Texas Sheet Cake

Yesterday was my birthday. I celebrated with Hubby, a nice meal out, and a movie. Today I celebrated with my extended family. My mother, sister and brother-in-law were here for a few hours. And, somehow I got roped into baking my own birthday cake. 😱 This was okay, because I knew exactly which cake I wanted.

A while back I nicknamed myself the sheet cake queen. Of course, no one actually calls me that, but I love to collect and bake sheet cake recipes. Among the ones I currently have are vanilla, strawberry, peanut butter, cinnamon roll, lemon, coconut, and my personal favorite, chocolate. I've been baking this basic Texas chocolate sheet cake for at least 35 years. I've never experimented with the recipe because it's perfect just the way it is -- dense and moist and oh so chocolaty. If you want a light fluffy cake this is not the recipe for you.


Cake:
4 rounded tbsp. cocoa
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup water
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Icing:
1 stick butter
4 rounded tbsp. cocoa
6 tbsp. milk
1 lb. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Melt cocoa, butter, shortening, and water together in a large saucepan. Bring slowly to a boil, stirring gently. Allow to cool slightly. Stir in remaining cake ingredients and beat until smooth. Spray a 13x9x2 cake pan with non-stick cooking spray and pour batter into pan. Bake at 400^oF 20-30 minutes, or until cake springs back when touched and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool.

For icing, melt butter, cocoa, and milk together in a large saucepan, stirring gently. Stir in vanilla and powdered sugar and beat until smooth. Stir in pecans and pour over cooled cake.

I've seen recipes that call for this cake to be baked in a jelly roll pan. Never tried it myself.