Texas Sheet Cake

So on a recent trip to the library, one of the boys played a game on the computer in the kids' section while I sat on a nearby sofa and did some reading. I always grab a couple kid books to checkout when I'm there. Because food was the theme for the summer reading program, there were all kinds of food related books and cookbooks standing on display on the tops of the bookshelves. I noticed one titled "Texas." When I opened it, I found that it had a bit of history on the state and the way people eat in the state. It included maybe twenty or so recipes with enticing color photos of regional foods. I love to see photos in cookbooks. Often I skim through and don't read much text, I just look for a good picture and that makes me want to try it. I'd marked the page with a picture of a decadent chocolate dessert called "Texas sheet cake." I'd never made it. I'd never heard of it.  The cookbook said that the recipe yields about three dozen servings, making it "perfect for a crowd."

On my son's 9th birthday, he was spouting out all kinds of cakes he wanted me to make. I told him he had to decide on just one. Then I pulled out the book and showed him the picture of this cake and he was sold. And it was as good as it looked in the photo -- very, very rich. That's why it yields so many pieces. You'd go into a sugar coma if you ate a piece that measured 4" X 4". Anyway, here's the recipe:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. (Let me insert here that I miss the old symbol on typewriters that had that degrees symbol. I need to go look in my fonts and find that symbol since computers don't have one on a keyboard.)

Grease and lightly flour a jelly roll pan. I used a 1/2 sheet size one that I have. I had a hard time spreading the batter out to cover it all, but when I saw how it filled out after it cooked, realized I should have spread it out even more, no matter how thin it looked.

 Ingredients:

2 eggs
1 tsp. almond extract (I didn't have any on hand, so I used vanilla extract)
1 box Devils' Food cake mix
1 21-ounce can of cherry pie filling
1/3 cup milk
1 cup sugar
5 tbsp butter or margarine (go for the real thing!)
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Whisk the eggs and vanilla in mixing bowl. Stir in cake mix and cherry pie filling and beat well. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 20 to 30 minutes. (Took a full 30 minutes for mine - and timing is important because you need to have the icing done at the same time as the cake.)

For the icing, pour milk into a saucepan and stir in sugar. Add butter and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Boil for 1 minute, remove from heat and add chocolate chips. Stir until the chips are dissolved and icing is smooth. Pour over warm sheet cake.

If you like black forest cake, you will love this!

The birthday boy cleaned his plate so fast...before I could even get a picture of him enjoying it. :)