Chocolate Sheet Cake

Prep Time: 18 minutes
Bake Time: 40 minutes
Cool Time: 1 hour

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Cook's Illustrated Magazine(January 2001) and Baking Illustrated

I think this was my first ever Cook's Illustrated recipe. It was such a success, and I enjoyed reading that first magazine so much that I ended up purchasing all the previous issues in bound books. (I no longer have all those books, but I did read them all.)

I am not a big cake person, because I prefer moister and more dense desserts. This cake is very good, however. It is moist and has a rich chocolate taste.

Although I have made this cake many times, it isn't a frequent thing, and I always end up overbaking it slightly. I think I am fooled by the fact that it still seems undone when I press on the top. It doesn't spring back as much as I think it should (which is silly since I am not a baking expert). I need to pay more attention to my cake tester which I put in at an angle (thanks to a tip I found on the CI forum.) Although slightly overbaked on the sides, this cake is still excellent.

I am still working on finding a good frosting recipe that is not too rich, but better than those fluffy frosting that supermarket and some bakery cakes have. With this cake I resorted to canned frosting! It was for my nephew, and I knew he would prefer it.

I think my decorating technique has improved, but I should smooth the base frosting out better before I start the decorating.