There are no good puns involving the word 'Sheet'

Please forgive our title. We cannot think of something appropriate this evening for the life of us. Oh dear.

OK. Now for the real stuff.

On the night we had friends over and ate the Onion Strings (see our post here) and barbecue, we also made Ree's Chocolate Sheet Cake (p. 218). Di-vine. The texture was a perfect balance between brownie-land and cake-land. Lou and Jo remember having this kind of sheet cake during wheat harvest when everyone got together to eat. Jo and her siblings would travel from the big city to visit Lou and her siblings for harvest. Good memories.

And. We're back.

We started by combining flour, sugar and salt.

In another bowl, we combined eggs, vanilla, baking soda and buttermilk. These were whisked together.

In a small saucepan, we shamelessly melted two sticks of butter and multiple tablespoons of cocoa powder. To this a boiling cup of water was added. We let it boil for just a bit, then removed it from the heat.

Then comes our favorite part. We combined the chocolate-butter mixture (sin sauce) with the dry ingredients and whisked them together. There is no better smell in the universe than in this step.

Next came the egg mixture.

This was poured into a sheet cake pan. See here for your viewing pleasure...

Oh. And here. Isn't it pretty? Pretty dang good, that is.

This was put to bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

Uncle He-Man helped us by chopping the pecans for the frosting.

For the icing, we melted one-and-three-quarters sticks of butter. Cocoa powder was again added. Next came several splashes of milk and vanilla, followed by the powdered sugar to create the desired consistency.

Then we said, "Forget the cake!" and we ate the frosting alone. Because we're adults, and we can. Psych. We didn't, but it was tempting.

Once the cake was done, Lou immediately poured the frosting over the cake top and began spreading the frosting. Be mindful to spread the frosting quickly after it's poured as it'll set within seconds.

Because this cake is so rich, it is best served with a couple scoops of vanilla ice cream. To, you know, lighten it up. Oh, the sacrifices we make.

Hope you enjoy this wonderful, memory-making, homemade sheet cake.

Happily full,