Texas Sheet Cake

Today is my mom's birthday and I wanted to make her a chocolate cake. Earlier this month my aunt made a Texas Sheet Cake and I realized I had never tried the recipe, so that's what I made today. This cake was so easy to make. I used a 17"x12" cookie sheet with sides on it for the cake. Once it came out of the oven I poured the icing on, and then it was done! The only suggestion I would make is to sift the confectioners' sugar used in the icing so there are no lumps in it. I did not use a mixer for this recipe. I used a whisk to smooth out both the cake batter and the icing. If you love chocolate, you will not be disappointed with this recipe!

Texas Sheet Cake

                                                                                   

Grease and flour cookie sheet with sides (15”x10”x1” Jelly Roll pan or 17”x12”x1” pan).

CAKE:

2 sticks margarine

1 cup water

4 Tablespoons cocoa

Bring to a boil until dissolved. Remove from heat.

2 cups sugar

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

Add to above mixture.

2 eggs

½ cup sour cream

Beat into above mixture.

Bake at 375˚ for 22 minutes.

ICING:

1 stick margarine

4 Tablespoons cocoa

6 Tablespoons milk

Bring to a boil. Remove from heat.

1 box 10x (confectionary) sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla    

1 cup walnuts (chopped) (optional)

Add to above icing mixture.

POUR ICING OVER CAKE AS SOON AS IT COMES OUT OF OVEN.

Cake batter

Cake right out of the oven

Icing poured on cake

Cut & enjoy!

Photos by JoJo

Mama DeSelm's Chocolate Cake with Ricotta Filling

For my 21st Birthday (years ago) my friend Tara had a surprise birthday party for me at her parent's house. On top of the surprise and gathering together all of my family and friends, she made a delicious chocolate cake with ricotta filling. I've had the recipe for many years and never got around to making it myself, until today. I had a few ideas in mind for a Mother's Day dessert, and luckily remembered that I still hadn't made this cake yet, so I finally gave it a try.

I don't want to give away Tara's family's recipe completely, so I omitted sharing their grandmother's cake recipe and substituted it with one that I've made many times, the Hershey's 5-minute Deep Dark Chocolate cake recipe. I used Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate cocoa in this cake. Since I was making two round 9" cakes, I wasn't sure how much filling and icing to make (the original recipe called for a 9x13" cake sliced in half or made in two pans). I decided to just make the full amount of filling and icing to see how much I needed. Afterall, both of those taste great left over! I probably used about 1.5 pounds of the ricotta mixture and about 1.5 pints of the heavy whipping cream mixture. I bought the heavy cream and ricotta at Trader Joe's, and both were very tasty. They also did not have preservatives like the ones I could have bought at Giant. I indicated below the amounts of powdered sugar I used in both the filling and icing, but those can be adjusted to taste and your preference.

I love all of the components of this cake, and the final product was delicious! It was easy to make, especially since I used a chocolate cake recipe I was already familiar with. If you love chocolate and ricotta, I highly recommend trying this recipe! If you don't like whipped cream icing, you can substitute your favorite icing. I saw some similar recipes online that used chocolate icing, but I think the whipped cream icing keeps this already rich cake a little lighter than a buttercream or other type of icing would and pairs nicely with the ricotta filling. Just make sure you have room to refrigerate this cake once it's assembled and in the event that you have any left over!

Edit January 2022: I just made this cake for the first time in a few years for my twin sons' 4th Birthday. My store-bought ricotta must have needed drained because the filling was a bit runny so it was spilling out of the cake layers. I made a double layer 9" round cake and had a little bit of filling left over and a good amount of whipped cream. My friend Tara later told me that she started using chocolate icing on the sides and doing the cannoli filling on top because the whipped cream doesn't hold up. I might try it like that at some point.

 

Mama DeSelm’s Chocolate Cake with Ricotta Filling

This cake is a family favorite.

Prepare your favorite chocolate cake recipe. Pour into greased and floured 9” x 13” pan. Slice in half for filling or make two cakes for two layers. Alternately, use two 9” pans for a round two layer cake (if making a round cake, reduce the filling and icing recipes by a little bit).

FILLING:

2 pounds Ricotta Cheese

½ cup powdered sugar (adjust amount to taste)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 bag Chocolate Chips or Mini Chocolate Chips

ICING:

2 pints Heavy Whipping Cream

¼ cup powdered sugar (adjust amount to taste)

Beat ricotta cheese and powdered sugar until creamy. Don’t over beat cheese. Blend in vanilla. Stir in chocolate chips (amount of chips may be altered to personal preference).

Beat whipping cream. Add a little powdered sugar to whipping cream to sweeten. Frost cake with whipped cream.

NOTE: If the ricotta is watery, put it in a strainer and drain it for a bit.

Dry cake ingredients

Wet cake ingredients mixed in

Pour cake batter into greased & floured pans

Fresh out of the oven!

Cool cakes completely

2 pounds ricotta cheese

Ricotta & powdered sugar

Ricotta, powdered sugar & vanilla

Stir in chocolate chips using a spoon or spatula

Ready to assemble the cake!

Spread ricotta filling

Whipped cream & powdered sugar icing

Frost cake with icing

Finished product

Slice cake & enjoy!

