TEXAS SHEET CAKE

TEXAS SHEET CAKE

THE BEST CHOCOLATE SHEET CAKE. EVER. (from The Pioneer Woman)


*This cake turned out exactly like pictured in various blogs. The icing is fantastic. This cake is a cross between, cake, brownie, and fudge. I got raves on the icing which was delish. I didn't like the cake portion. My family and I are partial to the Hershey's chocolate cake. This recipe was bland and dry... Next time this icing recipe with the Hershey cake recipe = amazing.

The original recipe is found below.

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)
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts, optional (Jane did not use nuts in her frosting and it was great…so if you don’t like nuts, leave them out!)
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 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). NOTE: I greased my pan, but the Pioneer Woman’s recipe doesn’t say to do that, so I guess that’s optional.

While cake is baking, make the icing. If using nuts, chop them finely. Melt butter in a saucepan. Add cocoa, stir to combine, then turn off heat. Add the milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar. Stir together. Add the nuts, stir together, and pour over warm cake. (NOTE: if you follow these directions, you’ll notice your frosting is still a little lumpy. To make her frosting really nice and smooth, Jane simply cooked the frosting several minutes longer over low heat, stirring until the mixture was smooth; she also omitted the nuts. You could also leave the nuts out of the frosting mixture and sprinkle them on top of the icing instead). 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.

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.

HERSHEY'S CHOCOLATE CAKE

HERSHEY'S CHOCOLATE CAKE


Ingredients

2 cups sugar 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour 3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda 1 teaspoon salt 2 eggs 1 cup milk 1/2 cup vegetable oil 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1 cup boiling water "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING (recipe follows)
Directions

1 Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.

2 Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.

3 Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost with "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING. 10 to 12 servings.

VARIATIONS:
ONE-PAN CAKE: Grease and flour 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Heat oven to 350° F. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 35 to 40 minutes. Cool completely. Frost.

THREE LAYER CAKE: Grease and flour three 8-inch round baking pans. Heat oven to 350°F. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake 30 to 35 minutes. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost.

BUNDT CAKE: Grease and flour 12-cup Bundt pan. Heat oven to 350°F. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 50 to 55 minutes. Cool 15 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack. Cool completely. Frost.

CUPCAKES: Line muffin cups (2-1/2 inches in diameter) with paper bake cups. Heat oven to 350°F. Fill cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake 22 to 25 minutes. Cool completely. Frost. About 30 cupcakes.


"PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
2/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.


*This is one of my mom's favorite cakes that I have made. I however still love Betty Crockers Chocolate Fudge Cake (from a box). I know I know but sometimes you just can't beat store bought mixes. I have never made the chocolate frosting that is listed. I copied and pasted this from the Hershey's website and thought I better go a head and remember their chocolate icing recipe as well. Nothing beats the Rachel Ray chocolate icing I made previously.
The most recent icing I put on this cake was Seven Minute or Marshmallow icing. Together this tastes like a Hostess Ding Dong. The seven minute icing tastes just like the filling to the popular cakes.

RACHAEL RAY VALENTINES COCOA CAKE W/ ICING

RACHAEL RAY VALENTINES COCOA CAKE W/ICING

Ingredients
For the cake:
1/2 cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup lukewarm water, divided
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 cups cake flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
2 large eggs at room temperature, beaten


For the frosting:
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter
1 1/3 cups light brown sugar
1 cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon instant espresso powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 24 muffin tins.

For the cake, whisk cocoa and 1/2 cup lukewarm water in a small bowl. Whisk the remaining 1/2 cup water with the buttermilk in another small bowl. Sift flour, baking soda and salt into a medium bowl and add cinnamon, cloves and cayenne. Stir to combine.


Using electric mixer, beat both sugars and butter in a large bowl until pale yellow and fluffy (mixture will appear granular), about 5 minutes. With mixer running, gradually add beaten eggs; beat until smooth and fluffy, about 15 seconds. Add cocoa mixture; beat to blend. Add flour mixture and buttermilk mixture alternating in 3 additions, beating to blend after each addition. Divide batter among the muffin tins. Bake for10 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

For the frosting, melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in sugar, cocoa, espresso powder and salt. Gradually stir in cream. Stir until mixture is very hot and just begins to simmer at the edges. Reduce heat to low; stir 1 minute to let flavors blend. Transfer to medium bowl; stir in vanilla (frosting will resemble chocolate sauce) Chill until just thickened, stirring occasionally, about 1 1/2 hours, or in a bowl set in an ice bath.


To frost the cakes, bring frosting to room temperature. Run a knife around cake sides and invert mini cakes out of the muffin tins. Spread about 1 tablespoon of frosting on the first layer of cake and repeat for the remaining 2 layers of cake.


*I watched the Valentines Rachael Ray show and she made these little mini chocolate layer cakes with this frosting. She said she isn't a baker but this is one thing she will make. If you don't make the cake you have to make the icing. She was absolutely right, "you will want to eat it off your arm it's so good!" After pouring the icing into a bowl to cool I stood over the pan and scrapped every last drop out and ate it. I was thinking that strawberries would be so good freshly dipped into it.





*I used a store bought chocolate fudge cake and added 2 tbs of instant coffee and the chocolate flavor intensified and got so deep. While making the icing I was afraid it was going to be gritty with all the sugar but once you add the heavy cream it thins out and melts together beautifully. Definitely a winner. Can't wait for the cake to bake and cool.

**I just made this icing for the second time and I kept thinking this just isn't right. I followed the recipe to a t and kept tasting it thinking wow this has a super dark chocolate flavor that just isn't as appealing as last time. I kept going over what I did different and finally remembered. The first time I made the icing I didn't have any light brown sugar and only had like cup dark brown sugar. I put in 1/3 cup regular sugar along with the dark sugar. That was the difference. The combo of the sugar last time made the icing twice as sweet as just using the light brown sugar. I definitely recommended using a combo of white sugar and brown sugar tasting along the way for your desired sweetness.


Ammended Recipe For the frosting:
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup white/regular sugar
1 cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon instant espresso powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract