German Chocolate Cheesecake Cake starts with a cake mix swirled with a cheesecake filling and topped with the most amazing homemade frosting!
GERMAN CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE CAKE
Y’all, this cake recipe is so amazingly wonderful. It’s what happens when German Chocolate Cake and Cheesecake decide to get together and do a little hanky panky. The base of this cake starts off with a boxed cake mix (yay!) but the cheesecake layer and the frosting are from scratch. And the frosting, oh the frosting. It is heaven. The cake weighs about 2 tons when all is said and done, but it is so worth it (kinda like pregnancy).
CAKE + CHEESECAKE
My co-workers actually renamed this cake. The actual name given to this cake is “German Chocolate Cheesecake.” However, when I told them what I was bringing to share, they were expecting cheesecake with a German chocolate topping. Noooo, it’s a German chocolate cake with cheesecake running through it, I told them. So they ask, “Well, why isn’t it called German Chocolate Cheesecake Cake?” I said, “I don’t know, this is just what they call it. Will you just eat it?” And they did. And they loved it. And they keep asking for more. They are a spoiled bunch.
WHAT YOU’LL NEED:
for the cake:
German chocolate cake mix
(plus ingredients needed per package directions, usually eggs, oil & water)
cream cheese filling:
cream cheese
sugar
eggs
German Chocolate cake frosting:
sugar
evaporated milk
salted butter
egg yolks
vanilla extract
sweetened flaked coconut
chopped pecans
HOW TO MAKE GERMAN CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE CAKE:
Prepare cake batter according to package directions; set aside. In a small bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add eggs; beat on low speed just until combined. Pour half of the cake batter into a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish. Gently pour cream cheese mixture over batter. Gently spoon remaining cake batter over top; spread to edge of pan.
Bake at 325° for 70-75 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 1 hour. For the frosting, in a heavy saucepan, combine the sugar, milk, butter and egg yolks. Cook and stir over medium-low heat until thickened and a thermometer reads 160° or is thick enough to coat the back of a metal spoon. Remove from the heat. Stir in vanilla; fold in coconut and pecans. Cool until frosting reaches spreading consistency. Frost cooled cake.
Refrigerate leftovers.
Makes about 16 servings
Enjoy!
Originally published: April 2011
Updated & Republished: June 2019
GERMAN CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE CAKE
German Chocolate Cheesecake Cake starts with a cake mix swirled with a cheesecake filling and topped with the most amazing homemade frosting!
Print Pin RatePrep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
Servings: 12
Calories: 478kcal
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 1 box German chocolate cake mix
- ingredients needed per package directions eggs, oil & water
For the cheesecake filling:
- 2 (8 oz) blocks cream cheese, softened
- 1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 4 eggs, lightly beaten
For the coconut pecan frosting:
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup evaporated milk
- 1/2 cup salted butter, cubed
- 3 egg yolks, lightly beaten
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2-1/2 cups sweetened flaked or shredded coconut
- 1-1/2 cup chopped pecans
Instructions
For the cake:
- Preheat oven to 325°F. Spray a 9X13-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
- Prepare German chocolate cake batter according to package directions; set aside.
For the cheesecake filling:
- In a small bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth.
- Add eggs; beat on low speed just until combined.
To prepare cake:
- Pour half of the prepared German chocolate cake batter into a greased 9x13-inch baking dish.
- Gently pour cream cheese mixture over batter. Gently spoon remaining cake batter over top; spread to edge of pan.
- Bake at 325° for 70-75 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 1 hour.
For the coconut pecan frosting:
- In a saucepan, combine the sugar, milk, butter and egg yolks Cook and stir over medium-low heat until thickened and a thermometer reads 160° or is thick enough to coat the back of a metal spoon.
- Remove from the heat.
- Stir in vanilla; fold in coconut and pecans.
- Cool until frosting reaches spreading consistency.
- Frost cooled cake.
Notes
Refrigerate leftovers.
Nutrition
Calories: 478kcal | Carbohydrates: 56g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 26g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Cholesterol: 171mg | Sodium: 429mg | Potassium: 280mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 41g | Vitamin A: 490IU | Vitamin C: 0.5mg | Calcium: 137mg | Iron: 2.6mg
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This is a fantastic recipe in that it’s so versatile. You can use any chocolate cake mix or your favorite doctored cake mix. I had some leftover chocolate filling from a poke cake so I made a few holes and used that up also. The flavors of the cream cheese and topping are over the top, and the pieces are firm and easy to handle. I swear it was even better after it had been frozen. Thanks for a great recipe.
Love hearing that!! Yay! Thanks so much for the great ideas too!
My sister made it for mother’s day last year. I make cheesecake all the time, (my own recipe) and was super excited to do so myself. However, after I put it in the oven, I realized I didn’t add the eggs correctly to the cream cheese layer. Your instructions should be a little more clear as to how many eggs are used in that layer. I only added 1 bc 3 are called for in the cake. So, needless to say, I was very confused. Crossing my fingers it comes out ok.
Hi Lucy! Thanks so much for the feedback! I updated the recipe card and hopefully that will make things a bit more clear to anyone who had the same confusion as you. Thank you!
Thank you! Just so you know, it still came out great! Lol It was just more like a cream cheese filling! As you can see, I still gave this recipe 5stars! Everyone absolutely loved it!
Not a coconut fan everything else sounds great; what do you recommend? Just increase the pecans?
You could just leave it out I suppose. 🙂
I wonder how it would be to bake in spring form cake pan?
I think it would be tricky. Is there any reason specifically why you would want to do that?
no reason just think it would pretty and easier to serve
If you try it, please let me know!
Hi i used a carrot cake box cake mix. It was delicious but all the cream cheese mix went to the bottom. I was wondering did i not put enough cake mix on the bottom or was the cake mix too.light compared to the German chocolate mix. I didn’t put any icing on it also.
I never would have thought of carrot cake! How different! So, the carrot cake batter isn’t as dense as chocolate cake batter so that was probably the issue. Also, yes, perhaps a little bit more of the cake batter on the bottom would’ve helped. 🙂