German chocolate cake for breakfast! Decadent dark chocolate overnight oats layered with gooey Medjool date caramel + pecans + coconut. Easy, healthy, YUM!
THIS POST IS SPONSORED BY NATURAL DELIGHTS®
I won’t tell you this tastes like german chocolate cake for breakfast.
What I will tell you is that it tastes like rich chocolatey cake BATTER and the best part of german chocolate cake, the frosting, layered up into a take-with-you jar of indulgent (but wholesome!) breakfast.
Apples and oranges, cake and oatmeal – we can’t really compare the two.
All we can do is love them both, eat them often, and make room for this meal-prep morning version of german chocolate cake in our refrigerators.
This recipe is automatically wholesome because oats and chia. But we’re gonna crank the good-for-ya-ness up another notch with Natural Delights Medjool Dates!
Sure, sure they replace the refined sugar and mega bump the fiber content, but they are also the base of our gooey caramel + coconut + pecan “frosting” layers. So truly this cake to breakfast conversion wouldn’t be possible without them.
Because Medjool dates blend smoother in a large quantity than a single serve portion, I recommend making an entire batch of date paste and saving the rest for sweetening other things throughout the week. It will easily last a week or two in an airtight jar in the fridge. Or a half batch of THESE is never a bad idea.
If you aren’t using high quality Medjool dates like Natural Delights, you may need to soak them first for easier/smoother blending.
The cake. A.k.a. chocolate cake batter overnight oats. I always like to make my overnight oats with a couple of tablespoons of chia seeds so they’re extra thick, and then once you sweeten it with a little date paste…SO RICH. You don’t really need to sweeten this layer, the frosting is sweet enough, so feel free to skip it. But don’t skip the salt, that little pinch makes a big difference.
The frosting. Date paste stirred to chunkily coat crunchy chopped pecans and flakes of sweet coconut. And yes it is JUST as ridiculously delicious as it sounds.
It’s back to school/adulting/not-summer time, so I think we all could use a little more cake(ish) for breakfast in our lives. You with me?
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German chocolate cake for breakfast! Decadent dark chocolate overnight oats layered with gooey Medjool date caramel + pecans + coconut. Easy, healthy, YUM!
Ingredients
Medjool Date Paste
- 1 cup (200g) Natural Delights® Pitted Medjool Dates
- 2/3 cup warm water
Chocolate Overnight Oats
- 1/2 cup (50g) rolled oats
- 1 cup (240g) almond milk
- 2 tbsp (20g) chia seeds
- 2 tbsp (35g) Medjool date paste (above)
- 3 tbsp (15g) cacao powder
- 1/8 tsp salt
Caramel Pecan Coconut “Frosting”
- 2 tbsp cup (15g) chopped pecans
- 2 tbsp (12g) unsweetened shredded coconut
- 1/4 cup (70g) Medjool date paste (above)
Instructions
- Blend the dates and water in a high speed blender until smooth. (Date paste video tutorial HERE)
- Transfer to a glass jar, you will have some left over but it keeps in the fridge for a couple of weeks.
- In a bowl, whisk together the oats, almond milk, chia seeds, 2 tbsp date paste, cacao powder, and salt.
- Cover and refrigerate overnight.
- The next day, stir together the 1/4 cup date paste with the pecans and shredded coconut.
- Layer the chocolate overnight oats with the pecan/coconut mixture into 2 jars.
- Enjoy!
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serving
- Calories: 391
- Sugar: 38g
- Sodium: 243mg
- Fat: 14g
- Saturated Fat: 4g
- Carbohydrates: 64g
- Fiber: 13g
- Protein: 8g
Keywords: vegan, healthy, easy, chocolate, meal prep, cake, caramel, oatmeal, breakfast
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I don’t think I’ll ever be able to hear the words German Chocolate Cake without remembering the time my childhood dog ATE the German chocolate cake that my mom left on the counter 😬😱😂 crazy dog! And luckily she survived! But I also have fond memories enjoying it every time my mom made it! I mean, what’s not to love?!? Chocolate, coconut, pecans….in cake form, yes please! But the thought of making the actual cake version sounds intimidating and like a lot of work 😂😂 But overnight oats?! I can absolutely do that!! And this looks amazing!! I love that you add chia seeds to your overnight oats…such a great idea! OMG, that frosting layer 😍 I don’t know that I would have the willpower to not eat it on its own! I have just about every nut in my fridge EXCEPT pecans, so I will have to grab some ASAP. I’ll let you know when I make this! 😘
OMG!! Poor pup😳🐶🙈 That sounds like an um very stressful experience lol, your mom must make a REALLY good german chocolate cake! Or your doggo was just quite mischievous…maybe both😂 That’s a funny association though, my mom actually hates it but always made it for my dads bday so I think of him anytime I make it lol. Oh yes, this is the MUCH lazier (a.k.a. my style) version, and really we all know it’s mostly about the frosting anyways😉 Can’t wait to hear how it goes in your house❤️
This looks wonderful but my macros look very different that what you listed. I put into Cronometer and I get 29.3g fat, 837 calories, 113 carbs and 17.8g protein. Of that fat saturated is 8.7g. Your fats are coming from pecans, chia and coconut. The majority of saturated fat, 5.7g is from the coconut.
How have I never heard of German cake before? And yes, of course I assumed it was some kind of Bavarian delicacy when I first read those words. What is this, I wondered? Black Forest Gâteau? Sachertorte? But no, this is even better!! Thank you Samuel German and Natalie Thomas! And now I know how great it is in overnight oats form, I’ve gotta try it as a cake too (please say you’ve got a recipe!). 😋 Also, this is the first time I’ve made chia seed overnight oats where I haven’t been able to taste them – yesss!!!
★★★★★
Ha such a weird name origin story isn’t it? It’s fun to post these things and start the conversation though otherwise I probably never would’ve questioned why it’s called German chocolate cake either. I don’t actually have a german chocolate cake recipe up yet, definitely need to and have been meaning to for a while, but you could use one of my existing chocolate cake recipes with this frosting in the meantime–would be delish! So happy you loved these chia undetectable oats too❤️
This looks really good! Breakfast and dessert all in one, ah yah!! Question: I don’t have any dates but I do have raisins. Could I make like a raisin paste?
Yes absolutely! Just know it will have a less caramel-y more fruity flavor 🙂