Mable's Texas Sheet Cake

Jenny is in perpetual search for easy, weeknight recipes to attempt to feed her family. When they balk, she just eats more.

Today: A cake to bring out everyone's inner child.

I like a good office birthday. Not my own, of course. On my birthday I call in sick and get a pedicure. But I enjoy the minor spectacle of someone else’s special day -- the off key singing, the cracks about agedness, and of course, OF COURSE, cake. 

So the other day, when I learned that one of my colleagues on the Hill would be present and accounted for on his birthday, I decided cake was in order. For large groups, a sheet cake really fits the bill, and I found a receptive audience with Mable's Texas Sheet Cake. 

Let me just tell you people something right out of the gate: this cake is very sweet. Were I to rework this recipe myself, I might find a way to up the chocolate. But something about it seems to bring out everyone’s inner child, as some otherwise reasonable colleagues helped themselves to a second piece (I doubled the recipe and brought one cake to a work lunch) and many said it reminded them of them of the cake their mommy used to make. (Including the birthday boy, who recounted licking the beaters. He’s in his 40s so I found this most charming.)

Major weekday bonus points: no mixer required. This cake is all mixed by hand, in under 20 minutes. Please get whimsical candles.  

Mable's Texas Sheet Cake by Gibson2011

Makes one 13x18 cake

Cake

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sour cream or plain yogurt, at room temperature
2 eggs, room temp
2 egg yolks, room temp
2 teaspoons vanilla
8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
3/4 cups vegetable oil
3/4 cups water
1/2 cup cocoa
4 tablespoons unsalted butter

Icing

8 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup cocoa
1 tablespoon corn syrup or honey
3 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 cup toasted pecans, optional

See the full recipe (and save and print it) here. 

Photos by James Ransom