Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Today for some reason I could not stop thinking about cake. I looked online and it seemed like every recipe I found called for some ingredient that I didn't have and I really didn't feel like going shopping just to make cake so I kept looking and finally found a great recipe over at Pioneer Woman's blog. I absolutely adore her blog. It isn't just the food she makes (which by the way is awesome) it's the fact that she chronicles her daily life on a working cattle ranch in Oklahoma. I grew up on a dairy farm and so much of what she writes about makes me remember my childhood. When I watch her video clips and hear the cows mooing it makes me so homesick! I told my husband that I wanted our kids to grow up on a big farm like I did. The problem is well...he isn't a farmer bless his heart. While I was bottle feeding calves and playing in manure covered fields and splashing in a muddy creek, my dear hubbie was hitting the slopes in Colorado and snorkeling in the Bahamas. Maybe someday he'll have an overpowering urge to move to the middle of nowhere and raise some cows but for now I guess I will have to live vicareously through the Pioneer Woman. Her kids by the way make me want to have a baby SO much. I swear her little boy's blue eyes are enough to make you swoon.

But back to cake! Her recipe appeared to be just what the doctor ordered. It was easy, quick and the best part - it doesn't require a stand mixer. I have a fabulous KitchenAid mixer that I got as a wedding present but since our kitchen it so tiny I don't have room to leave it out on the counter like I would like to do. Instead it is sitting on a shelf in our pantry. This sucker weighs like fifty pounds and every time I want to use it I groan at the thought of lifting it and carrying it to the counter. So here is her recipe I hope you all will try it soon!

The Best Chocolate Sheet Cake. Ever.
by Pioneer Woman (Ree Drummond)

Ingredients
1. 2 cups flour
2. 2 cups sugar
3. 1/4 tsp. salt
4. 2 sticks butter
5. 4 heaping tbsps. cocoa
6. 1 cup boiling water
7. 1/2 cup buttermilk
8. 2 eggs
9. 1 tsp. vanilla

Directions
1. Combine in a mixing bowl: 2 cups flour, 2 cups sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt
2. In a saucepan, melt: 2 sticks butter
I realized after the fact that she said to use regular butter (not unsalted) but I used unsalted and it turned out fine.
3. Add 4 heaping tablespoons cocoa. Stir together. Add 1 cup boiling water, allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds, then turn off heat.
4. Pour over flour mixture, and stir lightly to cool.
5. In measuring cup, pour 1/2 cup buttermilk
(I didn't have buttermilk but thankfully she had a nifty trick for taking care of that! You measure out slightly less than 1/2 cup of milk and then pour vinegar until it rises up the 1/2 way mark.)
6. Add: 2 beaten eggs, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon vanilla.
7. Stir buttermilk mixture into butter/chocolate mixture.
8. Pour into sheet cake pan and bake at 350-degrees for 20 minutes

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