Can German chocolate cake be done with any cake recipe?

I have a chocolate cake recipe that I always use and I love it and I've yet to fail with it so I'm slightly worried about doing something new. But someone has asked me to make a German chocolate cake for them and I don't know much about it. Can I just use the recipe that I regularly use and do a special frosting or is German cake a specific type of cake? Also does anyone one have any extra tips on making the frosting dairy free?