A decadent chocolate sheet cake topped with a chocolatey fudgy icing that’s sinfully delicious. If you’re a chocolate lover, this cake will rock your world.
It's daring to declare something as being the ultimate, but I'm confident in my statement. This is a special cake. A cake that any chocolate lover would sell their own mother for even a bite. It’s moist and I don’t care if you don’t like that word because what other word could I use to describe this cake? It’s not dry, it’s not wet, it’s somewhere perfect in between and that is M-O-I-S-T. If you can think of a better word, email me.
This cake isn't made in a bowl, it's made in a 4 quart saucepan. It’s something I tried due to pure laziness and it worked perfectly. I figured if you have to melt the butter anyways, why not use a pan and combine all the wet ingredients in one place? Apparently, my idea isn’t unique because I was bragging about it and I was informed by a wonderful lady that it was common for cakes to be made this way back in the day. Apparently my idea was about 60 years too late.
You'll need to follow the steps in order because there's a method to my madness. If you don’t follow the steps and it doesn’t work, don’t send me an email complaining about it. Follow the directions and you will do fine.
First, add the butter, sugar, cocoa, and coffee into a saucepan over medium high heat. When the butter starts to melt, whisk together just until the butter is mostly melted then remove from heat and continue to whisk. The residual heat and whisking will continue to melt the butter and blend the ingredients. You don't want to get it too hot as we want to cool it down enough before adding the eggs. Use the time to gather the dry ingredients.
In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside. Grease or spray a 9x13 baking dish and set aside. We are doing these steps afterwards to give the chocolate mixture more cooling time. Got it?
Next, whisk in milk, oil, and vanilla into chocolate mixture. The chocolate mixture should be cool enough from the cold milk to whisk in the eggs. Whisk until well blended.
Add the flour mixture into the chocolate mixture. When it is mostly incorporated, whisk an additional 50 - 60 strokes. It should be smooth and blended with no streaks of flour.
Pour batter into the prepared pan.
Bake on the middle rack of the oven until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30 - 35 minutes.
While the cake is cooling, make icing.
In a 2 quart saucepan, combine butter, cocoa, and milk. Whisk until butter has melted and mixture is smooth and bubbling around edges. Remove from heat and whisk in vanilla, salt, and powdered sugar until smooth. You may want to add the powdered sugar in stages for easier mixing.
Note: This is what happens when you don’t follow directions. I inadvertently added the vanilla with the butter, cocoa, and milk. It separated and looked like this. Follow directions in order and don't be like me. Add the vanilla off heat after the butter, cocoa, and milk are whisked and blended.
When the icing is smooth, pour it over the warm cake zigzagging as you pour to coat the entire surface. The warmth of the icing along with the warmth of the cake melds forming the thinnest layer of fudge. Spread frosting to cover any bare areas. If you allow the frosting to spread with minimal help from a spatula, it should create a flat smooth top. The top hardens slightly protecting the creaminess of the frosting underneath. If you want to add sprinkles, add them now, otherwise they will roll off because the icing will harden.
How you measure the powdered sugar determines how your frosting turns out. If you measure the powdered sugar by dipping and scooping, the consistency will be thinner. If you press down and pack the sugar in the measuring cup, it will be thicker. This is one time you don’t have to be exact. I’ve made it both ways and they are both delicious. You can thicken the icing with more powdered sugar or thin with a little more milk.
If you can stand it, wait until the cake is cooled before serving. It's hard, I know but you can do it.
I'm telling you the texture of this chocolate sheet cake is pure perfection.
If you want more delicious cakes, try:
Banana Bundt Cake with Cream Cheese Icing
Life is too short for mediocre food.
Ultimate Chocolate Sheet Cake
Print Recipe Pin RecipeIngredients
To make cake:
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cup cocoa
- 1 cup coffee brewed
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 ¾ cup flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup milk cold
- ¼ cup vegetable, canola, or safflower oil
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla*
To make Icing:
- 1 stick unsalted butter
- ¼ cup cocoa
- ¼ cup milk
- 2 cups powered sugar**
- ¼ teaspoon fine salt
- ½ teaspoon vanilla*
- pinch kosher salt optional***
Instructions
To make cake:
- Preheat oven 350 degrees.
- In a 4 quart saucepan over medium low heat, mix together butter, sugar, cocoa, and coffee until just butter is melted and everything is blended. Remove from heat. You don't want to get it too hot as we want to cool it down enough to add the eggs.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside.
- Grease 9x13 baking dish and set aside.
- Whisk milk, oil, and vanilla into the chocolate mixture. Mixture should be cool enough to whisk in eggs. Check before adding as we don't want to scramble eggs.
- Add the flour mixture into the chocolate mixture. When it is mostly incorporated, whisk an additional 50 - 60 strokes. It should be smooth and blended with no streaks of flour.
- Pour batter into pan. Place in oven and bake on the middle rack of oven until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 30 - 35 minutes. Set on rack and begin to make icing.
To make icing:
- In a 2 quart saucepan, over medium low heat, combine butter, cocoa, and milk. Whisk until butter has melted and mixture is smooth and bubbling around edges. Remove from heat and whisk in vanilla, salt, and powdered sugar until smooth.
- When icing is smooth, pour over warm cake trying to coat the entire surface. The warm cake should help spread the frosting. Spread frosting to cover any bare areas.
- If you want to add sprinkles, add them now, otherwise they will roll off because the icing will harden.
- Let cool before serving.
Notes
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