Old-Fashioned Chocolate Sheet Cake

Old-Fashioned Chocolate Sheet Cake - made December 22, 2011 from Chocolate Chocolate by Lisa Yockelson

I'm a bit behind on a couple of blog posts so this is a catch up from before Christmas.  Despite my earlier claims about keeping it conservative when it comes to recipe experimentation during the holidays, I have to admit I get a little twitchy if I go too long without trying a new recipe.  There's only so much of baking the same tried-and-true recipes I can do without feeling like my baking soul is being stifled.  There are so many recipes out there!  I can't imagine sticking to the same ones all the time.  But I do compromise around the holidays and take very few risks.

So when I do try a new recipe, I go with one that's almost certainly guaranteed to turn out.  As I've mentioned over and over, Lisa Yockelson's recipes typically fit that bill.  I needed a few more baked gifts for the last of my holiday lunches before Christmas and something to put in the freezer for my post-Christmas baked-goods gift giving so this was almost a no-brainer to try out.  A chocolate sheet cake that can be frosted, sliced, wrapped and stored is ideal for what I needed. 

The cake itself turned out great.  The flavor was nice and chocolaty, the texture was soft and moist.  Overall, this is a good chocolate cake recipe.  The only failure though is the frosting recipe I used.  It set too much too quickly, likely because I either used too much powdered sugar or too little milk (because I ran out) so it hardened to be more like a thin fudge layer rather than a creamy chocolate frosting.  Not that that is necessarily bad but I would've preferred a more traditional soft frosting.

2 cups bleached cake flour

1 ¼ teaspoons baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

10 tablespoons (1 stick plus 2 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened

1 2/3 cups plus 2 tablespoons superfine sugar

3 large eggs

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled to tepid

2 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

1 ¼ cups milk

1.   Preheat the oven to 350⁰F.  Lightly grease the inside of a 9 x 13 x 2” baking pan with shortening and dust with flour. 

2.   Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt onto a sheet of waxed paper.

3.   Cream the butter in the large bowl of a freestanding electric mixer on moderate speed for 3 minutes.  Add the sugar in 3 additions, beating on moderate speed for 1 minute after each portion is added.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating for 30 seconds after each addition.  Blend in the melted chocolate and vanilla extract.  On low speed, add the sifted mixture in 3 additions alternately with the milk in 2 additions, beginning and ending with the sifted mixture.  Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl frequently to keep the batter even-textured.  The batter will be velvety.

4.   Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly.  Smooth the top with a rubber spatula.

5.   Bake the cake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes, or until risen, set, and a toothpick inserted in the center withdraws clean (or with a few crumbs attached).  Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack.  Spread the frosting on the cake, swirling it as you go.  Let the cake stand for 1 hour before, cutting into squares for serving.