I have been looking through the galleries at german chocolate cakes and most I notice aren't covered in icing. Is there a reason for this? Is the cake mixture hard to cover with icing? I am getting nervous now because I have to make a german chocolate cake this weekend and I had an idea in mind already and hope not to run into any problems with covering it. Thanks for your help in advance!

I just did a quick search and looked at the German chocolate cakes in the gallery and they are all iced. I'm not sure what you mean by them not being covered in icing. Are you talking about covering the coconut-pecan icing (it's this icing that makes it a German chocolate cake, without it, it's just a light chocolate cake) with fondant, because that would be pretty much impossible to get smooth. If someone wants a German chocolate cake covered in fondant, you'd have to just use the coconut-pecan icing as the filling and then do a light coat of chocolate buttercream on the outside of the cake (under the fondant).

HTH!

Ah ok, forgive my ignorance. I am new to this. I am doing it for my sister and she never mentioned the coconut pecan icing. She just wants buttercream to cover it so basically I guess she wants a light chocolate cake lol. Sorry, I feel silly now. Thanks for the help!

Don't feel silly...as someone posted a few weeks ago...THERE ARE NO DUMB QUESTIONS ON HERE! Most german choc cakes are iced with a coconut/caramel/pecan icing then deorated with either a chocolate fudge/ganache or chocolate buttercream icing. Don't sweat it! You learned something...I personally add a tsp. of cinnamon to my german choc cake recipe...it gives it just a little umph...most people always say..."there is just something about your german chocolate...I can't put my finger on it but it sure tastes great!" I just smile and say it's LOVE....

German chocolate cakes are a mild chocolate cake with a coconut/pecan filling/icing. Some people will also ice the cake in the coconut/pecan mixture, but you can also ice it in chocolate.

If I am making a 'dessert' German chocolate cake, then I will fill and ice the cake in the coconut/pecan icing. If I want to decorate it, I will fill the cake and sometimes ice the sides in the coconut/pecan filling then ice the top in Chocolate icing to give me the 'surface' to decorate on.