This, ladies and gentlemen, is serious cake.

It isn’t much to look at- especially when the photo was taken with an ultrabad cellphone camera- but the point is that it’s weak-at-the-knees delicious. Rich and gooey and chocolatey and sweet and nutty and… will leave you swooning. It’s chocolate, of course, and like the best of chocolate cakes, isn’t ashamed to shout it to the world: hey! there’s chocolate in here. A LOT of chocolate. And sugar. And butter. As you’ll see:

Texas-style Chocolate Pecan Sheet Cake

Combine in a mixing bowl:
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt

In a saucepan, melt:
2 sticks butter (around 230 grams)
Add 4 heaping tablespoons cocoa powder. Stir together.
Add 1 cup boiling water, allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds, then turn off heat. Pour over flour mixture, and stir lightly to cool.

In measuring cup, pour 1/2 cup buttermilk.
Add:
2 beaten eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
Stir buttermilk mixture into butter/chocolate mixture. Pour into sheet cake pan and bake at 350-degrees for 20 minutes.

While cake is baking, make icing:
Chop 1/2 cup pecans finely.
Melt 1 3/4 sticks butter in a saucepan.
Add 4 heaping tablespoons cocoa, stir to combine, then turn off heat.
Add:
6 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 lb minus 1/2 cup powdered sugar
Stir together.
Add pecans, stir together, and pour over warm cake.

The frosting, that hot chocolate and pecan oozing deliciousness, will set after a few minutes. Slice into squares, and enjoy.

Recipe source: The Pioneer Woman’s Best Chocolate Cake