Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Chocolate Sheet Cake

So when I was growing up my grandma used to make the best chocolate sheet cake ever. It was a staple at everyone's birthday's. She doesn't bake quite as much anymore but my aunt still makes it all the time. I have wanted to get the recipe from her forever and just always forget! Anyways so I was playing around the other day and see Pioneer Women's Chocolate Sheet Cake Recipe and it looked really similar to the one I remembered.
I decided last night I would try it out. It looked really pretty but I was so tired I didn't even taste it! I brought it to work today for all my favorite work friends to try. After checking with my aunt I think the recipe is for the most part the same but the one I remember has a small amount of cinnamon in it! Dang...that would have be good to add! So this one is really good but I hope I can make the family recipe soon...cause it's amazing!

I did have a few mishaps I ran into last night as I was baking. First the recipe calls for buttermilk, which I don't ever have in the fridge and secondly I knew I was going to be cutting it close on the cocoa powder. I decided it was too late for a store run and I would just improvise. For buttermilk, I added 1 tablespoon of vinegar to the milk and waited and few minutes and voila you have buttermilk! For the extra cocoa powder, I was right I was about 3 tablespoons short. So I added 1 ounce (1 bar) of unsweetened chocolate to the butter mixture for the icing.

I think the cake turned out great even with all the changes I had to make! I will say that I think I prefer the one my family makes but this one was great too! I never even had to break the mixer out!

Pioneer Woman Chocolate Sheet Cake

Combine in a mixing bowl:
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt

In a saucepan, melt:
2 sticks butter (use the salted butter, if using unsalted make sure to add more salt to the flour mixture)
Add 4 heaping tablespoons cocoa. Stir together.
Add 1 cup boiling water, allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds, then turn off heat.
Pour over flour mixture, and stir lightly to cool.


In measuring cup, pour 1/2 cup buttermilk.
Add:
2 beaten eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon 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 icing:
Chop 1/2 cup pecans finely. (I omitted these)
Melt 1 3/4 sticks butter in a saucepan.
Add 4 heaping tablespoons cocoa, stir to combine, then turn off heat. (I had to improvise and use unsweetened chocolate bars cause I ran out of cocoa powder)

Add:
6 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 lb minus 1/2 cup powdered sugar
Stir together and pour over warm cake. (Make sure to stir until powdered sugar is completely disolved.)
Cut and enjoy!


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12 comments:

  1. Hey, Smitten while I'm not fond of chocolate cake I think if you had added the cinnamon I would not have been able to walk away. Cinnamon makes chocolate tolerable if not better! :)
    ~ingrid

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  2. Oh, that Ingrid!

    I've always added cinnamon to the frosting in sheet cake. I have a cheater version using a box mix on my blog, but I've been wanting to try this version too.

    great job!

    And just to let you know, I subscribed to your blog, but it wasn't updating me on your posts :-( I think I've gotten it all figured out though.

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  3. Looks great! I think those chocolate sheet cakes are a southern staple. I grew up in Houston and now live in New Jersey and I have not been to one party where there was a chocolate sheet cake! I should start the tradition up here.
    Improvising is a what a great cook does...good job!

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  4. Well, your "improv" tasted great! This cake was light and the icing melted in your mouth...thereby easily explaining my quick consumption of 2 pieces!

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  5. I usually never pair cinnamon with chocolate, don't know why. I'll start trying it after reading your post. I would have added a bunch of colored sugar sprinkles to make it more kid-friendly at my home :P. Very moist looking cake. Yum!

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  6. This is one of my very favorite cakes. I love it!! You have a lovely blog here. Nice to meet you.

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  7. Nothing better than a big piece of chocolate sheet cake with a tall glass of ice cold milk. Looks tasty!

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  8. Hello!!! Your cake looks amazing! I wanted to stop buy and let you know that you won the 40 vanilla beans from my giveaway! Please email me your info.... Congrats!

    mybakingaddiction{at}gmail.com

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  9. Congrats on winning the 40 vanilla beans from mybakingaddiction! I'm soooo jealous. :)

    This cake was a recipe my monther in law gave me when my hubby and I first married. It is so yummmy!

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  10. You won 40 vanilla beans! That is great!

    Your cake looks succulent!

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  11. wow that baked up so smooth and perfect in the pan!

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  12. Beautiful cake, glad you found a good recipe.

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