German chocolate is a sweet, dark baking chocolate developed in the United States, not Germany; the name comes from Sam German, an American chocolate maker who created the formulation for Baker's Chocolate Company in 1852. It typically has a cocoa content in the 42 to 55 percent range, giving it a balanced sweetness with pronounced chocolate flavor and hints of caramel and nuttiness. It is best known as the base for German chocolate cake, a layered chocolate cake filled with coconut-pecan frosting, but it also appears in cookies, pies, brownies, and hot chocolate. It pairs well with nuts, coconut, caramel, coffee, warm spices like cinnamon, and citrus.