Texas Sheet Cake

This recipe is hardly what you'd call a secret--I bet there are quite a few of you who have a version of this in your own files but it's such a classic, such a fabulous treat to make that I'm going to share it anyway and fill in those who may not have had it yet.

Oh how I pity those who have not.

It's a funny cake in that it's baked in a jelly roll pan and it made almost similar to a brownie but it's still a cake. It's fudgy and dense but still with enough cake to bring on the ecstasies with every bite. It's great for a potluck because you can cut quite a few rich pieces easily without the mess of a typical rectangular cake.

The frosting is good too--while it's tempting to buy the store version this stuff matches so well with the cake and is so easy to make you really should give it a try.

2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup butter
1 cup water
2 tablespoon cocoa
½ cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda

Frosting
4 tablespoons cocoa
½ cup butter
6 tablespoons milk
1 pound powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup walnuts

Combine flour, sugar and salt in a bowl and set aside. In a small saucepan bring the butter, water and cocoa to a boil, stirring constantly. Add the cocoa mixture to the dry ingredients and mix well, then add the sour cream, eggs, vanilla and baking soda and mix well. Batter will be thin. Bake in greased jelly roll pan at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

While the cake is baking work on the frosting by bringing to a boil the cocoa, butter and milk, stirring constantly (you can use the same saucepan if you want to be efficient). Then add it to the powdered sugar and vanilla, stirring until the lumps are out. Then stir in walnuts and wait until the cake is done.

When it comes out, frost immediately.

***

And here's something new I got to try this past week--a product called Pure Inventions which are these cute little bottles of concentrated extracts where you can squirt a couple of dropperfuls into a glass of cold or hot water, mix and get instant drink.

But the thing is that they're full of antioxidants that are supposed to be so good for our bodies. Chocked full of nutrients and good healthy vitamins where you can get a calorie-free drink that hydrates in a healthy way over the sodas and sugary drinks.

I was curious to try them out and since I'm not really a green or black tea drinker I was instead sent the cranberry-elderberry extract which smelled absolutely wonderful. (Though I confess when I saw I was drinking elderberry extract the line "Your father was a hamster and your mother smelt of elderberries!" went through my mind briefly . . . and if you recognize that you are SO COOL).

My thoughts? It was a lot like herbal tea, nice and fruity but not strong and sugary like Kool Aid or pop and the cranberry-elderberry flavor was great. I also got to try the chocolate extract which was really good--again, not as strong as you'd get from hot chocolate or other sugary drink but very pleasant as a cool tea-type drink.

I thought these would be an especially great thing to send to school with my teen where she can drop some in a bottle of water and get something a bit more healthy that a soda from the vending machine.

Anyway, if you want to try them out for yourself you can get free shipping with the code P22FREESHIP at checkout. Happy sipping.

Sponsored by Tiny Prints for the holiday party invitations for children.