German chocolate cake
At Rosie's Bakery, where slices of German chocolate cake fly out the door, customers might not realize that there's nothing truly German about the confection.
The homey combination of chocolate with a coconut-pecan frosting has its roots in Dallas and Dorchester, not Deutschland. A Dallas newspaper first published a recipe in the 1950s for ''German's chocolate cake," which took its name from the mild, dark baking chocolate created for Baker's Chocolate Co. of Dorchester (now a division of
Denise Ciulla, manager of the Rosie's in Inman Square, is a recent convert to the glories of German chocolate cake. Ciulla hadn't realized its history, but was confident that Rosie's founder Judy Rosenberg knows the whole story. ''I have a slice of it about once a week, and I'm not even a big chocolate fan," Ciulla says.
One pastry chef in town who feels particularly connected to the cake is P.J. Waters at Radius, who researched it recently for a lunch menu. He was surprised not only at the cake's quintessential American origin, but that the birthplace of its primary ingredient was so close to home. Waters happens to live in the Baker Chocolate Factory Apartments, created from the buildings vacated when America's oldest chocolate brand left the banks of the Neponset River.
Rosie's Bakery, 243 Hampshire St., Cambridge, 617-491-9488 (and five other locations); www.rosiesbakery.com. -- JOE YONAN
