Texas Chocolate Sheet Cake

This sheet cake recipe has become a favorite and frequently requested dessert in our home. My girls love it, and they enjoy helping make it. It is a recipe from the Royer’s Round Top Cafe cookbook, and above the recipe in the book is stated:

This recipe has survived the test of time. When the kids were small. this was the most requested dessert and birthday cake. It is still requested today, and no wonder. It is moist, gooey and rich.

Chocolate Sheet Cake

1 stick butter
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup water
4 tablespoons baking cocoa

Bring these above ingredients to a boil and set aside.

1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar

Add the above ingredients to the first mixture.

2 eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine these ingredients. Add all 3 ingredients together and beat until smooth. Bake at 350 degrees in a buttered and floured 9×13-inch cake pan until cake tests done, about 30 minutes.

Chocolate Icing

1 stick butter
2 1/2 tablespoons baking cocoa
6 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 16-ounce box powdered sugar

Stir together the first 3 ingredients in a pot. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Boil for 5 minutes or less. Add vanilla and powdered sugar; mix well. Spread on cake while hot.

The Royers know that food and friendship alone will grow cold and hollow if they do not transport us to consider the deeper issues of life. Bud and Karen are not narrow dogmatic, or pushy, but they do invite their guests through food and conversation to consider the heart’s deepest desire and the soul’s greatest emptiness. They know how to fill the stomach, the heart and the soul. I think you will find their invitation hard to refuse.