Living each week like it's shark week

Chocolate Sheet Cake (4/26)

I'm not one for particularly cold foods. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for ice cream and salad (separately), but when food is generally designed to be hot I prefer it that way. Cold chicken, cold pizza--count me out. And I consider myself to be fairly moderate about this. Lily enjoys her food at about scalding.

That being said, I ate this cake cold and I've never regretted it.




I hurriedly made this before work because it was the last day for my favorite boss. I had no inspiration. I scrolled listlessly for anything to make and thankfully I had the good sense to unearth this recipe. Of course, anything remotely smelling of "homemade" at my work has the tendency to disappear within seconds, so the safe thing to do is leave it in the walk-in refrigerator until ready to unveil. That meant putting my fresh cake straight into the cold box, which was how it was served, and boy, was it ever good. Make this cake.







Chocolate Sheet Cake
adapted from The Pioneer Woman

Ingredients

Cake
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 sticks butter
4 heaping tablespoons cocoa powder
1 cup boiling water
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract

Frosting
1 stick butter
4 heaping tablespoons cocoa powder
6 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup pecans or walnuts, toasted and finely chopped

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350F. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar and salt. Set aside.

Melt the butter in a saucepan or the microwave. Stir in cocoa powder, then add boiling water. Let simmer for 30 seconds, then remove from heat. Pour over flour mixture and stir lightly to cool.

Combine buttermilk, eggs, baking soda and vanilla extract. Stir into batter and mix until just incorporated. Pour onto half-sheet pan and bake 18-20 minutes.

Meanwhile, make frosting. Melt butter over medium-low heat, stir in cocoa and remove from heat. Thoroughly mix in milk, vanilla extract, and powdered sugar. Stir in pecans and pour immediately over cake.

Cut into squares and serve. Cold if you like, but I doubt it'll last that long.

Love, Christine at 12:05 PM

Tags: baking, cake, food, recipes