Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Let Them Eat Cake, Again - Revisiting My Favorite Chocolate Sheet Cake

Yes, I've been doing it again. Craving things that need to be baked, yet not wanting to bake because it's just too stinking hot. Actually, this dish, while it does require baking, doesn't keep the oven going for very long. So now that our highs have dipped into the mid-90s, perhaps I'll give it a go. That is, just as soon as I have guests/other people to help me eat it. Otherwise... Well, you get the picture.

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Over the years, I've seen this chocolate sheet cake called by many different names, with slight variations to the recipe. Usually the fat. All use some butter or margarine. From there, some add more butter, some shortening, others oil. I generally use oil, but the choice is up to you, because the amount does not differ.

Here's what you'll need:

1/2 C (or one stick) butter or margarine
3 T cocoa
1/2 C oil (or butter, or shortening--whatever floats your boat)
1 C water
2 eggs
2 C sugar
1/2 C buttermilk
2 C flour
1 t baking soda
1 t vanilla

First, read entire the recipe and directions before starting. Y'all have no idea how many times I've gotten myself into trouble because I've failed to adhere to this rule.

In a medium sauce pan, bring butter, cocoa, water, and oil to a boil over medium heat, stirring frequently.
While mixture is cooking, add eggs to sugar and mix well.
Don't forget to give your cocoa mixture another stir.

To the eggs and sugar add buttermilk, flour, soda and vanilla and mix well. It will be thick and kind of stiff.
Once your cocoa mixture has come to a boil, add it to the buttermilk mixture and blend well, making sure to scrape sides and bottom of bowl.

Pour into greased and floured sheet cake pan, tilting pan until batter is evenly spread.
Bake in 400 degree oven for 15 minutes.
While cake is baking, prepare frosting.
For that, you will need:

1/2 C (or one stick) of butter
6 T buttermilk
2 T cocoa
1 box (or 4 1/2 C) powdered sugar
1 t vanilla
1 C chopped pecans or walnuts

In a large saucepan, bring butter, buttermilk, and cocoa to a boil over medium heat, stirring frequently, if not constantly.

When mixture comes to a boil, add powdered sugar and vanilla, stirring until smooth.
Stir in nuts.

By now, your cake should be done.

Pour frosting over HOT cake, spreading to edges.
Voila! An entire cake ready in less than an hour.
However, once cooled, it may not last long.

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You know, it really is the simple things in life that make us happy. And this, my friends, in simple.
So since simple makes us happy...

Happy Tuesday, y'all!

9 comments:

  1. Love that last picture and I bet it disappeared as fast as it took me to scroll down to it. LOL Must remember this for the next time I'm going to a pot luck or church thing. I could make it before then with lofty ideas of freezing individual slices that would last me a few months but then there's nothing like a piece of frozen chocolate cake so...will definitely wait until I have a group of people to bake for.

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    1. LOL! I hear you, Kav. Sweets always call to me like Alice in Wonderland. Eat me. So annoying.

      That said, this cake I always a potluck favorite.

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  2. I love that type cake but have never made it! I really need to try this. Thanks for sharing each step!

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    1. It's one of my favorites, too, Missy. Which is why it's so dangerous for me to make when there aren't a lot of people around to help eat it. ;)

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  3. I'm so laughing at that last photo of the EMPTY cake pan. LOL Must be delicious.

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    1. Sandra, it's one of those dishes where people keep coming to you begging for the recipe. Then they're shocked to find out it's so easy. Like I said, the simple things are often the best.

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  4. I had never heard of Sheet Cake before we moved to Texas, and I've never made it. When we lived there, one woman in our church always made sheet cake for carry-in dinners and it was UNDERSTOOD that NO ONE ELSE brought sheet cake.

    And it was very good...but I never got a recipe!

    I'll have to make this for our next carry-in. And now I can be the lady who makes the sheet cake ;)

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    1. Jan, would you believe I originally got the recipe in Michigan. That's where it' was dubbed Texas Sheet Cake. Probably because of the size. So then I moved to Texas and my MIL made it all the time, usually for a potluck like that lady you knew. Sarah just called it Chocolate Sheet Cake, though.

      BTW, I have a recipe for a blonde version, but I have yet to make that one.

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  5. I have such fun with these Texas sheet cakes. They're marvelous, Mind-O! And I found a recipe for an almond one that is melt in your mouth delicious, too.... Remember last year when Casey messed up the batch of brownies here? And when we doctored the ratios, it ended up being like a first class Texas sheet cake! Yahoo! Great stuff, my friend!

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