The Best (Texas) Chocolate Sheet Cake {recipe}

I'm a chocolate lover, and always will be.  Although I believe in eating healthy, homemade, and fresh foods.. I will never be one of those people who go on a diet.  I love my sweets entirely too much.  And by eating healthy and getting exercise (aka chasing my daughter around), I feel like I can afford to enjoy my chocolate cravings.

I made this sheet cake for a 4th of July family get together.  It was obviously nothing short of delicious.  This just might be my new favorite cake.  I had to stop people from diggin' in so I could snap a quick shot of it..

 

Texas Chocolate Sheet Cake

Cake

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 4 heaping tablespoons unsweetened baking cocoa
• 2 sticks butter
• 1 cup boiling water
• ½ cup buttermilk (Or use this tip to make a buttermilk substitute: Place 1/2 Tablespoon white vinegar or lemon juice in a liquid measuring cup. Add enough regular milk to bring the liquid up to the 1/2 cup line. Let stand for 5 minutes, then use in the recipe.)
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

 Frosting

• 1 3/4 sticks butter
• 4 heaping Tablespoons unsweetened baking cocoa
• 6 Tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 pound (minus 1/2 cup) powdered sugar (about 3 to 3 1/4 cups)

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

Melt butter in a saucepan and add cocoa. Stir together. Add boiling water, allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds, then turn off heat. Pour over flour mixture, and stir lightly to cool.

In a measuring cup, pour the buttermilk and add beaten eggs, baking soda, and vanilla. Stir buttermilk mixture into butter/chocolate mixture. Pour into (lightly greased) 13 x 18″ sheet cake pan and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes (if using a 10 x 15″ jelly roll pan, you may need to bake 22 to 23 minutes).

While cake is baking, make the icing. Melt butter in a saucepan. Add cocoa, stir to combine, then turn off heat. Add the milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar. Stir together. Pour over warm cake.  If you made your cake in a 13 x 18″ pan, pour on all the frosting - you may need to spread it a little so it covers the entire cake; if your cake is in a 10 x 15″ pan, just pour enough frosting on to cover the surface of the cake without going over the edges of the pan. You’ll probably have about 1/2 to 2/3 cup of frosting left over (good for eating by the spoonful with a glass of milk... just sayin').

You can let the frosting cool and set before cutting into squares if you want, or cut into squares while it’s still warm and dig in! The frosting will start setting in about a half hour, but it needs between 1 and 2 hours to set more firmly; at 2 hours, it should be nice and firm.

I put little raspberries on the top of each square.. just to add a little color to my 4th of July dessert!  ;)

Want to print out the recipe?  Here is the printable version.