Chocolate Sheet Cake

Maybe I should make a cake. Yummy cake.

Point of interest, Mike made me a cake for Valentine’s Day. Brownie batter baked in a graham cracker pie crust and marshmallows on top. So delicious. If only it was in the book so I could give you the full recipe.

Today’s cake will be Chocolate Sheet Cake with Quick Chocolate Butter Ice Cream

So, I now have some financial troubles. Lost out on a job opportunity. I need to be frugal about what I’m buying for these recipes. So therefore, I’m going to let you know how much everything cost, so if you’re budgeting, you can do the same.

Ingredients

For cake:

2 c sugar (I already had this—all ingredients I didn’t have to get will be marked with *)

2 c flour (*)

1 tsp baking soda (*)

½ tsp salt (*)

½ c vegetable oil (*)

½ c unsalted butter ($4.70)

½ c unsweetened cocoa powder (hot chocolate mix works for this) (*)

2 eggs ($1.30)

½ c buttermilk (or ½ c milk—not skim! Needs some fat—and ½ tbsp white vinegar) ($0.90 for the vinegar, stole the milk from the dining commons on campus)

1 tsp vanilla (*)

For frosting:

3 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped ($2.80)

3 oz unsalted butter (unsalted is important here. it’s a little more expensive, but not too much.)

¼ c hot coffee, cream, or milk (*)

1 tsp vanilla

1-2 c powdered sugar (*)

To make the cake:

Preheat oven to 375. Grease a 13x9 in pan (a glass one is good to have but you can get a disposable one at any grocery store for cheaper).

If you did not get buttermilk, at this point you should mix together the milk and vinegar. Let it sit out in room temperature.

In a large bowl, mix together the sugar, flour, baking soda, and salt.

In a saucepan over medium heat, mix 1 cup of water with the oil, butter, and cocoa powder. Bring this mixture to a boil, stirring constantly, and then pour over the dry ingredients in the bowl. Stir everything together, and let cool for a few minutes.

Then add in the eggs, buttermilk or milk/vinegar mixture, and vanilla. Mix well.

Pour it into the pan and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick or knife can be inserted into the center and come out clean.

Let cool completely before adding frosting.

To make the frosting:

Melt in a double boiler (if you have one of these, you’re lucky, but if not, use a heatproof bowl over a pot of boiling water) the chocolate and the butter.

Remove from the heat and stir in the coffee/cream/milk (whichever you used) and the vanilla.

Gradually add in the powdered sugar and beat until it’s smooth and spreadable.

Notes:

This cake can also be made in two 8-inch round cake pans. That’s how I did it, and I used the frosting as a filling between the two layers, since it didn’t really make that much. If you want to use that frosting to cover an entire sheet cake, double the recipe, maybe triple it if you like lots of frosting.