The German Chocolate Cake has nothing to do with the country of Germany. In 1852, American baker Samuel German developed a type of dark baking chocolate and sold the recipe to the Baker's Chocolate Co. who named the product, "German's Sweet Baking Chocolate."
On June 3, 1957, a recipe for "German's Chocolate Cake" created by Mrs. George Clay, a homemaker from Dallas, TX, appeared as the "Recipe of the Day" in The Dallas Morning News. This recipe used the baking chocolate introduced 105 years prior. The cake recipe was distributed to other newspapers around the country and became quite popular and soon became a national staple. The possessive form (German's) was dropped in subsequent publications, forming the "German Chocolate Cake" identity and giving the false impression of a German origin. Even the White House chef was fooled when, in 1972, the Chancellor of Germany visited the country, the cake was on the menu in his honor at a State Dinner.
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