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This chocolate sheet cake recipe is a bake from scratch chocolate cake with chocolate icing.
The original recipe was found written on a 4×6 notecard and found among the many other recipes in our Vintage Map recipe box.
It is hard to say when this recipe may have been first introduced, but there is a clue in the fact that it mentions Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk.
Eagle Brand Sweetened condensed milk first originated in 1856. It was a very important product because back then it was very difficult to keep milk from spoiling.
Doing a little research, we did indeed find this chocolate sheet cake listed on the Eagle Brand condensed milk website – along with one reviewer who said she had been making this cake for over 25 years.
Because it includes a brand-specific ingredient, it is most likely this recipe was included in a vintage advertisement for Eagle Brand condensed milk at some point. However, the nuts as a topping also tipped us off that this might be a variation of Texas Sheet Cake.
Texas sheet cake is typically made with pecans and buttermilk – this variation does not specify which type of nuts to use and uses condensed milk as a substitute for buttermilk. We’ve also found quite a few Texas sheet cake recipes that use sour cream in place of the milk, and even a few that used a coconut topping instead of a fudge topping.
If you’re not familiar with the different cake sizes, a sheet cake is a single layer cake that is perfect for large gatherings of people.
This recipe calls for a 10×15 pan size, which is usually found as a jelly roll pan. Jelly roll pans are only about 1 inch tall.
Chocolate Sheet Cake Recipe Card
This card was double sided, with ingredients listed on front and directions listed on the back.
The Front of The Recipe Card:
The Back of the Recipe Card:
One nice thing about this recipe is it only requires about 15 minutes of baking time. The ingredients are also fairly straightforward with many items being things you likely keep on hand in your pantry regularly if you are an avid baker!
Chocolate Sheet Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups margarine or butter
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa
- 1 cup water
- 2 cups unsifted flour
- 1 ½ cups firmly packed brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 14 ounce can of sweetened condensed milk
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 cup chopped nuts
Instructions
- Preheat Oven to 350 degrees F.
- Melt 1 cup of butter or margarine. Stir in 1/4 cup of cocoa powder then 1 cup water. Bring to a boil.
- In large mixing bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Add in cocoa mixture from step 2 and beat well.
- Stir in 1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk, eggs, and vanilla.
- Pour into greased 10×15 pan. Bake 15 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched.
- For the topping, melt 1/4 cup margarine and remainder of sweetened condensed milk. Add powdered sugar and nuts. Spread onto warm cake.