Take-Along Dark Chocolate Sheet Cake

Looking homely but tasting great: Dark Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Butter Cream Frosting

This is one of those recipes that has been in my little wooden recipe box forever. I return to it whenever I want to make a quick and easy cake and especially if it's a cake that has to do a little travelling. This dark chocolate cake bakes in a 13" x 9" pan and if you're really lucky you have one of these pans with a lid, and if you're really, really lucky your lidded pan fits into one of those padded carriers and comes with its own ice pack.

As I said, this cake is easy to put together. You can mix it up in a Kitchen Aid stand mixer, but the batter is quite thin so it's easy enough to do by hand. When it's fully cooled, you can add icing (I like a chocolate butter cream and the recipe for it follows) or just dust on a little icing sugar. I recommend storing this cake in the refrigerator and serving it while it's still a little chilled. The chocolatey cake is moist and tasty by itself and is also an excellent base for a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a few strawberries.

MA's Dark Chocolate Sheet Cake

Ingredients ready and pan greased and floured

Preheat oven to 350 F.
Grease and flour a 13" x 9" x 2" pan.

2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups flour
3/4 cups cocoa
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk or soured milk
1 cup strong black coffee
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla

Beat for 2 minutes.

In a large bowl, combine sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda and baking powder.

Add eggs, milk, coffee, oil and vanilla.

Beat at medium speed for 2 minutes. Batter will be thin.

Don't worry: the batter should be thin.

Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until tester poked into centre of cake comes out clean. The middle of the cake may have a sag but as long as the tester comes out clean, it's done. The saggy middle will be disguised by the frosting.

Cool cake completely in pan.

Frost with chocolate butter cream icing or dust with icing sugar.

Store in refrigerator and serve slightly chilled.

Makes about 12 servings.

Printable Recipe for MA's Dark Chocolate Sheet Cake

MA's Chocolate Butter Cream Frosting

2 tbsp butter
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
3 tbsp cocoa
2-3 tbsp cream or milk
1/2 tsp vanilla

Cream butter.

Sift together icing sugar and cocoa.

Add sugar and cocoa mixture to butter, alternating with cream or milk.

Blend in vanilla and beat until creamy.

Spread onto cooled cake.

Makes icing for 13" x 9" sheet cake. Double the recipe for a layer cake.

Printable Recipe for MA's Chocolate Butter Cream Frosting

Granny's Scones: A memory to be savoured

Granny's Scones

My husband’s grandmother came to Canada from Scotland as a young woman and married a handsome young blacksmith. They settled in a small town in a picturesque valley in southern Manitoba where they raised two daughters. By today's standards, life was far from easy with wood stoves for cooking and wringer washers and clotheslines on laundry day. Housekeeping was an art and Granny was a master. Neighbours, friends and family were always welcome around her table.

Around Granny's table, circa 1952

When I met Granny, she was in her mid-seventies and still going strong: looking after her own home, garden and yard and tirelessly contributing to her church and community. From that first time I met her and for many, many years to come, I always looked forward to Granny’s scones. In fact, her melt-in-your-mouth scones were renowned among her family and friends and were enjoyed time and again whether she served them with butter and jam or slices of cheese and cold leftover meat. Getting some of Granny's scones to take home was a real treat.

Granny seldom cooked from written recipes. So one day many years ago when I was visiting her home, I followed her around her kitchen as she made her scones. I wrote down what I saw her doing. The recipe for scones was so much a part of her that she didn’t need to measure carefully: it was a handful of this and a half teacup of that. You’ll find the measured ingredients in the recipe below. Granny cooked the scones in her old electric frying pan the kind with a lid. You’ll need a frying pan or griddle with a lid to make your scones. When you make these, be sure to enjoy one with a cup of tea and offer a toast to celebrate a sweet Scottish Granny and her scones. 

Granny’s Scones

Setting up to make scones

4 cups flour

1/3 cup sugar

2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

½ lb butter, cold

2 eggs

½ cup milk

Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

Half the dough rolled out and cut into 8 wedges

Cut butter into dry ingredients until it is in small pieces and distributed evenly throughout the dry ingredients.

Mix together the eggs and milk.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, adding more milk a half-teaspoonful at a time until you have a stiff dough. Mix well using your hands.

Divide dough in half.

Place in pan, then cover with a lid

On a well-floured board, roll one half of the dough into a circle approximately 8” in diameter. Cut into 8 wedges. Repeat the rolling and cutting with the second half of the dough.

Heat a griddle or large fry pan over medium heat. Place wedges into pan. Cover and cook for 5 to 10 minutes or until golden brown on bottom. Turn wedges over and cook covered for about another 5 minutes.

Remove from pan and place on rack to cool.

Cooked scones can be kept in a covered container on the counter for two to three days or refrigerated for about five days.

Serve, either whole or split, with butter, jam, cheese and/or cold cuts.

Makes 16 scones.

Printable Recipe for Granny's Scones

When a burger is not a burger

Maybe not the most artful but definitely delicious Burger Salad

When is a burger not a burger? When it’s a burger salad! You’ll really have to try this to appreciate how all the components of your average burger transform into this tasty meal-in-a-salad.

The first time I had this delicious salad was a few years ago when I hosted a Pampered Chef party. I really do like the Pampered Chef product line and have been really pleased with all the things I have bought from them. Okay, there are a few items which don’t get used a lot, but that has more to do with me than the item. Anyway, I do digress. If you want to see the original version of this recipe or get more Pampered Chef recipes, just visit the Pampered Chef website. And if you want to host a party, I can recommend two excellent Pampered Chef reps in my part of the world. (And yes, the salad in the photo is served on a beautiful bamboo tray from Pampered Chef.)

As I am apt to do, I have rewritten the recipe to include my modifications. I used whole wheat sesame seed topped hamburger buns and ground chicken, but you can use whatever buns you like and choose beef, turkey or vegetarian meat alternative for the ground meat. While you can prep the ingredients in advance, it’s best to combine them immediately before serving. Enjoy your burger salad.

MA’s Burger Salad

Preheat oven to 425º F.

For the burger salad

4 hamburger buns, sliced into croutons

1 lb ground meat: lean beef, chicken, turkey or vegetarian alternative

Red onion, divided into ¼ cup finely diced and ¼ cup sliced

½ cup finely diced dill pickles

¾ cup ketchup

1 tbsp yellow mustard

8 cups romaine, cut or torn into bite-sized pieces

2 tomatoes, diced

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

On a large baking sheet, place the sliced hamburger buns in a single layer. Bake about 10 minutes or until the croutons are slightly toasted. Cool completely.

Helping hands prep the lettuce

In a frying pan, cook ground meat over medium heat until cooked through. Break the meat into crumbles as it cooks.

In a large bowl, combine the cooked ground meat, diced onion, diced pickles, ketchup and mustard. Mix well.

Place the lettuce on a large serving platter or in large bowl. 

Dig in!

Spoon meat mixture over the lettuce. Sprinkle tomatoes, cheese and sliced onion on top. Arrange croutons around the platter/bowl. Serve immediately.

Serves 2-3 as a main course, 4-6 as a side salad.

Printable Recipe for MA's Burger Salad