Texas Sheet Cake
Please pay no attention to the not so great pictures. (Why does my pan look all distorted?) I just couldn’t help but post this because, well, it tastes amazing. But also because it’s such a great picnic/potluck dessert, and I assume there will be a lot of those going on this weekend.
Texas Sheet Cake doesn’t need much explanation – thin, moist chocolate cake covered by a rich layer of chocolate icing that you pour onto the warm cake, causing part of it to soak into the cake and create something completely wonderful. This is actually one of the only types of chocolate cake I will eat – probably because the cake layer is so thin that it doesn’t seem worth it to just eat the icing off the top (which is what I would normally do). And the icing is incredible. I could eat spoonfuls of it. Actually, I probably did. I took this to a family cookout, and while I didn’t get a chance to get a picture of an individual piece of cake, I did get a picture of the empty pan that made it back to my house. This is a classic dessert that is sure to be a crowd pleaser.
Texas Sheet Cake
Ingredients:
Cake:
2 cups Flour
2 cups Sugar
¼ teaspoons Salt
4 Tablespoons (heaping) Cocoa
2 sticks Butter
1 cup Boiling Water
½ cups Buttermilk
2 whole Beaten Eggs
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Vanilla
Frosting:
½ cups Finely Chopped Pecans (optional)
1-¾ stick Butter
4 Tablespoons (heaping) Cocoa
6 Tablespoons Milk
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 pound (minus 1/2 Cup) Powdered Sugar
Directions:
In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, and salt. In a saucepan, melt butter. Add cocoa. Stir together. Add boiling water, allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds, then turn off heat. Pour over flour mixture, and stir lightly to cool.
In a measuring cup, pour the buttermilk and add beaten eggs, baking soda, and vanilla. Stir buttermilk mixture into butter/chocolate mixture. Pour into sheet cake pan and bake at 350-degrees for 20 minutes.
While cake is baking, make the icing. Chop pecans finely. Melt butter in a saucepan. Add cocoa, stir to combine, then turn off heat. Add the milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar. Stir together. Add the pecans, stir together, and pour over warm cake. Allow to cool before serving.
from The Pioneer Woman