Upside Down German Chocolate Cake

My sweet friend Tina's son came to me one day and told me about a cake that he loves to get from a little bakery he goes to.  He aked me if I would be able to made something like it.  After hearing about it I knew I had to do it.  Chocolate cake with gooey coconut pecans and globs of cream cheese frosting, definitely a winner!

There are many versions of this cake out there so I decided to go with what I like best.  I love a caramalized topping and a moist, so good you just want to want to lick your plate, cake.  I invited him over for a BBQ and had this cake ready for him to try.  He said it was a little different than what the bakery does but declared it a winner.  And as usual my family and friends also acted as guinea pigs and loved it, except for Nathan, he hates coconut so he scrapped off the topping and then agreed it was perfect.

This cake is is good when you may not have the time to put together a layer cake or need to travel with it and worry about it falling over.  I have to say, sitting here typing this makes me want to go to the kitchen and make it now.

Upside Down German Chocolate Cake

1/2 stick butter + 1/2 stick butter, softened

1 cup chopped pecans

1 cup coconut

1 German chocolate cake mix

1/2 cup sour cream, optional (makes cake even moister)

3 eggs (as directed on cake mix box)

Oil (as directed on cake mix box)

Water (as directed on cake mix box)

8 oz cream cheese, softened

2-4 cups powdered sugar, to taste

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spray a 9 x 13 baking pan with non stick oil spray.  Melt 1/2 stick of butter and pour into the bottom of the bakign pan.  Sprinkle melted butter with pecans and coconut. 

Mix the cake as directed on the box adding sour cream if you desire.  In a medium mixing bowl combine the softened cream cheese, softened butter and 2 cups of powdered sugar.  Mix on medium speed until smooth, taste add vanilla and more powdered sugar to desired sweetness.  Pour cake batter into baking pan, spread evenly.  Drop small dallops of the cream cheese mixture all over the cake batter.

Bake 45- 50 minutes until cake springs back when lightly touched.

Allow to cool and serve by cutting out a piee and flipping it over on the place so that coconut pecan layer is on the top.

Note:  If you would like to be able to flip the whole cake out of the pan onto a platter to serve I recommend lining the pan with parchment paper before spraying with oil and pouring in the melted butter.  Allow to cool about 15 minutes before flipping it onto a platter.