Texas Sheet Cake by June

Nearly every birthday my children had, especially as they grew older, they would request that their Great Aunt June Lamme would make them a chocolate Texas Sheet Cake.  Yummy!  I made it for the boys' October birthdays this year (2019) for a small gathering at our traditional weiner roast birthday celebration.  And once again, in September 2021, for Aunt June's 102nd birthday!

Grandma's Texas Sheet Cake

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 sticks (1 cup) butter
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup cocoa
• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda (bicarb of soda)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup buttermilk*
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

DIRECTIONS: 

Bring to boil: butter, water, and cocoa.  Sift flour, sugar, soda, salt into a mixing bowl.  Pour in boiled mixture and mix.  Then add eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla.  Pour batter into a buttered 15" x 12" pan.  Bake in a preheated 350°F oven for 18-20 minutes. *i rarely have buttermilk on hand, add 1 teaspoon lemon juice to 1/2 cup milk and stir - wait 10 minutes and voila! buttermilk.  OR i mix 1 tablespoon dried powdered buttermilk to 1/2 cup water.

 FROSTING:

• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 6 tablespoons milk
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips (or 3 tablespoons cocoa)

Boil together all ingredients until soft boil stage, beat until cool.  Frost cake. Now, this recipe assumes you've cooked a bit, so be sure and stir often ingredients on the stove and don't use high heat.  Also, you may need to let the icing or the cake cool a bit before spreading the frosting or it could melt and slide off. I rarely make or using icing anymore - we simply don't need the extra calories and this cake is rich enough to go without.  Dust a bit of powdered sugar on top and/or serve with ice cream or any favorite topping. But, here's my easy recipe for frosting. 

FROSTING: (the easy one by Tauna) 

• 1 lb powdered sugar
• ¾ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 5-6 tablespoons milk

Warm VERY slowly to allow chocolate and sugar to melt.  Stir often.  Add more milk to desired consistency.  It doesn’t take much, so like a teaspoon at a time, then stir again.