Texas Sheet Cake

The first time I bit into a chocolatey square of Texas sheet cake years ago, I knew that someday I would have to make it myself. It sat in the back of my mind until I finally discovered that the Pioneer Woman has a recipe for it...I was so delighted that I made it almost immediately! All of her recipes are delicious…and usually pretty unhealthy too, and this one is no exception. However, this cake's heavenly flavor makes all that extra butter and sugar worth it.

The mystery behind Texas sheet cake: its name. People keep asking me, “why Texas?”.

The answer: I don’t know. Even wikipedia couldn’t tell me. *shakes head in disappointment*

I did find out, however, that this cake was quite popular in the South in the 1950s (no wonder there’s so much butter and sugar!). It actually has quite a few different names, one of the most common being simply “chocolate sheet cake”. But I don’t think that name does this cake justice—it speaks plain old chocolate to me (not that that's bad), but this is not just any old chocolate cake dumped into a sheet pan. Texas sheet cake is rich, moist, and chocolatey.

Texas sheet cake has a few defining characteristics which help make it so amazing: the most obvious are the use of chocolate and a sheet pan—but we already knew that much. Less obvious is that it usually has nuts (especially pecans) in the frosting, and buttermilk (or sometimes sour cream) in the cake; these give it crunch as well as fluffy-moistness. The light cake and dense frosting combine in two luscious layers to create one giant pan of goodness. "Texas sheet cake" is basically just another way of saying "indulgence".

Texas sheet cake is not only delicious to eat, but it is easy to make and feeds a crowd; no one goes home disappointed! The fact that nobody knows the exact origins of the cake is forgotten at the first bite.

Texas Sheet Cake

Serves: 24-30

Ingredients:

Cake:

2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

4 Tbs. (heaping) cocoa

2 sticks butter (1 cup / 8 oz.)

1 cup boiling water

1/2 cup buttermilk

2 eggs, beaten

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. vanilla

 Frosting:

1/2 cup finely chopped pecans (optional)

1 3/4 stick butter (14 Tbs. or 7 oz)

4 Tbs. (heaping) cocoa

6 Tbs. milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

about 7 1/2 cups (or 1 pound minus 1/2 cup) powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 Fº. Grease a 18x13 jelly roll pan.

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, and salt.

3. In a small pot, melt butter. Add cocoa powder and stir.

4. Carefully pour boiling water into cocoa mixture and allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds.

5. Remove from heat and add to flour mixture; stir.

6. Mix buttermilk, beaten eggs, baking soda, and vanilla together in a large measuring cup.

7. Add buttermilk mixture to flour and cocoa mixture. Stir until combined.

8. Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

9. While cake is baking, make the icing.

Icing:

1. Chop pecans finely.

2. Melt butter in a large saucepan.

3. Stir in cocoa, then turn off heat.

4. Add the milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar; mix and stir in the pecans.

5. Pour over warm cake, spreading evenly with a plastic spatula.

Recipe from: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/the_best_chocol/