tricia mama's texas sheet cake

no, that's not supposed to be "tricia's mama's texas sheet cake"- it's what some young children call her- "tricia mama."  and it's my mommy. and she has THE BEST chocolate sheet cake recipe EVER.  whether you're PMSing or not, you NEED this cake in your life. I mean, to be honest, it's the perfect PMS cake (sorry to be honest but come on, we're mostly ladies here) but it's also a great cake when you need a dessert to feed 10+ people.  This is the kind of cake you want at 2 am when you just NEED something delicious and chocolate.  It will beckon to you from the kitchen.  Grab you a glass of milk (you'll need it) and make this cake. It's super easy and SUPER delish.

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 sticks butter
• 4 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 2 eggs slightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 stick butter (for frosting)
• 4 tablespoons cocoa (frosting)
• 6 tablespoons milk (frosting)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla (frosting)
• 1 box powdered sugar

Directions

•  in a large bowl, combine the 2 cups of sugar and 2 cups of flour
• in a pot on medium heat, combine 2 sticks of butter, 4 tablespoons cocoa powder, and 1 cup of water
• bring this to a rapid boil then pour over flour and sugar and stir with a spoon until well mixed (don't over mix your cake batter- it will be tough, and you'll know what tough means if you taste it that way)
• to the mix, add 1/2 cup buttermilk, 2 slightly beaten eggs, 1 teaspoon soda, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1 teaspoon cinnamon.  
• mix and pour into a well greased and floured 9x13 or whatever ya got at 400 degrees for 20 minutes
• for frosting: melt and bring to a boil 1 stick of butter,  4 tablespoons of cocoa, and 6 tablespoons of milk
• remove from heat and transfer it to a large bowl.  add 1 box of powdered sugar and beat all together
• add your teaspoon of vanilla then mix again until combined
• mer mer's trick: when the cake is done, poke holes in it using a fork, tooth pick, skewer, whatever you have
• while the cake is still hot (whether you poke holes in it or not), pour icing over it.  spread the icing out evenly and leave the cakes alone until you need them
• (after the icing and cake cools, cover your cakes)

now off to finish my caramel sauce- i'm making pioneer woman's "knock you naked brownies" currently.  i'll let you know how they turn out.

love love,

mere