⚖️ What's the difference?
Black Forest Cake vs German Chocolate Cake: What's the Difference?
One really is German. The other is American and named for a man. Here is how a cherry cake and a coconut cake got confused.
By Americanized · Edited by JP Lambiase · November 2, 2026
Black Forest cake (Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte) is a German cake of chocolate sponge soaked with kirsch, layered with sour cherries and whipped cream, and finished with chocolate shavings. German chocolate cake is American: sweet-chocolate layers with a cooked coconut and pecan frosting, named for Samuel German, who developed its chocolate, not for Germany. One is cherries and cream, the other coconut and pecans.
| Black Forest cake | German chocolate cake | |
|---|---|---|
| Origin | Black Forest region, Germany | Dallas, Texas newspaper recipe, 1957 |
| Cake | One dark sponge, sliced into three layers | Butter and buttermilk cake, baked as three layers |
| Filling | Sour cherries and whipped cream | Cooked coconut and pecan frosting |
| Alcohol | Kirsch cherry brandy soaks the layers | None in the original box recipe |
| Outside | Covered in cream, shavings and cherries | Frosted on top, sides left bare |
| Name | Named for the region and its kirsch | Named for Samuel German, not Germany |
Cherries and cream vs coconut and pecans
A Black Forest cake is built around cherries. The Black Forest's tourism board describes a dark chocolate sponge cut into three layers, each soaked with kirsch syrup, with sour cherries and a light whipped cream between them. The outside is covered in cream and finished with chocolate shavings and more cherries. Our Black Forest cake follows that board's method.
German chocolate cake is built around its frosting. The chocolate layers are made with sweet baking chocolate and buttermilk, and a cooked coconut and pecan frosting goes between them and on top. Nick Malgieri, writing in Saveur, describes the frosting as buttery and notes that the sides are traditionally left bare. Our German chocolate cake follows the recipe the chocolate's maker prints.
How the cakes are built
The batters differ. Black Forest starts with a sponge, a single dark cake that is baked and then sliced into layers. German chocolate cake is a butter cake: the Baker's recipe creams butter and sugar, adds egg yolks, melted chocolate and buttermilk, folds in whipped egg whites, and bakes three separate 9-inch layers.
Then the flavor. Kirsch, a cherry brandy, is essential to the German cake, and the tourism board says it does not taste right without it. The American cake calls for no liquor, and its character comes from coconut, pecans and a rich, buttery frosting.
Two very different origins
Black Forest cake's history is argued over. The tourism board says a confectioner named Josef Keller reportedly baked the first one in 1915 at a Bad Godesberg café, though his cake had a single layer and was likely a forerunner. Farm women in the southern Black Forest were already mixing cherries, cream and kirsch into a dessert called Schwarzwälder Crème. Other accounts credit other bakers and dates.
German chocolate cake is a mid-century American recipe. Samuel German developed a sweet baking chocolate for Baker's in the 1850s, and in June 1957 The Dallas Morning News ran a reader's cake recipe using it, credited to Mrs. George Clay. Food Republic notes an earlier Texas recipe in 1956, and that the apostrophe in "German's" was later dropped. The full story is in our is German chocolate cake German? article.
Why people mix them up
Both are chocolate layer cakes with "German" in the name or the story. Only one comes from Germany. Browse our chocolate cake hub or settle it in our Black Forest vs German chocolate cake debate.
Questions people ask
Is Black Forest cake the same as German chocolate cake?
No. Black Forest cake is chocolate sponge with kirsch, sour cherries and whipped cream. German chocolate cake is a butter and buttermilk cake with a cooked coconut and pecan frosting.
What is a German forest cake?
People searching for a German forest cake almost always mean Black Forest cake. Its German name, Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte, means Black Forest cherry cake.
Does German chocolate cake have chocolate frosting?
No. The chocolate is in the layers, made with sweet baking chocolate. The frosting is a cooked mixture of coconut and pecans, and the sides are traditionally left unfrosted.
Parts of this history are disputed. Where sources disagree, we say so.
Sources
- Schwarzwald Tourismus (Black Forest Tourism), "Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte"
- Nick Malgieri, "American Beauty," Saveur, November 16, 2009
- Dorchester Atheneum, "German Sweet Chocolate," April 18, 2020
- Eli Cohen, "German Chocolate Cake Was Not Created Where You Think," Food Republic, June 7, 2025
- Kraft Heinz, "BAKER'S GERMAN'S Sweet Chocolate Cake"
- Wikipedia, "Black Forest gateau" (used as a lead to sources)
More food facts
Cook it
Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte (Black Forest Cake)
The real Black Forest cake: three layers of chocolate sponge brushed with kirsch, sour cherries and a light vanilla cream, covered in cream and dark chocolate shavings, the way the Black Forest's own tourism board makes it.
German Chocolate Cake (Coconut-Pecan Frosting)
Not from Germany at all: three light layers made with sweet baking chocolate and buttermilk, stacked with a cooked coconut-pecan custard frosting, the cake a 1957 Dallas newspaper recipe made famous.