Announcing the winner for the most submitted recipe in my mother’s cookbook –  A+ in Cooking!

Ta – da da da-a-a – da da-a-a!

And the winner is….

Drum roll!

Chocolate Sheet Cake — applause, applause, applause, whoop and more applause.

No fewer than seventeen families submitted this recipe as their family favorite.  When planning to continue my A+ in Cooking Project, (to regularly share recipes from my mother’s cookbook – A+ in Cooking) I thought I must share this recipe.  I do realize many of you have this recipe, and it is one of your family favorites, but since it was the most submitted recipe, here it is for those who do not have it.  We always called this Texas Sheet Cake, but Chocolate Sheet Cake is a fitting title.  It is so easy and G-O-O-D!

To begin, sift together flour and sugar into a large bowl.

Add soda to buttermilk.

Beat together a couple of eggs.  We are getting everything ready because when we start mixing, things go pretty fast.

Have the cinnamon, salt and vanilla ready.

In a sauce pan combine the cocoa (the dry powdery kind), butter and water.

Bring the butter, cocoa, and water mixture to a boil.

Now the fun begins:

Pour the cocoa, butter, water mixture into the flour and sugar.  Stir well.

Next stir in the buttermilk and soda mixture.

Add the eggs, cinnamon, vanilla, and salt.  Mix well.

You will have a rather thin batter.

Spray the pan with cooking spray.  It is best to do this before you begin, but….

FYI: The recipe says to make this in a 9X13 pan, and you can certainly do that.  I often do that, but you can also make this cake in a large sheet pan (It is called a half-sheet pan that you can buy at the restaurant supply store or other kitchen stores. – I consider these pans some of my favorite things.  I do not know how I ever lived without them.  I think I have 4 of them, and it would not hurt to have more.)

Pour the batter into the pan and bake in the pre-heated oven.

This is important!  While the cake is baking, prepare the icing.

In a medium bowl sift one pound of powdered sugar.  That is one box or 1/2 bag of powdered sugar.

Melt together butter, cocoa, and evaporated milk.  When butter mixture is melted add vanilla.

(No picture – sorry.)

Stir the melted butter mixture into the powdered sugar.  Mix well.  If icing is too thick (mine was this time), add a little more evaporated milk until the icing is spreading consistency.

Add nuts if you like.  I didn’t this time, because I did not know if the children from Mercy Street liked nuts or were allergic.  I like nuts, and when I make this for us, I use extra nuts.  Some people also add coconut.

Spread icing over hot cake.

Another tip:  I do love using the off-set spatula to spread the icing.  It works very well.

This pretty lady had the right idea. – “Life is short.  Eat dessert first.”  She knew what she liked.

Chocolate Sheet Cake is so easy, and it is so G-O-O-D.  You will understand why it was the most submitted recipe in Mother’s cookbook.

Oh, another tip that I got from Janet, and it works.  When slicing the cake, use a plastic knife.  I do not understand it, but it does work better.

Blessings to you and yours,

Remember – to see the recipe, go to lanabird.com or click on the title of this post.