Chocolate-Buttermilk Sheet Cake

Sheet cake sure doesn't sound fancy but it can taste fancy! When I was looking for a dessert to take to a friend's house for dinner I looked for recipes containing buttermilk and pecans as I had them on stock and came across this yummy recipe on epicurious.com. The chocolate chips in the cake part are a nice sweet surprise to bite into. The cake part could probably use a little less sugar as it's quite sweet. But the recipe is definitely worth trying. It's very easy to make and therefore lends itself to using your imagination with the topping and also with goodies thrown into the cake part. I could imagine adding cranberries to the topping and shredded coconut to the cake part. Delish. Enjoy!

Makes 24 servings

1 cup water

1 cup (2 sticks, 220g) butter, at room temperature (the recipe calls for margarine, but I prefer butter)

1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 cup vegetable oil (I use sunflower)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup buttermilk

2 large eggs

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1 pound (about 4 cups, 450 g) powdered sugar

1/3 cup whole milk

1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Preheat oven to 350° F (177°C). Butter and flour 15.5/10.5/1-inch baking sheet. Whisk 1 cup water, 1/2 cup (110g) butter, 1/2 cup cocoa powder, vegetable oil, 1 teaspoon vanilla and baking soda in large bowl to blend. Whisk in sugar, flour, salt, then buttermilk and eggs. Spread batter in prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle batter with semisweet chocolate chips. Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer cake in pan to rack.

Meanwhile, melt remaining 1/2 cup (110 g) butter in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat. Whisk in powdered sugar, whole milk, remaining 3 tablespoons cocoa powder and 1 teaspoon vanilla.

Spread frosting over warm cake. Sprinkle with nuts. Cool cake completely in pan. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and let stand at room temperature.) Cut into 24 pieces.