Recipe: Texas Sheet Cake

Yesterday was a rough day. Luckily my husband invited someone over for dinner last minute. No I'm not being sarcastic. I really love to feed people but especially yesterday I just needed a break. I was exhausted and we'd been eating fast and out all week. So being forced to slow down, make something yummy and healthy for dinner and give me an excuse to make dessert was just what we needed.

This is an adaptation of Pioneer Woman's Best Chocolate Sheet Cake Ever recipe. She was not exhaggerating when she named this sucker either. My version is resized to use a 9x13 pan so it's not exactly a sheet cake but the flavor is the same and her recipe is just way to big for us to finish and I never have buttermilk on hand.

What You Need 

For the Cake
1 1/3 cups Flour
1 1/3 cups Sugar
pinch of Salt
2 1/2 Tablespoons (heaping) Cocoa
1 1/3 sticks Butter
2/3 cup Hot Water
1/3 cups Milk 
1/4 tsp lemon juice (I just use a few drops)

1 1/2 eggs (I just break the second egg and just use part of it, I'd bet you could use 2 full eggs with no problem though)
2/3 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Vanilla

For the Icing 
1 stick Butter
2 1/2 Tablespoons (heaping) Cocoa
4 Tablespoons Milk
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1/2 pound  Powdered Sugar

 What to Do

1. Add a few drops of lemon to the milk and set sit in a large measuring cup or bowl (with room to add other stuff)
2. Combine flour, sugar, and salt in a bowl.
3. In a saucepan, melt butter. Add cocoa and stir.
4. Add hot water, allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds, then turn off heat. Pour over flour mixture, and stir.
5. Add  eggs, baking soda, and vanilla to milk mixture and beat with fork. Stir milk mixture into butter/chocolate mixture. 
6. Pour into cake pan and bake at 350-degrees for 30 minutes.
7. While cake is baking, make the icing.  Melt butter in a saucepan. Add cocoa, stir to combine, then turn off heat. Add the milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar. Stir together and pour over warm cake.
8. Enjoy.