Texas Sheet Cake - November Cake Odyssey Bonus

Today is Kevin's 40th birthday.

Happy Big Four-Oh, my dear!

As you can see, he's not too old to still horse around with his younger brother, Kyle. 

Kevin's mom put together this beautiful quilted Block O (GO BUCKEYES!) for us Kevin.  We love it!

We celebrated with family over the weekend and he requested, once again, Texas sheet cake for his birthday cake.  I'm so glad he asked for something that is so quick and easy to put together. 

Really. 

Texas sheet cake is nothing more than a great big pan of brownies.

Easy.  Peasy.

Texas Sheet Cake
Here's What You Need: 
CAKE
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 cup butter
1 cup water
5 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
FROSTING
6 Tablespoons milk
5 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup butter
4 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chopped walnuts

Here's What You Do:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and lightly spray a jellyroll pan with cooking spray. 

In a saucepan, melt the butter and then stir in the water and the 5 tablespoons cocoa.  Bring the mixture to a boil and remove from the heat.  Allow it to cool slightly.  While it is cooling, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt.  Mix in the sour cream and then beat in the eggs.  Very slowly, add the melted butter/cocoa mixture to the flour mixture.  Mix just until blended.

Pour the batter into your prepared pan and bake for 20 minutes.  I rotate my pan halfway through since my oven tends to sit on a very slight angle that seems very obvious when I bake something like this.  Test the center with a toothpick to be sure it's done.  Cool on a wire rack.

To make the frosting:   In a large saucepan, combine the milk, 5 tablespoons cocoa and 1/2 cup butter.  Bring it to a boil after the butter has melted and then remove from the heat.  Add the powdered sugar and vanilla.  Beat until all of the powdered sugar is dissolved and the lumps are gone.  Fold in the nuts.  I left the nuts out for three reasons and none have to do with allergies.

1. Our kids don't like nuts and even though it's their Dad's birthday cake, I still wanted them to be able to enjoy it.
2. I mistakenly thought I had some walnuts in the freezer but I was wrong.  There.  I finally got in my one time of being wrong for the year.  I was getting worried what with it being late November and all.  It would have been a shame if I had to go all year with being right - Every. Single. Time.
3. We're nutty enough!

Spread the frosting over the warm (not hot) cake.  The reason I say 'not hot' is because your frosting will melt over the sides of the pan, off the cake, and onto your counter.  Then you'll have a big mess to clean up and your cake won't have much frosting on it.  Now you know.  Heed my advice. 

Here's some more advice:  Eat this cake warm with a great, big scoop of coffee ice cream.  That's what we did at Kevin's party and it was the greatest flavor combo.  You might consider taking Texas sheet cake to a Thanksgiving get-together this week.  Believe it or not - not everyone likes pumpkin pie and it's nice to offer a sweet alternative to the squash-o-phobes of the world.