Generally, I have a feeling that cakes are about bakeries and pies are about home. I know that is silly but it is simply a sense. When I think about cakes, generally, I think about big multi-tiered affairs and fondant and weddings and all of that. And when I think about pies I think about grandmas and steam rising from hot apple filling and pies cooling on windowsills and all of the Norman Rockwell stuff.
However, there is an exception. There is a cake, a category of cakes really, that buck my mental trend and qualify as belonging to the “honorary pie family” simply because they evoke a similar down home, family feel. This hybrid is the sheet cake. I love sheet cakes. Family reunions, church pot lucks, teacher’s lounges…they are the breeding ground for all manner of cakes that are 1) portable, 2) feed a million people, 3) inexpensive, and 4) warm the heart, 5) in which the focus is on the “goodness” of the dessert and not the “fabulosity,” 6) that anyone can whip up in an hour, 7) and that doesn’t require special equipment to make or a special van to transport.
So yes, I have a special appreciation for the genre. But more than that, my absolute, all time, forever, highest ranked, favorite cake in the universe is a humble sheet cake. Specifically, my favorite cake in the whole wide world is the Texas Chocolate Sheet Cake. I will often make this cake myself for my own birthday because this is what I want on my birthday and because I love making it. When I fantasize about the perfect meal, it always ends with this cake. It is the best cake. Yes, I know you might like something else. But we are talking about me. Got it. I might have to start a whole new category on PIE for sheet cakes. If you look around, you will find several stores that sell sheet cake pans that come with a strong plastic cover so they can be transported and/or kept fresh for days. Get one.
CAKE:
Cooking Spray
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ cups water
½ cup unsalted butter
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa
½ cup low-fat buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
FROSTING:
12 tablespoons butter
½ cup low fat (2%) milk (and a bit more if needed)
½ cup unsweetened cocoa
6 cups powdered sugar
½ cup chopped pecans (or way more, like a cup to 1½ cups)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Coat a 15 x 10 inch jelly-roll pan with spray. Combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl and stir well with a whisk. In a small bowl, combine the buttermilk, the vanilla and the eggs and give it a little stir. In a small saucepan, combine the water, the butter and ¼ cup of cocoa. Bring the saucepan to a simmer, stirring frequently. Remove it from the heat. Pour the hot chocolate mixture into flour mixture and beat until well blended. At first it looks rather stiff, but with a few more turns of the wrist it comes together. Add the buttermilk mixture and beat until well combined. Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 17 to 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Place the pan on a wire rack. If you use a 9” x 13” pan, it will take about 22 minutes.
For the icing, combine the butter, milk, and cocoa in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Spread on hot cake. Cool.
Notes:
This is not a perfect looking icing to a cake decorating fanatic. You are pouring warm icing on a warm cake and it sort of piles up at the edges and the pecans distribute themselves willy-nilly. You can optimize the looks by doing several things. You can use whole pecans, and a lot of them, which is lovely but makes the pieces a little more difficult to slice. You can also sift the cocoa and separately sift the powdered sugar to minimize lumps. I use a whisk for the entire batter process, but sometimes I will get out my hand mixer on the icing if it isn’t behaving. But no matter what you do, this is one of the most delicious cakes in the world. The warm icing on warm cake procedure creates this middle ground that is not quite cake and not quite icing. My mouth is watering just typing the words. If I’m feeling generous, sometimes I’ll let the kids put M&M’s on half of it. I took these photos over the course of 3 bakings of the cake, so if you notice that the cake looks slightly different between the photos…good eye.
All recipes for Texas Chocolate Sheet Cake are quite similar. It is like Snickerdoodles. You know you are in the right ballpark when all of the recipes you research start looking the same. This one is slightly different in that 1) it doesn’t use any shortening, 2)instead of adding boiling water to the recipe, you boil up lots of the ingredients together, and 3) I use lower fat ingredients where possible. I actually came by the basics of this recipe in Cooking Light. To reduce the comical number of calories in the cake, they used low-fat ingredients, but they also cut back drastically on the amount of icing they made for the cake. I very much liked the flavor of this version but found that when I was using a bona fide sheet cake pan, the limited icing recipe just didn’t get me where I needed to go. So, I doubled up on the icing and it was perfect with a little left for bowl licking. Don’t feel like you have to use every last drop. So as my recipe is written above, there is ample icing for a sheet cake. Any calorie savings has been nullified by my tinkering. But it is the best combination of all the Texas Sheet Cake recipes I have ever come across. This is what I eat on my birthday. This is what I bake when I need comfort food. This is what I like to make to take to family functions, as it is tops with me and I hope you like it, too.
Some sources: homemade vanilla recipe, vanilla beans, pecans from The Pecan Shed
thanks so much – perfect timing. my dad’s bday is friday and I was just thinking I should do something about a cake ;)
My mother used to make a chocolate cake special by adding EXTRA strong coffee in place of some of the other liquids. She would use the coffee in the cake as well as in the frosting. Yum!
