Pioneer Woman Chocolate Sheet Cake!

Last night was my friend Leslie's birthday.  I have been friends with her since forever...no exaggeration.  Besties since birth.  She's a chocolate lover.  Always has, always will be.  I mean could I ask for a better opportunity to make Pioneer Woman's chocolate sheet cake?

Me, and my two friends Andrea and Alyssa were planning to bake the cake for her for her "surprise" birthday party.  She knew it was coming, especially because of the snow.  Anyways I was so happy Alyssa baked the cake with me! It was super confusing at first and so nice to have her mixing all the dry ingredients while I was melting butter.  Lots of butter.  And cocoa powder.

You've met my family, now its time to meet my friends.

Start by taking out ingredients...you will be happy you did.

 

Before you begin, put up a kettle with some water...you are going to need a cup of boiling water.

Now melt 2 sticks of butter in a saucepan.

Once melted, add 4 HEAPING tablespoons of cocoa powder and stir

Let it come to a bubble for 30 seconds and then add the boiling water.  Use this 30 seconds to reflect on how happy you are that you are about 30 minutes away from eating the most delicious chocolate sheet cake ever OR to scramble getting some boiling water all measured out and bubbly.

Pour in the 1 cup of boiling water and allow to come to a bubble for another 30 seconds.

Yum.  Turn off the heat and set aside.

While I was making that mixture, Alyssa was mixing the dry stuff.  Look how efficient we are!

 

So now would be the time you would prepare this:

 

2 cups of flour

and 2 cups of  sugar

Toss 1/4 teaspoon of salt in there too.

And some buttermilk powder. According to the kind you get it varies.  But I NEVER have buttermilk so this gets mixed with the dry ingredients and water where the buttermilk is called for...we will get to that later.

Stir all that good stuff together.

 

 

Then add the chocolate mixture into the flour/sugar mixture

 

and stir ever so slightly to cool the chocolate

Now in a SEPARATE bowl...I know its tricky.  Lots of bowls.

Beat two eggs

And then add to the buttermilk (water in my case!)

a teaspoon of vanilla

And mix it till combined.

Then pour the egg, water and vanilla into the chocolate and flour.

Yummy...eggs and water

I look possessed...but more pouring and Alyssa mixing it all together.  It was a little icky as first but she worked it all together.  She's awesome!

Teamwork man!

Pour into a pan.  I used a 13 x 9 pan not a sheet cake pan because I like thicker cakes and because I don't have a sheet cake pan.  Also I greased it because I'm paranoid it would stick.

 

Bake at 350 for 25 minutes if using a 13 x 9 pan.  Bake for 20 minutes if using the sheet cake pan.

While the cake is baking...clean the saucepan you just used or take out another one to prepare the icing/frosting.  It goes on right when the cake is out of the oven.

Oh case you were wondering where Andrea was in the cake baking, she was entertaining Leslie and our other friends across the street.  She's my neighbor so its super awesome.

Prep everything first once again...everthing is super easy that way!

I even arranged it in the order that we would need it!  Cocoa powder, 6 tablespoons of milk, vanilla and the powder sugar minus 1/2 cup (ish)

 

Once again you start with melting butter...1 and 3/4 sticks.  That's 14 tablespoons total.

 

Add 4 HEAPING tablespoons of cocoa powder.  We broke out the Ghiradeli for the icing...

Mix all together.  Something about butter and cocoa powder, it makes me happy.

let it bubble for 30 seconds then turn off the heat

stir in 6 tablespoons of milk

 

a teaspoon of vanilla

 

And the pound of powdered sugar minus 1/2 cup

stir until nice and combined

and it looks like that

The cake wasnt out yet, so we left it on low heat stir occasionally so it didn't harden in the pot.

Then when the cake comes out of the oven...

pour this delicious icing over it...all of it.

My stomach is grumbling as I type this.

shiny perfection.

uh oh...Just Kidding!!

Time to sing?

Jen, Lauren and the Birthday Girl (Leslie)

 

Leslie, Andrea, Lindsay and Jamie

candles! I hope the wax doesn't drip on the cake! Biggest Fear, no joke!

All of us! About to sing, but we needed to get a group shot of course!

 

Birthday Girl!!

Time to eat, finally!!!

Me and Leslie and the Cake.  I love it.

With love and cupcakes,

CookTeen

Recipe (from thepioneerwoman.com)

Ingredients: 

CAKE Ingredients

• 2 cups Flour
• 2 cups Sugar
• ¼ teaspoons Salt
• 4 Tablespoons (heaping) Cocoa
• 2 sticks Butter
• 1 cup Boiling Water
• ½ cups Buttermilk
• 2 whole Beaten Eggs
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla

FOR FROSTING:

• ½ cups Finely Chopped Pecans
• 1-¾ stick Butter
• 4 Tablespoons (heaping) Cocoa
• 6 Tablespoons Milk
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• 1 pound (minus 1/2 Cup) Powdered Sugar

Preparation Instructions:

1. In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, and salt. 
2. In a saucepan, melt butter. Add cocoa. Stir together. 
3. Add boiling water, allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds, then turn off heat. Pour over flour mixture, and stir lightly to cool. 
4. In a measuring cup, pour the buttermilk and add beaten eggs, baking soda, and vanilla. Stir buttermilk mixture into butter/chocolate mixture. Pour into sheet cake pan and bake at 350-degrees for 20 minutes. 
5. While cake is baking, make the icing. Chop pecans finely. Melt butter in a saucepan. Add cocoa, stir to combine, then turn off heat. Add the milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar. Stir together. Add the pecans, stir together, and pour over warm cake. 
6. Cut into squares, eat, and totally wig out over the fact that you’ve just made the best chocolate sheet cake. Ever.