Lucy Burdette (aka Roberta Isleib) is the author of the Key West food critic mysteries, debuting in January 2012 with AN APPETITE FOR MURDER. No victims were harmed with chocolate cake during the writing of this book. Follow Lucy at her website www.lucyburdette.com or on facebook www.facebook.com/lucyburdette or twitter www.twitter.com/lucyburdette
ROBERTA ISLEIB aka LUCY BURDETTE:
Nineteen years ago, I married into a family of chocoholics. A tradition developed that on each person’s birthday, the honoree got to choose the cake that I would bake. Early on, I happened upon a feathery fudge cake (made with chocolate sour cream icing) from a Betty Crocker cookbook and haven’t been allowed to deviate far from it since. Here Yoda the cat watches over it, and here it is in full birthday glory.
Still, I like to keep an eye out for other chocolate cakes—who knows what might be out there? My friend Peggy has brought Aunt Adeline’s Texas Sheet Cake to our past two choir potluck dinners. Let me just tell you, people fight for a square. Baked in a jelly roll pan, it doesn’t look like much, but it tastes delicious and feeds a crowd. Peggy lightened it up with applesauce and low-fat yogurt, so it’s not as caloric as it could be:)
AUNT ADELINE'S TEXAS SHEET CAKE
Cake
1 stick of butter
1 cup water
4 heaping TBSP cocoa powder
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
½ tsp salt
1 tsp soda
2 eggs beaten
½ cup applesauce
½ cup plain no-fat yogurt
1 tsp vanilla
Heat in a saucepan, melting butter & add water and cocoa powder.
Bring to a boil on stove and remove from heat.
Sift dry ingredients in a bowl
Beat all these ingredients and then blend with dry above and add in cooled chocolate liquid from saucepan
Pour into a greased & floured (or Pam sprayed) 15 x 10 x 2 “jelly roll” pan.
Bake at 375 for 20-22 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.
Make frosting five minutes before cake is done and spread on cake while still hot and then let cool.
Frosting
1 stick of butter4 TBSP (or more for darker chocolate) cocoa powder
6 TBSP milk
1 pound box powdered Sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
½ cup chopped peanuts or pecans (nuts optional)
Heat & melt butter in saucepan with cocoa & milk but do not boil. Remove from heat and beat into powdered sugar and vanilla. Spread on hot cake.
4 comments:
This one I'm going to print out right now. Sounds wonderful!
I never thought of putting applesauce and yogurt in the Texas sheet cake, that really would make it moist and really cut some of the calories. I think I will make this next week. Oh my there goes dieting. LOL Paulette
Out of curiosity and piglet that I am, what did the yogurt and applesauce replace?
I am going to try this lighter version - thanks for sharing your family recipe. My fatter version called for 1 cup of butter (2 sticks) in the cake and it also included 1/2 cup buttermilk.
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