Chocolate Sheet Cake
This chocolate sheet cake recipe is rich, fudgy and gloriously fuss-free - a soft sponge topped with silky icing that soaks in just enough to make every bite gooey and gorgeous!
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Ingredients
Method
In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar and salt. Stir together and set aside.
In another bowl, mix the buttermilk, baking soda, vanilla and eggs. Mix with a fork and set aside.
In a medium saucepan, melt the butter and add the cocoa. Whisk together to combine. Meanwhile, bring 1 cup water to a boil. When the butter is melted, pour the boiling water in the pan. Allow to bubble for a moment, then turn off the heat. Pour the chocolate mixture into the flour mixture. Stir together for a moment to cool the chocolate, then pour in the egg mixture. Stir together until smooth, then pour into an ungreased jelly roll pan (or rimmed baking sheet) and bake for 20 minutes.
While the cake is baking, make the icing: Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the cocoa powder and stir until smooth. Add the milk, vanilla and powdered sugar. Stir together. Dump in the pecans and stir until well combined.
Immediately after removing the cake from the oven, pour the warm icing over the top. You'll want to avoid doing much spreading, so try to distribute it evenly as you pour.
Cook's Notes:
For a child's birthday, omit pecans in the icing. Serve the cake with a large bowl of M and M's and allow the kids to decorate it themselves.
This cake can also be made into cupcakes: Just fill muffin tins a little less full with the batter than you normally would so the baked cupcakes remain below the upper rim. That way, the thin icing can be poured into each tin.
Chocolatey deliciousness in an easy, crowd-pleasing bake!
This is one of those chocolate sheet cake dishes that’s all about maximum reward for minimal effort. From the kitchen of the one-and-only Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond, there’s no fancy tins, and no intricate decorating, just simple store cupboard staples baked into a soft sponge with gooey chocolate icing on top. It’s the kind of cake that turns up at birthdays, bake sales and family gatherings, and disappears just as quickly!
So, what exactly is a sheet cake? Unlike celebration cakes, a sheet cake is baked in a large, shallow rectangular tin. It’s easy to slice, easy to serve, and perfect for feeding a crowd.
But the magic of chocolate sheet cake dishes like this one is the icing. Spread over the cake while it’s still slightly warm so it melts into the sponge, then add chopped pecans for a nutty crunch.
Serve straight from the tin or dress with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. And if you’re looking for some mix-it-up chocolate sheet cake ideas, swap pecans for walnuts, add a pinch of espresso powder, or keep nut-free and let the icing do the talking.
Once you’ve nailed this chocolate sheet cake recipe, there’s plenty more chocolatey loveliness to explore, including chocolate brownie cookies, double chocolate chip muffins, chocolate-hazelnut ravioli, or seriously scrummy chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter icing.
