Texas Sheet Cake isn’t really a thing up here in the Great White North. I hadn’t heard of it until about 2008 when I started reading food blogs, and saw The Pioneer Woman’s recipe. Her recipe is a thin chocolate cake that you top with a boiled chocolate and pecan frosting, and it’s supposed to be a no muss, no fuss affair. I finally made one a few years ago, although the icing component of the recipe I used was kind of a disaster (you can actually see it over here, check out #37).
I was excited to make one again for this week’s Baked Sunday Morning, because it’s always fun to tackle a recipe that didn’t work well in the past, but especially since the Baked boys put their own twist on it. Their recipe also has a thin chocolate cake base, but is topped with a peanut butter frosting and chopped peanuts. My own little twist was to sprinkle mini chocolate chips overtop, because while I love peanut butter, for some odd reason I don’t love actual peanuts in my treats.
The cake base was quick and easy to mix up, and I followed my friend Dafna’s advice and used a 4 qt saucepan, because the chocolate mixture you have to boil bubbles up pretty aggressively. The cake bakes up quickly in about 15 minutes, and you have to start making the frosting as soon as it goes into the oven, because the frosting has to be poured over the cake while it’s hot. The peanut butter frosting is very different from a traditional buttercream; instead you need to bring evaporated milk, butter, peanut butter and salt to a boil in a saucepan, and mix it into a pile of icing sugar. It’s very runny and more like a glaze, which then gets poured over the hot chocolate cake.
I cut my cake while it was room temperature, but you’ll get cleaner cuts if you chill it in the fridge before slicing. The cake component is super hydrated, and not that sweet, which balances out the peanut butter frosting. So far, the slice I tried was room temperature, but the boys note that they prefer this cake chilled, so I’ll try another slice tomorrow from the fridge. One final thing: the recipe calls for 1/4 cup shortening which I didn’t have, so I just left it out to no ill effect.
TEXAS (SHEET CAKE) FOREVER!
You can find the recipe here!
More Baked Sunday Mornings here!
Dafna | Stellina Sweets
March 7, 2015 12:56 amHa– I’m glad my mishap helped someone! What a mess on my stovetop….
Yes, such a tasty little cake! I love your chocolate chips on top– I’ll have to try that sometime. Good to know about the omitted shortening too. 🙂
Pinar
March 2, 2015 1:22 pmLooks wonderful! I agree, I think the less sweet chocolate was the perfect complement to the sweet frosting!
Liz
March 2, 2015 10:54 amMmm, looks great with the little chocolate chips!
Hannah
March 2, 2015 5:00 amWe all agreed it’s better chilled, contrary to other chocolate cakes I’ve made.
And I love the mini chocolate chips on top!
Susan
March 2, 2015 12:49 amI like your chocolate chip topping! We loved this cake, too.
Danielle
March 1, 2015 10:39 pmClear plates, full stomaches, can’t lose. Texas Forever
byn
March 1, 2015 11:25 pmNo regrets! hahaha
Nicole
March 1, 2015 8:43 pmThis looks really great, so glad you finally got it to work. I too don’t always like nuts in my baked goods, although I have a lot of weird exceptions, which make sense to no one but me.
Congrats on five years blogging-I always love to read your posts.
byn
March 1, 2015 11:25 pmThanks so much Nicole! That’s so nice to hear!