Chocolate Sheet Cake

I needed to bring a dessert to my parents this weekend - and by 'needed to' I mean I said I was going to bring a dessert, even though we didn't need one - and I wanted to make something new with ingredients I had on hand. I picked up my Pioneer Woman Cookbook and decided to give her chocolate sheet cake a try.

It came together really easily and was delicious. I made it without nuts because I didn't have any, but the husband said it would have been better with nuts. So I might try that next time.

This cake will feed an army.

Chocolate Sheet Cake

from: The Pioneer Woman Cooks

Ingredients:

Cake:
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
¼ teaspoons salt
4 heaping tablespoons cocoa
2 sticks butter
1 cup water
½ cups buttermilk
2 whole beaten eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla

Frosting:

½ cups finely chopped pecans (optional)
1-¾ stick butter
4 heaping tablespoons cocoa
6 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 pound (minus 1/2 Cup) Powdered Sugar

Directions:

Cake:

Preheat oven to 350

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, and salt.
In a saucepan, melt butter then add cocoa and stir together. Bring 1 cup of water to a boil and add to chocolate mixture. Allow to boil for 30 seconds then turn off heat. Pour over flour mixture, and stir lightly to cool.

In a measuring cup or bowl, beat the eggs and add buttermilk, baking soda and vanilla. Stir buttermilk mixture into butter/chocolate mixture. Pour into sheet cake pan and bake at 350-degrees for 20 minutes.

Frosting:
While cake is baking, make the icing. Chop pecans finely. In a saucepan, melt butter then add cocoa and stir together and turn off heat. Add the milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar. Stir together. Add the pecans, stir together, and pour over warm cake.

Enjoy!