Back in the spring, we were having some friends for dinner and I was looking for an easy dessert. I was watching the Food Network and The Pioneer Woman was on. I have been following Ree Drummond ever since I started my food blog back in 2009. I love her recipes as well as her storytelling.
During her segment, she was making a Texas Sheet Cake and I kept thinking, I have a recipe for this somewhere. When I was younger, my Aunt Joyce would come to visit and she always made some interesting recipes that we didn't necessarily make in New England. She was originally from Alabama and traveled the world with my uncle as he served in the Navy. They lived in California, Japan, Texas, Hawaii, and Florida; and those are only the places I can remember, I know there were more. When she made this YUM YUM Cake, I remember it was more like a brownie, a gooey frosted brownie. It was dense and fudgy, sticky and sweet. Being the chocoholic that I am, this recipe always stuck with me. I went back into an old recipe folder and found the hand written recipe from my mother. Forty years later, it was almost identical.
I went back and forth between the two recipes and decided to go with the additional cocoa as I do like chocolate. Ree's recipe definitely put a little more chocolate flavor into the cake; 4 tablespoons of cocoa VS 4 heaping tablespoons of cocoa. Both recipes taste delicious, one more fudgy than the other. The sheet cake is addictive and I say that because after you have a piece, you keep taking little slivers or wiping the spatula, gathering all the sweet gooeyness. You don't want to waste even a crumb!
Since that time, I have made the cake a number of times. It's easy to make and within an hour the cake is mixed, baked and frosted. It can't get an easier than that. Our friends and family have definitely enjoyed this dessert, especially when they leave with a big slab of Texas Sheet Cake "to-go".
The best complement you can get from a dessert like this is...."Please don't make this dessert again because I can't stop eating it." Yup! I'll be making it again.
Tell us what you think. Did you like the cake? Do you make a cake similar to this? Share your favorite sheet cake recipes.
YUM YUM Cake or The Best Texas Sheet Cake
Adapted from The Pioneer Woman
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and butter a 13 x 18 sheet cake pan.
- 2 sticks of butter, melted
- 4 heaping tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa
- 1 cup of boiling water
In a medium sauce pan, melt butter with cocoa. Add boiling water and boil for 30 seconds. Remove from heat and add to dry ingredients below.
- 2 cups of sugar
- 2 cups of flour
- 1/4 teaspoon of salt
In a large bowl, combine sugar, flour and salt. Add chocolate mixture. Stir until well blended.
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup of buttermilk
- 1 teaspoon of baking soda
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla
In a small bowl, whisk together eggs, buttermilk, baking soda and vanilla. Add this to the chocolate mixture in the large bowl. Whisk until smooth. Pour into sheet cake pan and bake for 20-25 minutes until the cake springs back upon touch or a toothpick comes out clean.
While the cake is baking, start making the frosting.
- 1 - 3/4 sticks of butter (14 tablespoons)
- 4 heaping tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa
- 6 tablespoons of milk
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla
- 1 pound of confectioner's sugar
- 1/2 cup of chopped pecans
In a medium sauce pan, melt the butter with cocoa. Remove from heat and using a hand whisk add milk and vanilla. Add confectioner's sugar 1/2 at a time, whisk until smooth. After 2 cups, start tasting the frosting. You shouldn't use anymore than 3 cups. I use about 2-3/4 cups total. Once you like the sweetness, add the pecans.
When the cake comes out of the oven, frost the cake.
This cake will feed 18-24 people (or more). As much as it is delicious the first day you make it, it tastes even better the following day.
(This is my mother's handwriting for my Aunt Joyce's recipe)