If you’re not familiar with Texas sheet cake, the holiday season is a terrific time to get to know it. It’s a delicious way to make dessert for a crowd in no time at all, and the flavor is unique: it’s not a brownie, and it’s not really a cake. It’s more like a chocolate pecan tray bake that has an indefinable end flavor that reminds me of a malted milk ball. They’re one of those treats that immediately makes you want to have another – one is definitely not enough!
I first had this cake at the after-wedding party of my good friend and native Texan, Amy Allman Dean. It was a revelation. We couldn’t stop talking about it, so she kindly passed along her Aunt Sadie’s recipe, which firmly belongs in the pantheon of American classic desserts – at any time of year.
Serve: 8-10
Prep time: 30 minutes
Ingredients
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 cups flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup Crisco
- 4 ounces butter
- 4 tablespoons cocoa
- 1 cup water
- ½ cup buttermilk
- 2 eggs, slightly beaten
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
For the icing:
Ingredients
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- 4 ounces butter
- 4 tablespoons cocoa
- 6 tablespoons milk
- 16 ounces powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Directions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- In a large mixing bowl, sift together sugar, flour and salt.
- In a saucepan, melt Crisco, butter, cocoa and water and bring to a boil.
- As soon as it boils, remove from heat and pour over flour and sugar mixture.
- Combine. Add buttermilk, eggs, baking soda, cinnamon and vanilla.
- Mix well and pour into a greased 16-inch by 11–inch baking sheet.
- Bake for 20 minutes.
- Begin to make icing about five minutes before cake is due to come out of the oven.
- In a large saucepan, mix butter, cocoa, and milk.
- Melt and bring to a boil.
- Remove from heat and add powdered sugar and vanilla.
- Beat well and pour over cake while still hot.
- Sprinkle with chopped pecans.
- Allow to cool before cutting and serving.
