Dark German Chocolate Cake

I apologize now for what I'm about to do. Some of you have been faithful readers for YEARS...and I hate to betray your good faith in me. BUT! This cake! Oh, this cake.

German Chocolate cake has always been one of my very favorites, but I rarely make it because Jamie is allergic to coconut. Last weekend, he took the boys camping. Well, what do the Coller girls do when the Coller boys go camping? Why, we have a tea party and eat cake!

Contrary to what pretty much all of us think, German Chocolate cake does not come from Germany. In fact, it was originally called German's Chocolate cake after the American Sam German who developed a special kind of dark chocolate for Baker's Chocolate Company. They named the chocolate after him---Baker's German's Sweet Chocolate. That was in 1852. Over 100 years later, a homemaker from Texas submitted a cake recipe, German's Chocolate Cake, to her local newspaper and sales of the chocolate were boosted by almost 75%. The cake became a national tradition and the rest is history!

Ready to try out my take on this American heritage recipe? Don't worry---you'll only need a small piece 'cause it's really rich! That's totally ok, though. Makes it last longer!

Step One: The Cake
3/4 cup butter 
1 1/4 cups dark cocoa powder
3 cups milk 
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 1/2 cups white sugar
3 eggs
1 TB vanilla
2 1/4 cups flour
1 TB baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350º. Grease three 8 or 9" cake pans. (Yes, I know the cake in my picture only has two layers. I made the third layer for Jamie with just the dark chocolate frosting)
Melt the butter and whisk in cocoa powder until well-combined. Whisk in the milk well, then add the sugars, eggs, and vanilla. When everything is smooth, set aside. *This mixture will seem really runny to you. Don't worry about it...it's going to be great. Trust me.
Mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt and add to the wet mix, stirring until just combined. Divide into the three pans and bake 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out barely moistened. Cool before loosening and removing from pans, then cool completely on a wire rack.

Step Two: The German Chocolate filling
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup evaporated milk
3 egg yolks
1/2 cup butter 
1 TB vanilla
3 cups Sweetened Flaked Coconut
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans 

Toast the pecans in a pan on the stove. Then whisk the sugar, milk, yolks, and butter together over med-high heat, and continue to whisk until the mixture is bubbling. Add the vanilla, pecans, and coconut. Allow the mixture to cool down quite a bit before filling the cake. 

Step Three: The Dark Chocolate Frosting
1/2 cup butter 
2/3 cup dark cocoa powder
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup evaporated milk
1 tsp. vanilla 

Melt butter and mix in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk, beating to desired consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. This mixture is very much like ganache---but more frosting-y. Very awesome and very rich.

Thanks for linking up to the Homemaking Party!

Fighting the Homemaker's Lazy Monster with Proverbs 24

In the past, I've shared my struggle with that goody-goody Proverbs 31 woman. It's a love/hate relationship, I think.

In all seriousness, there's a lot of wisdom to be found in emulating her diligence and attitude toward her husband and family, and I really do desire to model my life according to the characteristics of this godly woman. Although I was on a great path there for a while, the past few years' circumstances have made this more difficult and I've become discouraged. My prayer, lately, has been that God would help me get back into a good routine of homekeeping, as well as studying his word.

This morning, my toddler alarm clock went off at 5 am. Usually, that's the beginning of two hours of "please lay down", "please be quiet", and sending several other little ones back to bed. However, this morning I felt immediately awakened and refreshed, so I tucked her in snug with Daddy and got up to get dressed. 

Wait, what?

Yeah, I know. I was shocked too. I'm the girl who prides herself in only doing TWO loads of laundry every day since my little ones and I spend almost every day in our pajamas. I even brushed my hair. Definitely turning over a new leaf.

Anyway--long story short--with breakfast in the oven, I settled down with my Bible to see what God had for me this morning. It was one of those "open it up and see what's inside" moments where I didn't really know what to read---just knew that I needed some encouragement. The kids and I have been studying the early prophets and kings so I meant to read some more about Solomon, but I ended up in Proverbs. (Well, I guess that's Solomon, too, but you know...)

