Texas Sheet Cake

My friend Jack's birthday is today, and yesterday me and my roommate Lucy hosted a party for him in our apartment (we live right across from each other, and our apartment is bigger). For his birthday I made him a cake--I was kind of afraid of making a sheet cake, and this was the first cake in this oven that I baked, so I was a little nervous, but it turned out fine. Everyone thought they were brownies, but it tasted cakey enough.

I made a Texas Sheet Cake because Jack's from Texas...yeah I'm clever, I know. I just looked up the reason for it being called "Texas" sheet cake, and apparently it got its name for the chocolatey taste being as big as Texas...? Interesting. Anyway, yeah it was chocolatey. I wish I had a mixer to mix it though, because the chocolate mixture didn't mix completely with the flour mixture, which wasn't a big deal--it just looked like it had white-cake sprinkles in it or something.

Lucy loved the icing, and coming from someone who absolutely detests frosting, I guess that's a good thing. This isn't my ideal cake--I'd prefer to have a layered cake that you need some skill in making, not just mix, pour, heat the icing, pour immediately, and serve in the pan...but what can you do? At least it made this super easy!

Texas Sheet Cake
Recipe from Allrecipes

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups white sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 cup butter
1 cup water
5 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

6 tablespoons milk
5 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup butter
4 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 10x15 inch pan.

Combine the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. Beat in the sour cream and eggs. Set aside. Melt the butter on low in a saucepan, add the water and 5 tablespoons cocoa. Bring mixture to a boil then remove from heat. Allow to cool slightly, then stir cocoa mixture into the dry ingredients, mixing until blended.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

For the icing: In a large saucepan, combine the milk, 5 tablespoons cocoa and 1/2 cup butter. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat. Stir in the confectioners' sugar and vanilla, then fold in the nuts, mixing until blended. Spread frosting over warm cake.