any cooked egg white that might have slipped in. It was tricky getting all of the white out when separating the yolks.
lastly, in order to thicken it I really didn't want to stand over the stove for 20 minutes and risk cooking the egg or changing the sugar composition so I cheated and added about 1/3-1/2 cup flour (for the doubled recipe) after I had chilled it in the fridge for an hour. This did NOT alter the flavor or texture in any significant way. I even did taste tests between that and other thickening agents and this trumped all others.

Cooked over medium heat for 20 min with this exact recipe. It came out so delicious and made my cake look amazing

I bought the store bought German chocolate cake and wanted to make homemade frosting.  I had a time constraint and am naturally a very slooow baker/cook, but was able to whip this frosting up in a hurry!  And it was delicious!  The people at the party loved it.  I did turn the heat up to medium/high to thicken it up faster, about 12min of constant stirring like another reviewer mentioned.  Worth it.

This is absolutely the best German Chocolate Frosting you can make.

I made this recipe and it was great, but When it cooled(@room temp) it was very pasty and hard to spread.

Super easy!  I had all the ingredients in my well-stocked pantry!  I made a chocolate pound cake and it needed 'something'.  I decided to try this frosting!  Superb!  I read others that used sweetened condensed milk and had the same amount of sugar in their recipe.  I felt that might be too sweet.  I'm sure glad I followed my gut!  This is perfectly balanced, not too sweet and certainly sweet enough for cake!  I printed it and will add it to my home cookbook!

Really easy to make and tastes terrific. Amazing recipe.

An excellent recipe!  A couple of alterations I made to it were...
1) as other reviewers suggested, cooking it on med/low to med heat, but I only stirred occasionally.  
2) I found it to be a bit thin even after the cooking process, so I just added more coconut (approx 1/2 to 1 cup additional).

Next time I make this (and I most definitely will), I may cut down on the sugar a bit as I typically use sweetened coconut.

My husband made this...and I will never buy store bought german chocolate frosting again!  Oi, he only used 1/2 cup pecans but it was still great.

Made this today and it came out perfect!  I see there are some reviews that have problems with thickening.  Please remember that the recipe calls for butter.  Not margarine.  Most margarine has water content and or vegetable oil which may effect the thickening process.  Took about 15 minutes on low heat to thicken.  This recipe I will use again.

The very best coconut pecan frosting I have every made or ever eaten.  Take a bit longer to make but so worth the difference.  Try it; you'll like it.

This is my go-to German Chocolate Cake recipe.  The biggest challenge most people might have is NOT cooking it long enough on the stove.  Just having it bubbling is not enough; I use a wooden spoon for stirring and when it coats the spoon heavily, I then cook for another 5 minutes!!  I can't say enough about this fantastic recipe.

This frosting was a pain to make. It took forever of stirring for it to thicken. However, in spite of all of the hard work, everyone bragged about this cake!

I prepared this recipe exactly as directed and realized that stirring it on "low" was NOT going to work. I then looked at some other reviews and discovered that many others had commented that the heat needs to be at medium-medium-high, I tried that and it helped, but that was after I stood at the stove stirring it on "low" for about 30 minutes with no resulting thickening. Once you make that change, it's a pretty simple recipe.

Great recipe! I couldn't find mine and went in search of a new one. I always toast the coconut and pecans and I did this time too. Great frosting!

this was just ok.  needs salt, cook low about 20-30 min to thicken properly.  This was too sweet using store bought coconut.  grate your own and toast it in the oven.  If I make it again with packaged coconut, need to reduce the sugar.

loved this recipe, turned out great, will definitely make it again. only thing i did differently is i mixed he egg yolks and the milk first before i added it to the pan just to make sure the yolk would curdle.

The frosting couldve been a bit thicker, but it taste great! !!!!

While the flavor is really good, the color seems somewhat off and it so didn't set!!  I must have added at least a 1/3 cup of corn starch to get it to set and then there seemed to be a predominate eggy flavor.  Once it cooled, it mostly set up and the eggy flavor was lost in the cake but it wasn't what I'd hoped for.

Wow! What a great GC frosting recipe. Roasting the coconut and pecans really added to the rich flavor. Long cooking time (12 min) but the end product made it worth the effort for my family and friends!

The people who said you have to cook it on  a little higher heat and longer are right.  It is way too thin if you don't.  I've tried the canned frosting and I never loved it but bought it again because I wanted to save time but it has a chemical taste to it so I ended up making this anyway!

I followed the directions faithfully. It turned out wonderful. I made this while visiting family in Yinchaun Ningxia China, I had to make the cake from scratch. What a great resource this site is.

I made this for my boss's birthday.  She LOVED IT!  I made a double batch and gave her the leftover so she could eat it straight.

The only change I had while making this was too turn heat to medium. It does take about 15-20 minutes to thoroughly thicken to a nice consistency for frosting.   But it did. The taste is fabulous.

Easier than I thought it was going to be. Growing up I loved this kind of frosting, thought I could only get it out of a can. (not a big baker) I have never made a frosting you had to cook before. It took a little longer to thicken than I thought it would. It was worth the time. Everyone loved it!

Flavor is great! However, the icing barely covered double layer cake with one batch. Recommend doubling recipe.

