This rich and decadent mini chocolate sheet cake starts with a light and fluffy chocolate cake base and then gets smothered in a dreamy chocolate icing.
Hey, guys, this will be the last recipe of 2016. I’ll be posting a round up of my f avorite Baking Mischief recipes of the year on Friday, but if you don’t drop by again before New Year’s, happy New Year!! I hope your New Year’s Eve is joyful and safe and New Year’s Day fresh and energizing.
Today’s recipe is another of my favorites from Baking for Two , and in the book it’s titled “Death by Chocolate Sheet Cake” (a name I deemed no longer charming in late 2016). It’s been penciled in on my editorial calendar as “FU 2016 Cake” since sometime around the beginning of November, and I figured it would at least be a delicious way to end a bummer of a year.
Year-end gloominess aside, this is a pretty superb little chocolate dessert. The cake is light, almost delicate, and comes together quick and easy. But the real show stopper is the chocolate icing over the top. It is completely decadent and delicious.
I’m a big fan of frosting cakes with pourable icing because there’s no skill or stress to it. You just mix the icing up on the stove and the pour it over your cake–the cake doesn’t even have to be completely cooled. The top of the icing sets after a few minutes, but the rest stays gooey and fudgy and so good. It doesn’t look like much when you are pouring it on, but trust me, it’s a substantial layer and so rich you’ll definitely need a glass of milk to go along with it.
This Mini Chocolate Sheet Cake recipe will make four big cake slices or six smaller ones. I baked it in a ceramic baking dish for these photos, but if you plan on transporting your cake, I totally recommend making it in a 7×5-inch Pyrex container so you can just pop a lid on and go.
Ingredients
Special Equipment
- ▢ 7x5-inch Baking Dish
Chocolate Cake
- ▢ 1/4 cup ( 30 g) all-purpose flour
- ▢ 1 tablespoon ( 5 g) natural cocoa powder sifted if lumpy
- ▢ 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- ▢ 1/4 teaspoon salt
- ▢ 4 tablespoons ( 2 oz) unsalted butter room temperature
- ▢ 1/4 cup ( 50 g) granulated sugar
- ▢ 1 large egg white
- ▢ 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
- ▢ 2 tablespoons milk
- ▢ 2 tablespoons hot coffee or water
Chocolate Icing
- ▢ 2 tablespoons ( 1 oz) unsalted butter
- ▢ 1 tablespoon milk
- ▢ 1 teaspoon light corn syrup
- ▢ 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ▢ 2 heaping tablespoons finely chopped semisweet chocolate (high-quality chips are fine)
- ▢ 1/2 cup ( 60 g) powdered sugar sifted
- ▢ Sprinkles optional
Instructions
Chocolate Cake
- Preheat your oven to 350°F and grease a 7x5-inch baking dish.
- In a small bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt.
- In a medium bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Whisk in egg white and vanilla until well-combined.
- One at a time, stir in half of the flour mixture, all of the milk, and the remaining flour mixture, mixing until just-combined after each. Stir in hot coffee (or hot water) and mix until combined. Mixture will be thin.
- Pour into prepared baking dish. Bake for 14 to 18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool for at least five minutes before starting the glaze.
Chocolate Icing
- In a 1-quart saucepan, combine butter, milk, corn syrup and vanilla. Heat over medium heat, whisking until butter is melted and ingredients are mixed. Add chocolate and whisk until chocolate is melted and incorporated. Turn heat down to low and add sifted powdered sugar. Whisk until sugar melts into the chocolate mixture. Remove from heat and pour immediately over the slightly cooled cake. Add sprinkles if desired.
- Allow glaze 5 to 10 minutes to set before serving the cake in the baking container. Slice and enjoy with a strong cup of coffee.
Notes
It’s the last Monday of 2016! How were your holidays? Were things crazy busy or low-key and relaxing? Did you get everything on your wishlist?
My Christmas and the days leading up to it were pretty perfect. My sister was in town and we did a ton of baking for friends and neighbors, and I spent Christmas day with my family during which, I ate waaaaay too much good food.
With Christmas over, 2016 is very nearly in the rear view mirror. And while I’m more than happy to say goodbye to this year, before we do, I thought it’d be fun to take a look at what was popular on Baking Mischief in 2016.
