The Pioneer Woman’s "The Best Chocolate Sheet Cake. Ever."

Ok. If you’ve been on here before you know I love love love The Pioneer Woman. She is hilarious, cooks, is a great photographer and lives on a cattle ranch. So, yeah, maybe I want a life just like hers (only with someone to homeschool my children) but there is nothing wrong with that. You have to dream big.

This recipe is in PW’s cookbook and on her website and because of her declaration that it is The. Best. Ever. I had to try it out. So the day of reckoning came on my dad’s birthday. I had to do things my own way and wanted to make a double layer cake. I poured the icing into two 9×9 pans and set them in the oven. They took considerably longer to bake and then they came out too rounded on top to make it work. So we ended up with two small cakes. They were really good. I’ll probably make it again for Christmas — if only to get a good picture of the final product. I’m almost embarrassed to put this picture up. My Aunt, bless her heart, even asked if it was Weight Watchers friendly. Shhhh don’t tell her no. She should enjoy life.

Ingredients:

FOR THE CAKE:
2 cups Flour
2 cups Sugar
¼ teaspoons Salt
4 Tablespoons (heaping) Cocoa
2 sticks Butter
1 cup Boiling Water
½ cups Buttermilk
2 whole Beaten Eggs
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Vanilla

FOR FROSTING:
½ cups Finely Chopped Pecans
1-¾ stick Butter
4 Tablespoons (heaping) Cocoa
6 Tablespoons Milk
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 pound (minus 1/2 Cup) Powdered Sugar

Instructions:

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, and salt. In a saucepan, melt butter. Add cocoa. Stir together. Add boiling water, allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds, then turn off heat. Pour over flour mixture, and stir lightly to cool.

In a measuring cup, pour the buttermilk and add beaten eggs, baking soda, and vanilla. Stir buttermilk mixture into butter/chocolate mixture. Pour into sheet cake pan and bake at 350-degrees for 20 minutes.

While cake is baking, make the icing. Chop pecans finely. Melt butter in a saucepan. Add cocoa, stir to combine, then turn off heat. Add the milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar. Stir together. Add the pecans, stir together, and pour over warm cake.