Monday, January 16, 2012

Texas Sheet Cake....rich chocolatey goodness


    Texas Sheet Cake is a fairly common pot luck/ family dinner type of dish here. If you aren't familiar with it, it is a super moist cake topped with a rich chocolate icing and sometimes nuts. The recipe makes a LARGE cake, so I believe that is where the Texas part of the name comes in (everything is big in Texas ha).
    The recipe that I use is one that I converted from being full of gluten to gluten free. It came from one of the cooks that worked at my elementary school when I was growing up. This is of course back when school cooks actually COOKED the lunches, not just opened packages and microwaved junk for the kids. (that is a whole different rant that I will save for another time). So this recipe is good because this lady was a cooking pro!!
    I have been really wanting some Texas Sheet Cake, so I decided today I would make a 1/2 recipe. That way I would not have a GIANT chocolate cake sitting in my house taunting me. I got the cake mixed up and in the oven and started on the frosting. UHHO.....I am almost out of powdered sugar. I didn't have enough powdered sugar to make the icing so I just used what I had. So in the pictures my icing isn't very thick, but I guess I can just think of all of the calories I am saving. ha It still tastes amazing...and cured my craving for Texas Sheet Cake. I'm going to give you the recipe for the whole cake, but you could always cut it in half if you didn't want a giant cake sitting around. I baked mine in a pan that was a little too large, I think next time I would use a 9x13 if I was doing a half recipe. On to the recipe............

Texas Sheet Cake

Mix in bowl:
2 C GF Flour Mix.
1 tsp. Xanthan Gum
2 Eggs
1/2 C. Buttermilk
2 C. Sugar
1/2 tsp. Salt
1tsp. Soda

Bring to a Boil:
2 Sticks margarine
4 T. Cocoa Powder
1 C. Water

Mix the liquid into the dry ingredients. Mix well. Pour into a greased jelly roll pan or cookie sheet with high sides. Bake at 350 deg. for 30 min.

Frosting:

4 C. Powdered Sugar
1 Stick margarine
1/4 C. Cocoa Powder
6 T. Milk
1 tsp. Vanilla
1 C. Chopped Nuts (optional)

Bring Cocoa powder, margarine, and milk to a boil in a sauce pan. Mix in the powdered sugar and vanilla. Add the nuts. Ice the cake while it is hot (right from the oven). The mixture will be runny and should spread very easily over the hot cake. Let the cake cool and the frosting set up before serving.

mmmm that was good

Enjoy this yummy chocolaty treat!!

-Jessica

6 comments:

  1. What type of GF flour mix do you use? I am brand new at this whole gluten free lifestyle and completely overwhelmed! Your recipe looks amazing so I want to make sure I don't mess it up by using the wrong ingredients.

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  2. Hi Naomi Ruth, I use Annalise Roberts GF Flour mix for my baking recipes. You can read a little about that on a blog I wrote back in November http://usasillyyaks.blogspot.com/2011/11/my-favorite-gluten-free-flour.html

    Don't stress yourself out. Baking and cooking really aren't that bad. Just have fun with cooking and be open to trying new ideas and recipes. You can do it!!

    -Jessica

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  3. omg this looks just like my grandma used to make. I'd love to bake it right now but I don't have Xanthan Gum! Any subs that you know of for that?

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    Replies
    1. You could try the recipe without it. It won't effect the flavor. Your cake may just be a little crumbly as the xanthan gum is a binder.

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