Aside from my ridiculous(ly good) S’mores Cupcakes and its sister recipe, Easy Marshmallow Frosting , the Baking Mischief 2016 Top 10 list is a wonderfully practical group of recipes. Easy dinners, one decadent special occasion dessert/breakfast, a perfect quick vegetable side, and simple healthy treats for four-legged best friends.
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the most popular recipes on the site are also the ones I find myself making over and over again in real life.
Top 10 Recipes of 2016
#9 – Slow Cooker Baked Potatoes With Broccoli and Cheese Sauce
#8 – Pesto Chicken Sandwich on Sourdough
#7 – Easy and Comforting Ham and Potato Soup
#6 – Easy Marshmallow Frosting
#5 – Easy Overnight Cinnamon Rolls for Two
#4 – Gooey Chocolate S’mores Cupcakes
#3 – Chicken Shawarma With Yogurt Sauce
#2 – Carrot Oat Applesauce Treats for Dogs and Horses
#1 – No-fail Butter and Garlic Green Beans
Stay tuned later in the week for my favorite recipes of 2016!
My top 10 favorite Baking Mischief recipe posts of 2016.
It’s the last post of 2016! On Monday, I posted the Top 10 Most Popular Baking Mischief Recipes of 2016. Today, I’m rounding up my favorites. A lot of my favorites were already featured in Monday’s round up, but these are the posts I loved the most that didn’t crack the top 10 list.
My Favorite Posts of 2016
I had more fun creating this Game of Thrones Frey Pie recipe than almost anything else I made this year. It’s the perfect meeting of delicious to eat, gorgeous to look at, and delightful to feed to people. 😉
I’m genuinely disappointed these Pumpkin Donuts with Maple Glaze didn’t really catch on, because they might be my favorite new thing I made this fall. Expect to see me pushing them big time next year when pumpkin time rolls ’round again.
I’m so pleased with this recipe for Easy Teriyaki Chicken for Two . I’ve been wanting to make my own teriyaki sauce for a while, and after much experimenting, I finally arrived at my perfect recipe.
These Cinnamon Apple Crumb Muffins are one of the most devourable things I’ve ever made. You eat one, and it’s so good that there’s a 99% chance you are going back for a second. After the first test batch, I literally had to start boxing up the leftovers and sending them away as soon as they came out of the oven so I wouldn’t eat them all.
I laugh and think of curmudgeonly bookshop owners every single time I make these Black Books -inspired Tinto De Verano Red Wine Popsicles .
I cannot wait to make up a big batch of these “real good” American Gods Easy Beef Pasties and watch the new American Gods show this year!!!
That’s a wrap for 2016. Happy New Year, and I’ll see you all in 2017!
Easy Mini Chocolate Sheet Cake
Ingredients
Special Equipment
- 7x5-inch Baking Dish
Chocolate Cake
- 1/4 cup ( 30 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon ( 5 g) natural cocoa powder sifted if lumpy
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons ( 2 oz) unsalted butter room temperature
- 1/4 cup ( 50 g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg white
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 2 tablespoons hot coffee or water
Chocolate Icing
- 2 tablespoons ( 1 oz) unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon milk
- 1 teaspoon light corn syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 heaping tablespoons finely chopped semisweet chocolate (high-quality chips are fine)
- 1/2 cup ( 60 g) powdered sugar sifted
- Sprinkles optional
Instructions
Chocolate Cake
- Preheat your oven to 350°F and grease a 7x5-inch baking dish.
- In a small bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt.
- In a medium bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Whisk in egg white and vanilla until well-combined.
- One at a time, stir in half of the flour mixture, all of the milk, and the remaining flour mixture, mixing until just-combined after each. Stir in hot coffee (or hot water) and mix until combined. Mixture will be thin.
- Pour into prepared baking dish. Bake for 14 to 18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool for at least five minutes before starting the glaze.
Chocolate Icing
- In a 1-quart saucepan, combine butter, milk, corn syrup and vanilla. Heat over medium heat, whisking until butter is melted and ingredients are mixed. Add chocolate and whisk until chocolate is melted and incorporated. Turn heat down to low and add sifted powdered sugar. Whisk until sugar melts into the chocolate mixture. Remove from heat and pour immediately over the slightly cooled cake. Add sprinkles if desired.
- Allow glaze 5 to 10 minutes to set before serving the cake in the baking container. Slice and enjoy with a strong cup of coffee.
