Texas Sheet Cake

Thursday, December 25, 2008

First things first, Merry Christmas everybody! I hope the holidays are treating you well this year. My mom used to make this cake all the time. It’s really really really good. It’s more like frosted brownies and it’s delicious. You should make this. Today. Or tomorrow since you might be in a food coma already today.

I made these during my lunch break on a day that I worked from home. I sent them to work with hubby the next day so we wouldn’t eat them all!! These are REALLY good warmed up with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream.

There are a few things about this recipe that just feel weird after all the baking I’ve done in the past few years. For one, you just throw all the ingredients together (this recipe is SO easy!) None of this adding flour and alternating with milk blah blah blah. It’s kind of refreshing to just throw everything in and turn on the mixer. You also boil butter and cocoa. Twice. It’s awesome. And don’t worry about the 3 sticks of butter. They’re totally worth it.

Texas Sheet Cake – from my mom – no idea where it’s originally from, although PW does have the same recipe posted on her cooking blog…
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp vingar + 1/2 cup milk
2 sticks butter
4 tbsp cocoa
1 cup water

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix the flour, sugar, sour cream, salt, eggs, baking soda and buttermilk in a large bowl.

Bring the butter, cocoa and water to a boil.

Add at once to flour mixture. Mix well and pour into greased cookie sheet. The batter is VERY runny.

Bake 20 min at 350. While the cake is baking, you will have just enough time to clean up the mess you made, wash the dishes and prepare the frosting. It’s important to frost the cake immediately out of the oven, so no slacking here!

Frosting1 box powdered sugar (1 lb) – I just eyeball it to 1/2 of a 2 lb bag
1 cup chopped pecans
1 tsp vanilla
1 stick butter
6 tbsp milk
4 tbsp cocoa

Combine the following the powdered sugar, pecans and vanilla.

Bring remaining ingredients to a boil. Add to the sugar mixture. Ice cake right out of oven.

Bars and Brownies, Dessert, Family Favorites

2 comments »

18 Responses to “Shipping Cupcakes in a Jar”

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1

CB — November 9, 2008 at 4:22 pm

I love it! Where did you get the jars? Now I totally wanna do this for xmas gifts!
/Clara
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2

Jen — November 9, 2008 at 4:23 pm

I looked everywhere and just couldn’t find them. I ended up ordering them from Amazon. They weren’t very cheap so that was a bummer…
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CB — November 9, 2008 at 4:35 pm

Ah bummer. What size are the jars? I wonder if Ikea would have them? Whats the amazon link?
/Clara
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Jen — November 9, 2008 at 4:42 pm

I ordered them from here. You want the wide mouth jars so the cupcakes fit and the 1/2 pint size is perfect.

The yellow cupcakes didn’t rise much so I added more frosting to fill the jar and the chocolate ones rose quite a bit so they had less frosting. My sister said that the chocolate one had the perfect amount of frosting or could use a smidge more, so you want a cupcake that has at least a small dome.
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ttfn300 — November 9, 2008 at 7:29 pm

haha, i’ve never seen that before 🙂 love it!
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Katie — November 10, 2008 at 1:14 pm

OH FUN! I’ve seriously always thought about doing this and never did. I’m starring this post to remind myself at Christmas. Too cute!!
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Janna — November 11, 2008 at 2:46 pm

I have been dying to try this ever since I saw it last year on someone else’s blog. They actually baked the cake in the jar and then iced it like a cupcake. I am going to have to order some of those iddy jars! Too cute!
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Beth — November 16, 2008 at 4:25 pm

Hmmm…might have to do this for Christmas instead of those “ingredients in a jar” thing we were thinking of.
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Renée — March 12, 2009 at 3:24 pm

I really want to try this, but I keep reading online that you shouldn’t put frosting in the jar because it will get moldy by the time it reaches its destination. I’m sure you would have heard if it was moldy when it got to your friend right? I would just be so embarrassed if that happened. Any help?
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Jen — March 12, 2009 at 3:30 pm

Renee – I’ve done this twice and both times haven’t heard of any mold. I froze the cupcakes/frosting in the jars prior to shipping them. I also shipped in the winter. My one sister even didn’t go get her package from the office until a week after it arrived and it was still good. I would guess she ate her cupcakes about 10 days after I sent them. I’m not sure if shipping in warm weather will have an impact on potential mold…
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Renée — March 12, 2009 at 3:33 pm

Alright I’ll definitely give it a try then. It will make for a very good Easter present for my faraway friends =)
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Jen — March 12, 2009 at 3:35 pm

Oh that’s a good idea!! I might have to order some more jars and do the same myself…
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Hillary — June 5, 2009 at 3:25 pm

What a clever idea! I would love to get a cupcake in the mail! 🙂 Maybe I’ll send out Valentine’s Day Cupcakesnext year!
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CuteCupcakesAllTheTime — May 6, 2010 at 5:39 pm

This comment has been removed by the author.
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CuteCupcakesAllTheTime — May 6, 2010 at 5:40 pm

Love these!! We have featured you on our blog. http://cutecupcakesallthetime.blogspot.com
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Pat — February 16, 2013 at 11:19 am
Did you freeze them before shipping? The jars looked frosted…
- beantownbaker — February 24th, 2013 @ 10:21 am
  
  I did freeze them. They defrosted as they were shipped. I’ve done it with and without the freezing depending on the weather and whatnot.
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PinkSuga — October 27, 2014 at 7:38 pm

What shipping method did you use? Overnight or Express???