Ive never had German Chocolate, so i didnt know how thick the frosting was supposed to be. It tastes pretty good but this recipe could be a bit more helpful if it had how many minutes of stirring. I possibly stood for half an hour and my frosting is still runny :( im cooling it in the fridge to see if itll thicken :)

This frosting turned out perfect. I doubled the batch because I was making a BIG cake. I ended up having enough left over to freeze and make another. It was awesome both times! My mum literally had multiple family members *hint* that she wanted the same German Chocolate Cake I made with this frosting recipe for Mother's Day. She also told me herself, about three times :) It was a hit and everyone loved it. I didn't change a thing! Thanks for a great recipe!!

Great recipe, I have made it several times and it turns out perfect. Just cook it until it has is an amber color. 

This is so very easy AND so very delicious.  The first time I tried it I was out of pecans...and even walnuts substituted in this were delicious.  Since then, I've used the pecans.  I've tried slightly browning the nuts and coconut before adding them to the cooked mixture, and like that a little bit better--but either way, this recipe is a WINNER! Thanks Denise!

I never made this kind of frosting before. I only did it out of necessity. However, I was surprised by how easy it was to make and how delicious it tasted! It was excellent. I didn't know how "thick" thick should be, so I almost gave up. I think I cooked it about 15 minutes before I was satisfied with it and for extra measure I added more coconut than the recipe called for to make sure it was thick enough. Turned out perfect. Thanks!!

VERY easy to make. I followed the recipe exactly. I didn't time how long I cooked it, but it was probably close to the 12 min recommendation. It was very thick after it cooled off. Love this!

I think this recipe is missing a crucial step-a time indicator of actually how long you must stir this frosting in order for it to thicken.  The taste of the frosting is good, however, the very long amount of time involved for it to thicken on the stovetop was not worth the time spent.

AMAZING. I never even liked German chocolate cake until I tried my grandma's about a month ago. I had a craving but I was like, "No way am I going to be able to pull this off." Especially seeing as some other recipes people were saying their's never thickened. My first try and I nailed it! I added more pecans than coconut though and it was PERFECT. A+ 

This is an AMAZING RECIPE. I have no idea how this has bad reviews!!!! I contimplated making this and just finally decided to go for it. Made it without nuts and it still turned out incredible. Only downside is that you might get splattered with hot delicious Carmel. Worth it in the end.. 
Added 2 cups coconut and toasted it until golden brown.

Very good.  I used a boxed german chocolate cake mix with the icing.

I love this recipe!!!  Cooked for about 12 minutes, as recommended by another reviewer...it turned out great.   Really I think the 3 egg yolks help thicken the whole thing up as well...no need for any corn starch!   Fabulous smell, and even better tasting!

this was a wonderful recipe, took me a little longer to get it thick, but the taste is amazing, way better than store bought!

Okay so I made this.  I read some reviews.  Some said it takes 30+ minutes to thicken up.  I don't know about you, but when I add milk, sugar and egg together and heat, it's like a pudding...  I've messed up enough puddings and custards to know that cooking it for 30 minutes will result it something terrible.  I think I spent about 15 minutes in the kitchen putting the cake in the oven, making this frosting and a chocolate butter cream frosting (for those who won't eat coconut or nuts).  I had to run kids and my husband could handle taking the cake out.  And my frosting was super thick and yummy!  It was even thick enough I could really pile it on to be thicker than the butter cream side.  Something that rarely happens with other recipes.   It's just that good you guys!!!  I will never use another recipe.

This was a very good homemade traditional frosting for German chocolate cake.  I baked this cake for a good friend's birthday and everyone raved about how delicious the frosting was!  It was perfect. Thanks for the recipe and to all of the comments.  I agree with other reviewers I had to cook it closer to 20 minutes to reach the right consistency.

Low heat and 10 minute cooking is laughable.  After 22 minutes of stirring on 3, I raised the heat to 5, which is medium.  Continued stirring for ten more minutes finally got it to thicken.

Tastes good!  I was using it on brownies, so eliminated the coconut and doubled the pecans.

I loved it and made it for my out of town company. Everyone couldn't stop talking about it. It was very easy to make. I'm making it again tonight.

This is a traditional recipe for frosting a German chocolate cake. If you spend the time to cook it slowly on med heat, and continue to stir it will thicken. It has a rich carmel color and looks as good as it tastes. This is the one! Oh, and if you don't like your frosting super sweet, I used unsweetened flaked coconut (Bobs Red Mill)

Followed recipe ratio exactly although I made 1/2 a batch to frost a "Big Top" cupcake (as seen on TV) for my daughter's birthday party. I also cooked on medium stove top heat for 20 minutes--well worth the effort--no skins, no lumps! The taste is much more flavorful than the store bought stuff!

This recipe was delicious, but next time I will follow the suggestion to use the entire can of milk and increase the other ingredients accordingly.  There is never enough of this yummy frosting for German chocolate cakes!

I didn't use the eggs, added a little more butter, used sweetened condensed milk and added lots more pecan &amp; coconut

This was the perfect German Chocolate Cake Frosting. Not too sweet, soft and melt in your mouth perfect. Thank You for sharing this recipe!

For those concerned about it not thickening. I cut the 1 cup of evaporated milk to 2/3 cup instead and it thickened in no time. Furthermore, I used a fork to stir together egg yolks, vanilla,  brown sugar and evaporated milk before adding it to the butter that was slowly melting over my medium heat saucepan. Then I wisked the mixture for about 3-5 minutes until everything was completely combined and thickened.

This frosting is fantastic!! very easy and yummy.

It's  easier to make in a double boiler. The egg yolks are more forgiving

Here's the secret to making your own delicious German chocolate cake frosting.

german chocolate cake frosting

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total: 30 minutes

Servings: 1.5

Cost: $25.36 /serving

Author : deleteduser

Ingredients

Instructions

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