Photos by JoJo

Sweet and Spicy Bacon Chicken

About a year and a half ago I posted a recipe for Sweet Chicken Bacon Wraps. Last night I made a similar recipe but with chicken strips instead of nuggets and a little extra seasoning (salt, pepper and garlic powder). Since the recipe I found online did not specify the amount of seasonings to use, I just lightly seasoned the chicken while it was on my cutting board and then flipped each piece over and seasoned the other side. I mixed the brown sugar and a little more chili powder together and rolled the seasoned chicken wrapped in bacon in it. I wanted to use my entire pack of bacon so I ended up with 16 strips of chicken, and the chili powder/brown sugar mixture was just enough to coat all of them. My family loved the chicken, and I thought making it in strips was easier and less time-consuming than the nuggets.

Sweet and Spicy Bacon Chicken

Recipe adapted from “Full Bellies, Happy Kids” Blog

4 boneless chicken breasts, cut in thirds (12 pieces)
12 bacon slices
Salt and pepper, to taste
Garlic powder, to taste
1 Tablespoon Chili powder, plus more to taste
2/3 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

Cut each chicken breast into three pieces. Season chicken on both sides with the spices. Wrap a bacon slice around each piece. Mix the brown sugar and 1 tablespoon chili powder together and roll each chicken piece in the mixture. Pour 2-3 tablespoons olive oil in an ovenproof dish and place all of the chicken pieces in the dish.

Bake at 400° degrees for 30 to 40 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and bacon is brown and crispy.

Photos by JoJo

Crispy Old Bay Wings

With summer almost here, I have been craving Old Bay. There are a few restaurants near my office that serve Old Bay Chicken Wings, and I found a simple recipe online that I made last night. I wanted to make them in the oven rather than fry them so I picked the recipe that I found on Old Bay's website. I used chicken breasts instead of wings and cut each into 3 pieces. I used panko breadcrumbs, although next time I will use regular breadcrumbs so they will stick to the chicken better. I love Old Bay, so I thought these were pretty good, especially considering how easy they were to make!

Crispy Old Bay Wings

Recipe courtesy Old Bay

Chicken wings are a must-have finger food at any casual gathering. To make these crispy wings spicy, add ¼ teaspoon ground red pepper to breadcrumb mixture.

½ cup plain dry breadcrumbs

2 Tablespoons Old Bay® Seasoning

3 pounds chicken wing pieces

Blue cheese or ranch dressing (optional)

Preheat oven to 425°. Mix breadcrumbs and OLD BAY in large re-sealable plastic bag. Add chicken wings in batches; shake to coat well.

Arrange chicken wings in single layer on large foil-lined shallow baking pan sprayed with no stick cooking spray. Discard any remaining breadcrumb mixture.

Bake 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Serve with blue cheese or ranch dressing, if desired.

Ready to go in the oven

Photos by JoJo

Lemon Buttermilk Bars

I've had two lemon bar recipes that I've been wanting to try and finally made one today. This was a recipe that I found on Williams-Sonoma's website. I decided to try this one first instead of Paula Deen's recipe because it made a smaller batch, although I could have just made half of her recipe and put it in an 8x8 pan. I will have to try hers another day. If you like lemon bars, I would recommend trying a recipe rather than making them from a box mix. They are so easy to make and taste a lot better homemade!

The crust took no time to mix. I sifted all of the flour used in this recipe just to make sure I wouldn't have any lumps. I used a spatula to spread the crust in the pan first, and then evened it out with my fingers. While the crust was baking, I made the filling.

I never have buttermilk on hand so I substituted a vinegar/milk mixture that I made - 1 1/2 teaspoons vinegar and the rest of the 1/2 cup measuring cup filled with milk. After letting the dish cool, I cut them into 16 small bars and sprinkled confectioners' sugar on top. It was that simple!

If you like lemon desserts, you will love this recipe!

Lemon Buttermilk Bars

Recipe courtesy “Williams-Sonoma Food Made Fast: Baking” Cookbook

Buttermilk adds a pleasing tang to these dessert bars, which derive their lemony taste from grated lemon zest and fresh juice.

6 Tablespoons (¾ stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

¼ cup plus 2/3 cup granulated sugar

2/3 cup plus 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour, sifted

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 Tablespoon finely grated lemon zest

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

½ cup buttermilk

Confectioners’ sugar for dusting

Mix the dough and bake the crust
Preheat an oven to 350°. Butter the bottom and sides of an 8-inch square baking pan.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat together the butter and the ¼ cup granulated sugar on medium speed until creamy. Reduce the speed to low, add the 2/3 cup flour and the salt and beat until blended. Spoon the dough into the prepared pan and press evenly into the pan bottom. Bake until the crust is golden, 15 to 18 minutes.

Make the filling
Meanwhile, in a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the eggs and the remaining 2/3 cup granulated sugar on medium speed until blended. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons flour, the lemon zest, lemon juice and buttermilk and beat until smooth. Pour the filling over the baked crust, spreading evenly.

Bake the filling
Bake until the top of the filling is set and barely browned at the edges, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool completely. Cut into 8 bars, dust with confectioners’ sugar shaken through a sieve and serve.

Makes 8 bars.

NOTE: If you do not have buttermilk, pour 1½ teaspoons white vinegar or lemon juice into a ½ cup measuring cup and then fill the remainder of the cup with milk. Let sit 5 minutes.

Crust dough

Spread dough in an 8x8 pan

Bake until crust is golden

Lemon filling

Pour lemon filling over baked crust

Right out of the oven!

Let cool completely on a wire wrack

Cut bars

Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar and enjoy!

Photos by JoJo