Texas sheet cake

I'm not a chocolate cake fan. It's usually too rich, too indulgent, too chocolately. But, since my youth in Texas, there's one chocolate cake I'll never turn down and that's Texas Sheet Cake. It's my youngest son's birthday today and he wanted a Texas Sheet Cake for his special day. No problems there. I'm happy to whip him up a piece of my childhood and watch him savor the super moist chocolatey goodness. I know he'll be making this for his kids one day.

Texas Sheet Cake

4 tbs. cocoa
2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup water
2 well beaten eggs
1 cup buttermilk (or 1 cup milk + 1 tbs vinegar - let sit for 5 minutes to sour)

Combine cocoa, butter, shortening and water in pan over med-high heat. Bring to boil. Remove from heat and add sugar, salt, soda and flour. Mix well. Add 1 cup buttermilk and 2 well beaten eggs (make sure you temper the eggs so they don't scramble...not sure how to do this...see below). Mix well and pour into 11X18 greased pan. Make at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Frosting

4 tbs cocoa
6 tbs milk
1/2 cu butter

Melt cocoa, milk and butter together. When melted, add 1 box powdered sugar and 1 tsp vanilla. Beat until creamy.

FROST CAKE WHILE HOT!!!!

Tempering

A note about tempering: bringing room temperature or even cold eggs together with hot liquid (in our case the chocolate mixture) can cause the eggs to scramble - something no one wants in their cake. In order to ensure the eggs can cohesively mix with the rest of the batter, beat them well and then pour just a small amount of the warm batter into the eggs while continually beating the eggs. When they have thoroughly mixed with the batter, bringing the temperature of the eggs closer to the temperature of the batter, mix the egg mixture completely into the batter and stir. This will allow you to have a nice, thorough, tempered mixture and avoid the taste and look of scrambled eggs.