I was missing Mom yesterday, so I decided to bake her chocolate sheet cake. This recipe is so dang easy, and the rich texture and decadent icing make it the ultimate comfort food when only chocolate will do. I used to inhale this for dessert with a big glass of milk, and it was one of the baking staples in my mom’s cooking routine. She used to tell me that my grandmother would bake this cake every Friday so that she would have something chocolate for her five kids to snack on over the weekend.
I like it with the pecans, but you can leave them out of the icing or substitute them with another chopped nut of your choice.

Chocolate Sheet Cake with Chocolate-Pecan Icing
Notes
Ingredients
Cake
- 2 cups flour
- 2 cups sugar
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 1 stick butter
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup shortening
- 3 TBS cocoa
- 1 stick butter
- 3 TBS cocoa
- 1 box of powdered sugar (1 pound)
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 6 TBS milk
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9x13 cake pan.
- In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, and salt and set aside. In a separate bowl, whisk together buttermilk, eggs, baking soda, and vanilla. Set aside.
- Place butter, water, shortening, and cocoa in a medium saucepan. Cook mixture over medium-high heat until butter and shortening are melted and mixture begins to boil. Remove from heat and immediately pour cocoa mixture into the flour fixture, whisking until combined. Add the buttermilk mixture and whisk until fully incorporated. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Prepare icing while cake cooks because you will pour it over cake when it comes out of the oven.
- To make icing, melt butter in saucepan on medium-low. Add cocoa and stir until smooth. Add powdered sugar and vanilla, stirring well. Add the milk and whisk until smooth. Stir in pecans. Pour evenly over warm cake and it will set as it cools. Enjoy!
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!