A few months ago, I came across a recipe called "The Best Chocolate Sheet Cake. Ever." Well, if that's not something I had to try, I don't know what is. So I did. And it was. It was the best chocolate sheet cake. Ever. Not only was it ridiculously delicious, it was also unbelievably easy to make.
I decided it was about time to make it again. This time, I made it into cupcakes. This time, I halved the recipe. Otherwise, I eat cake for every single meal. It's a problem. I figured, if I only had 12 cupcakes instead of 24, I would end up eating less of them. They are seriously that good.
First you need a little girl running around with her sister's sweater to provide you with entertainment. She was singing here. I don't know what she was singing about, but she was singing.
For the cupcakes, you need a bowl. In this bowl, you need to put flour, sugar, and salt. Set this bowl aside. You will need it soon.
You need to line your muffin tin. This was a job for...DA DA DA DAAAA! CRAZY HAIR GIRL!
After this, she retreated back to the living room to finish watching Tinkerbell. She likes to help when I bake, but can't really help with this one. There is the heating of butter on the stove. She doesn't like it when I am making these cupcakes, but she sure does like it when they are done.
Melt butter in a small sauce pan. After it is melted, add some cocoa and boiling water. Continue boiling for 30 seconds. Turn off the heat.
Next, have your helper bring you a soda, even if you didn't ask for one, even if they are warm.
Or ask your entertainment to make a Mt. Dew tower. Except, I never asked for the tower. She did that on her own. And she did it fast.
Then she took a step back to admire her work.
She proceeded to giggle and dance around the tower.
She made this face, just to peak the interest of her audience and...
knocked it over. Then she ran away so she don't have to clean up the remnants of her destructive.
After you have picked up the soda, you can get back to your cupcakes. Add the chocolate mixture to the flour mixture and mix lightly. In a separate bowl, beat an egg. Add buttermilk, baking soda, and vanilla.
Stir the buttermilk mixture into the chocolate mixture and combine. It takes a minute, but be gentle and have patience. It is all so, so, so worth it.
Pour your batter into your prepared cups. I filled mine about 2/3 full.
Bake them for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.
You may drip some batter on your work surface. When you do this, your entertainment will reenter the room. She will stand on the tips of her tippy toes and dunk her finger into the drops...
and lick them.
While your cupcakes are baking, your entertainment will put on another show.
She found a party bead necklace. She put it in the top shelf of her toy kitchen.
Then the necklace will fell through the cracks to the bottom. She did this over and over and over again. She laughed just as hard every time the necklace fell and she had such concentration and determination every time she gathered the necklace all up.
After the Third Act, the entertainment will start to get hungry. She will demand a snack and when you say no because supper is almost done, she will run over and smack you in the leg.
Notice her right hand sticking up in the air. It is really pink. It was from those gosh darn pink bubbles.
After twenty minutes, your cupcakes will look like this.
They almost look good enough to eat. While they are chilling out, cooling off a little bit, you can start making their frosting.
Melt butter in a sauce pan. Add cocoa and stir to combine. Turn off the heat. Add milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar. There is no picture of this because I did not have enough hands. Stir to combine. I usually bust out a whisk at this stage, to make sure all of the lumps from the powdered sugar are gone.
In the original recipe, chopped pecans are added at this stage of the game. You can do that if you would like, or not. Whatever floats your boat.
Spoon the frosting over the warm cupcakes. I put my cooling rack in a old baking sheet to catch any drippings. The easiest way to frost these cupcakes are to take a regular old kitchen spoon and spoon the chocolaty frosting in the middle and let it pool out.
What a beauty. All that is left is to pick the prettiest one, because you know as well as I do, that is what you do. You scan the group, look for the one that looks the best, and dive in. They are messy in a perfect kind of way. There is no way they will last long. I made everyone wait until after supper to have one. It was a form of cruel and unusual punishment.
I made 12. There are 3 left. Three lonely little cupcakes. There are about to be only 2 left. One of those is claimed, though, for a friend who had a baby today. I think she deserves a cupcake. So then there will be only 1 left. I will probably not share it.
This version of the recipe made 12 cupcakes or would make one round cake. If you follow the full recipe, it will make one sheet cake or about 24 cupcakes, depending on how full you make them.
Remember that the pictures above are for half of the original recipe, but the recipe below will be for the full, real deal.
This recipe is courtesy of thepioneerwoman.com and can be found under the title "Best Chocolate Sheet Cake. Ever." on her website. If you haven't already checked out her website, you really must. I insist.
If you were to want to make the bestest of chocolateness there is, here is how you would do:
Chocolate Sheet Cake/Cupcakes
Ingredients:
Cake
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 heaping tablespoons cocoa powder
2 sticks butter
1 cup boiling water
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 beaten eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
Frosting
1 3/4 sticks butter
4 heaping tablespoons cocoa powder
6 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
Approximately 2 cups of powdered sugar NOTE: the original recipe calls for 1 pound, minus 1/2 cup. I calculated that to be about 2 cups. I have always used that and it has totally worked, so I am going to go with it. Hope that helps.
Process:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line your muffin tin or grease a sheet pan.
In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar, and salt. In a saucepan, melt the butter, add the cocoa. Stir. Add the boiling water. Boil for 30 seconds. Turn off the heat. Pour over the flour mixture and stir lightly.
Beat the eggs in a separate bowl. Add the buttermilk, baking soda, and vanilla. Stir the buttermilk mixture into the chocolate mixture. Stir gently to combine.
Pour the batter into your prepared pan. Bake for 20 minutes. Cool on a cooling rack and begin making the frosting.
Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the cocoa. Stir to combine and turn off the heat. Add the milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar. Stir together. Whisk out any lumps. Spoon over cupcakes or pour over your sheet cake.
Do it, I dare you. You don't even need to wait for them to cool down. Eat them warm. Then, eat another one. Try to share, though. It's not nice to keep them all to yourself. But when there is only one left, it is every man for themselves.
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