Layered Chocolate Sheet Cake

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Yesterday was my birthday.  47 years old.  Holy crap.  How did that happen?  Well, thank God it did and I hope it keeps happening for another 47!  I love birthdays.  I think of birthdays as your own personal New Year.  They’re the perfect excuse to eat whatever you want, reflect on the past, eat a bunch of crap, look forward to the future, and eat cake for breakfast.  Resolutions are totally optional.  Like I said, I love birthdays!

This year we visited our youngest daughter, Brianna, in Indy over the weekend and she treated us to lunch at The Garden Table.  Then our eldest daughter, Alexandria brought over 2 ice cream cakes (Oreo and Cookie Dough) for our family dinner on Sunday.  I love Oreo… anything!  Even though Alex brought over cake, I used my birthday as an excuse to make a Chocolate Sheet Cake.  It’s also known as a Texas Sheet Cake because everything melts and it all comes together warm.  There are no egg whites to keep cold and no butter to keep chilled.  No Sir!  If you live in a warm climate, this is your cake.

I wanted to make this particular chocolate sheet cake because 1) it’s easy 2) it’s chocolate 3) I wanted something sweet but not too sweet 4) I love this icing… your fork crunches into it like new snow and then it instantly melts in your mouth, swirls over… I better stop here if I’m going to keep this post PG.  Umm, yes, where was I?  I don’t know let’s pick up with the butter…  Melt the butter and chocolate on the stove, stir in the sugar, and pour the frosting over the cake as soon as it comes out of the oven.  So easy! Soooooo good!

Instead of keeping it in the baking sheet, like it’s really meant to be, I put it into cake pans and made a layer cake.  It worked just fine.  For me, layer cakes = birthday cake.  If you could stack Tiramisu into a double decker Tiramisu, stick a candle on it and sing Happy Birthday, in my book, that’d be a Tiramisu birthday cake.  It would also be a mess.

I made an easy cream cheese frosting for the center, stacked the cakes, and poured the room temperature frosting over the whole thing.  Oh yes, and topped it with toasted pecans!  We just cut into it this morning.  It had been in the fridge for 2 days and it was still fudgy and moist.  The icing was perfect.  This is one of the best icings.  It’s not too sweet, it pours beautifully, your forks cracks into it, and it melts sublimely in your mouth.  Good thing I’ve got extra!

Truth be told, I like this cake much better left in the baking sheet (you can make it in a 9×13 casserole dish too) with the chocolate butter icing smoothing over all the rich chocolatey goodness from corner to corner like the best kind of warm blanket.  Even though I made this chocolate sheet cake on a cold rainy day, it’s great for warm summer days, picnics, family reunions, ladies luncheons, and church socials.  It keeps well in the fridge but once it’s out on the table… it goes fast!

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Chocolate Sheet Cake

This chocolate sheet cake is perfect for any time.  It's quick to whip together and easy to make.  | www.lakesidetable.com

Prep Time 5 hours 8 minutes

Cook Time 5 hours 8 minutes

Author Madalaine

Ingredients

• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/3 cup baking cocoa
• 1 tablespoon instant coffee
• 1 cup water
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Icing
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/3 cup baking cocoa
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/2 tablespoon instant coffee
• 1 cup toasted pecans

Instructions

1. In a mixing bowl, sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda.  Stir in the sugar.
2. In a small saucepan, simmer the butter, cocoa, instant coffee, and water.  When it's all melted, turn off the heat.
3. Add this to the dry ingredients.  In a small mixing bowl, beat the eggs, sour cream and vanilla until completely combined.  Add this to the cocoa mixture.
4. Pour into a buttered 15x10x1 baking sheet or casserole dish.
5. Bake for 20-25 minutes at 375 degrees.
6. For the ICING: Bring butter, cocoa, milk, and instant coffee to a boil.  Remove from heat, and add sugar, vanilla and salt.  Mix well and spread over the cake when it comes out of the oven.  Sprinkle with toasted pecans.

Recipe Notes

I made this into a layer cake by putting it into cake pans and made a quick cream cheese frosting for the middle.  If you want to do this whip together 1 (8 ounce) block of cream cheese with 1 cup powdered sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 2 teaspoons vanilla.