The coffee trick is a good one. I do a cupcake in which I use a pack of those little Starbucks Via granules and it works great. The right amount really enhances the chocolate without making the dessert taste like coffee.
Oh yes, the good ol’ chocholate sheet cake. My mom makes 3 when all of the grandkids flock to her house every summer. I absolutely love it. I follow her recipe, which is the same as yours, but it never tastes quite the same.
Who dribbled chocolate down their shirt?
That would be Pitts…this icing recipe makes plenty enough for sneaking icing bites, but it is warm and gooey so there is a high incidence of dribble.
I love Texas Sheet Cake! I used to make it all the time, but lost the recipe. I made it for my niece’s birthday in July using Pioneer Woman’s recipe.
Wow. Yes, please! This looks incredible. And I love all your process photos!
I like the idea of adding M&Ms, more chocolate to all that chocolatey goodness :) Looks and sounds delicious!
This looks really rich and delicious! Chocolate combined with nuts is always a winner!
My grandmother made a version of this, too. I’m with you . . . the more pecans the better! Great job!
Elizabeth, do you have her recipe? Does she have any good tricks for hers? I’m a sucker for grandma recipes.
Kel,
This is my FAV also!! I have not made one is a looooong time, but plan to correct that problem over the weekend. There is a good version of this at Cousins BBQ—my boss always has it for us at end of quarter—his way of bribing us!!! Mel
Kelly, I got up early today hoping to be the 45,000th visitor to PIE. Did I make it on time? Do I get a cookie for that, or maybe Pimiento Cheese on a rib of celery?
I LOVE your sheetcakes! This cake only requires a big old fork and a kitchen table – I eat this cake right out of the pan. Sarah & I ate your entire white sheet cake out of the pan at the last Carlson family reunion. And the worst part is we blamed it on the kids.
JOEY!!!! I love you! You just made me smile so big.
I don’t know if it was you, but we did hit 45 today. Not too bad for a brand new project, I think.
Mel, let me know how it turns out…and where is Cousins BBQ. I want to know about it. It is about time that I went on a BBQ tour of TX.
Joey, me too.
Kelly & Aunt Carol,
John Ransom wants you to make a Lego cake; preferably a ‘Star Wars’ Lego cake (with Lily & Ford assisting) and post it on Pie. He wants to go ahead and put in his order for his b-day next year!
March 27–it is on my calendar.
I Love The icing. Best cake ever!
JOHN!! You are officially the youngest commenter for PIE. You have broken the record by a minimum of 18 years. I’m thrilled that you liked it. Have a great year at school!
The kids and I made this cake to take to the teacher’s lounge tomorrow. John’s love of the cake is based on the fact that there was extra icing, and the icing really is that good. It is difficult to look at the cake and not eat it! We are already planning on making another one just for us.
John starting checking out your site tonight and thinks it is awesome! I think we may have a breakthrough on the pickiness front. He has requested the ruffled eggs cups for breakfast and wants to make the popsicles after school. He also wants the bean soup for his lunch box. I love it!
This cake runs deep in my families roots and holds a special place in my memories of family and of growing up in West Texas. I like to make extra icing and mix it into my ice cream base when we make homemade icecream.
I always eat this cake with vanilla ice cream. Brilliant idea to put the icing IN ice cream. Wow. That is great.
Julie…I’m so glad you like it. I am just crazy about this cake. Happy Birthday to your young man!
Kelly, I’m making this for about the 50th time for one of our many Thanksgiving celebrations. There will be plenty of pies there, so I feel compelled to balance things with your sheet cake. This is my favorite of all of your recipes!
Eilzabeth…truth be told…this is my favorite recipe on the whole of PIE also. I think I need to consider this as a TG dessert, as well.
Kelly,
Found your blog last night, then met your mom over the phone and e-mail today. A funny coincidence! Your Texas Chocolate Sheet Cake recipe is almost exactly like the one that my family calls Mrs. Brewster’s Chocolate Cake. Mrs. Brewster was the home-ec teacher at Petrolia for years (1940s-50s) while my mother and other family were in school there, and it’s our favorite for any occasion. I’ll enjoy looking through your posts. Thanks, and good luck with the brisket-learning!
Kathy, my mom told me about the huge coincidence. What an extremely small world it is! And, I like it that way. I’m so glad you happened upon my little home away from home here. I love that you have a TX Chocolate Sheet Cake heritage, too. I would have loved to have called it Mrs. Brewster’s cake. I love the whole thing. Did Mrs. Brewster pass along any other great sheet cakes. I have a very soft spot in my heart for cafeteria ladies and home ec. teachers, too. I make this cake all the time and I always say that it is not the prettiest thing in the wold, but it is always the best. I try to make it for my own birthday every year because it is my favorite cake in the world. I hope your son continues on to brisket greatness, too. And I hope you visit PIE often.
I just made this cake today (01/19/2013). OMG… it is absolutely WONDERFUL!!!! Thank you for the recipe. This is definently one that I will be making again. And it is so easy to make.
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