German chocolate cake is my wife's all-time favorite dessert.
"No, it's Italian profiteroles," she yells to me from the couch while playing Clue on the Nintendo Switch. "German chocolate cake is my second-favorite dessert," she declares.
"OK, but you never demand I get you Italian profiteroles for your birthday!" I yell back.
Anyway, in previous years I've procured the chocolate cake with coconut-pecan frosting from various respected bakeries about town, but the best rendition, by far, has come courtesy of Michelle Hulbert, who runs her bakery Michelle, Maker of Sweet Things (michellemakerofsweetthings.com) out of the Cuisiniers catering kitchen in Winter Park.
Hulbert, who served as pastry chef at K Restaurant for eight years, created a gorgeous four-layer cake enveloped by rich chocolate ganache and topped with a frosting fashioned from toasted pecans, coconut, brown sugar and a wee bit of rum. It was an absolute bloody showstopper of a cake. And it took my wife one week to finish.
She might've gotten some help.
(Michelle, Maker of Sweet Things, michellemakerof sweetthings.com)