German chocolate cake is
actually named for Sam German, the American who invented a dark
baking chocolate when he worked for the American Baker's Chocolate
Company in 1852.
However, Germany has been instrumental in the advancement of many
desserts, with contributions that include lebkuchen or spicy
gingerbread, apple strudel, stollen, which is similar to fruitcake,
and of course, the Berliner, which we call the jelly doughnut.
Christmas has many more German specialties, not the least of which
are rum ball cookies.