Don't Mess With Texas...

If you've looked carefully at my blog posts, you may have already figured out that I'm often stuck on a food pendulum that swings between healthy and, well, not-so-healthy. I honestly don't know how some of those pastry chefs are able to stay so skinny when they're surrounded daily with oodles of chocolate and sugar! Perhaps they didn't grow up with the rule of "licking the beaters." But for me, that's why I've had to really start to set limits as to when I prepare a ooey-gooey dessert or treat. (I elaborated on this very issue back in this post.) Here's another perfect example of a dessert that, if I was left alone with it, would vanish in a heartbeat: your basic "Texas Sheet Cake." Compliments of "The Joy of Cooking," this cake, which typically would be baked in a 15x10-inch pan, is baked in a 9x13 pan. It's so very moist and chocolatey and I decided to pair this cake with a chocolate glaze from another recipe. Ahh...a match made in dessert heaven. It was thoroughly enjoyed by all at our latest "Suppers for Six" group and only 2 pieces made it back home with us!

Texas Sheet Cake with Chocolate Glaze

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 9x13-inch pan. Sift together in a large bowl and set aside:

• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt

Combine in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring constantly:

• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 stick (8 T.) unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup unsweetened, nonalkalized cocoa

Pour the hot mixture over the dry ingredients and stir together just until smooth.

Whisk together, then stir into the batter:

• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup buttermilk or plain yogurt
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Scrape the batter into the pan and spread evenly. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 20-25 minutes. Let cool briefly in the pan. Pour warm chocolate glaze over the cake, spreading gently to coat the cake.

Chocolate Glaze:

• 1 cup sugar
• 5 T. unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

In a small saucepan, melt butter. Add sugar and milk and bring mixture to a boil. Once mixture comes to a boil, remove pan from heat and immediately add chocolate chips. Stir until smooth. Cool mixture until it begins to thicken slightly.

Tip: When a recipe calls for buttermilk, you can always substitute plain, unsweetened yogurt for it. I almost always do this now, because the smallest quantity buttermilk comes in is a pint and I rarely would even need that much. One six-ounce container of plain yogurt is about $.60, so it's cheap and there's no waste.