"I went by the field of the lazy man, and by the vineyard of the man devoid of understanding; and there it was, all overgrown with thorns; it's surface was covered with nettles; it's stone wall was broken down. When I saw it, I considered it well; I looked on it and received instruction: a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest; so shall your poverty come like a prowler, and your need like an armed man." Proverbs 24: 30-34

This section has a big square drawn round it, though I don't remember when I marked it. It speaks to me on two levels, but let me tell you first what it's not saying. It's not knocking the need for rest. When you look at the Bible as a whole, you find that it's clear we need rest. God even set aside a whole day for it, though few of us actually take the opportunity. What this passage is talking about is slothfulness---laziness. 

For a man, laziness brings financial poverty and his family goes without the necessities that bring health, happiness, prosperity, and peace to his household. 

For a woman, laziness brings about another kind of poverty that is hard to define in a short and sweet sort of way, but it's something my family has experienced---a place we don't want to go back to. It's more than just having a perpetually messy home or serving my kids ketchup as a vegetable. It's the mindset that tells me it's ok to live like that---the soul that makes excuses and refuses to discipline itself to a higher standard.

In addition to physical slothfulness, this section of Scripture is also addressing spiritual slothfulness---something I'm also too familiar with. God has been extra gracious with me lately, as my desire really has been to be closer and to have my priorities right, even though I've not done such a great job at it the past few years. Anyone who has been pursuing God for awhile knows that he's not the one allowing those thorns and nettles to grow---he'd just as soon burn them all off, but it's me that's got to light the match. (Cue the 90s camp songs: "It only takes a spark...to get a fire go-oh-ing")

So how do we battle this? This is where you all come in. I really want to know how you fight off the lazy monster in your life. For me, it's the Proverbs. I guarantee---if you need someone to give you a swift kick, there's something for every situation in the book of Proverbs. Another thing that helps me is finding encouraging friends. To be real, I don't have a lot of time to leave my home and physically spend time with friends. At this time in my life, I just don't. When I do, I try to choose wisely and make sure my family isn't being inconvenienced. The friends I have understand this and we find ways to be friends anyway---mostly by chatting online while I'm waiting on kids to finish their math or while working on an article and looking for a distraction. Several of my friends have "swift kick" blogs that encourage me to a higher standard. One is my friend, Mrs. White, at The Legacy of Home, another is JES at Strangers & Pilgrims On Earth.

I'd love to hear how you find encouragement to be diligent in your homemaking. Let me know in the comments below!

Prepping For Summer Camping with Mabel's Labels #ICCAMPMABEL #IC #AD

I participated in an Influencer Activation on behalf of Influence Central for Mabel’s Labels. I received a voucher to facilitate my review as well as a promotional item to thank me for my participation.

Summertime means lots of adventures for the Coller kids and this past weekend was the best one yet for our boys. They attended their first Trail Life campout and had a great time. They came home hot, exhausted, and covered in ticks, (yuck!) but it was all worth it for the fun experience of being in the woods with their dad and their friends. Last week, Cainan got this cool pack of personalized waterproof labels from Mabel's Labels---perfect for marking his belongings to make sure everything gets home safely. 

Cainan picked out the sailboat pattern from the Limited Edition Camp Label Pack collection. His label pack included 10 sticky labels, 24 mini name stickers, 8 shoe labels, 50 tag mates, and 2 metal bag tags with chains to attach them to bags or zippers. The bag tags are Cainan's favorite and he also got a little set of postcards to mail home a "hello" from summer camp.

These small labels are great for clothing and personal items. Mabel's Labels had several themes and colors to choose from for boys and girls. I especially like that they're 100% guaranteed, as well as, dishwasher, microwave, and laundry safe.

There were more than enough labels in the pack to personalize all his camping items and even some of his own stuff here at home. That's really important when you're one of nine kids!

Want to try Mabel's Labels for yourself? Just visit the widget below to enter to win discounts or free items. Also, now through June 22, you can sign up for the newsletter and complete one social share to receive a coupon code. Visit MabelsLabels.com to see what discount you received.

Mabels Labels Camp Combo

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