Texas Chocolate Sheet Cake

[Mike Nolan]

I've been using the Southern Food recipe (with some changes) for Texas Chocolate Sheet Cake, but I see it is no longer online, so I'm posting my adaptation to it, with my notes. A former chef friend has told me this is the best chocolate cake he's ever had and he would have been willing to serve it to his customers. When I send it in to my wife's office, they often refer to it as 'brownies', because the cake has that kind of soft moist texture to it.

The three secrets to making this cake a restaurant-worthy dessert are that you gelatinize some of the flour when you pour the hot liquids on it, similar to making a TangZhong bread recipe, so the cake stays moist. Then you pour warm frosting on the still-hot cake, which compresses it and seals in more moisture. The final secret is that by bring the liquids for the frosting to a boil, you wind up with a frosting that tastes like fudge.

Texas Chocolate Sheet Cake

Preheat oven to 350F. See note below on pan size options.

Cake:

1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup water
1/3 cup cocoa (not Dutch-process)

2 cups flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Frosting: (Note, I generally double this recipe)

1/4 cup unsalted butter
4 teaspoons cocoa (not Dutch-process)
3 tablespoons buttermilk (may need more later on)
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup chopped pecans. (Toasting them lightly before chopping improves the flavor.)

Instructions:

Put the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, soda, salt) in mixing bowl and mix to combine.

Butter the bottom and sides of your baking pan(s), then put 1-2 tablespoons of cocoa powder in the pan, shaking it around to coat the bottom and sides. Pour any excess cocoa into the pan with the cocoa, butter and water.

Put butter, water and cocoa into pan and bring to a full boil, then pour it over the dry ingredients, then start the mixer on slow. Add the two eggs, one at a time, then the buttermilk and the vanilla. Scrape sides of mixing bowl and bottom to make sure everything is combined. Increase speed for about one minute until the batter looks a little frothy.

Pour batter into the pan, then tap it on the counter a few times or spread it with a spatula so it is even.

Bake until sides pull away from the pan and the cake passes the toothpick test, anywhere from 20 to 30 minutes depending on the size pan.

While cake is baking, prepare the frosting by putting the butter, cocoa and buttermilk in a pan and heating it. Bring to a full boil Note--the oil may separate from the butter when, that's OK, it'll combine back in when you add the sugar. I consider this step similar to making fudge, you want the liquid ingredients to be near-boiling when you start adding the sugar, it makes the frosting taste more like home-made fudge.

Remove frosting from the heat, stir in 1/2 of powdered sugar at a time, then stir in the chopped pecans. If the frosting seems a little dense, add a little more buttermilk. You want it to be able to pour out of the pan onto the warm cake.

Return the frosting to the stove on the lowest setting possible to keep the frosting warm. Ideally you want it at about 120-130 degrees.

When the cake is done, remove the pan(s) from the oven and allow to cool until surface temperature is about 150 degrees. Pour the frosting over the warm cake and spread smooth.

Allow cake to fully cool before cutting, overnight is best.

Note on pan size:

A full recipe of this will fit decently in a 9x13x2 pan but you can use a bigger pan, it'll just be a thinner cake and probably bake a little faster. Use a double-batch of frosting for a decadent cake.

I often make a half-recipe of the cake in a 10x10 pan and then put a full recipe of frosting on top. I also sometimes make a full recipe and split it between a 10x10 pan and an 8x8 pan, making a double-recipe of frosting. The finished cake freezes well, so we eat one and save the other for another day.

I've actually made a double-batch of the cake batter, poured it in a 2/3 sheet pan (16x21) and put a quadruple layer of frosting on it. It was HEAVY but everybody got seconds or thirds of it, and it won the 'crowd favorite' award.

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[kimbob]

Sounds delicious. That is a decadent cake!

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