Old-Fashioned Chocolate Brownie Cake
This easy chocolate brownie cake is an old-fashioned recipe that gives you the the taste of chocolate walnut brownies in sheet cake form. Just like grandma used to make!
Servings: 20 squares
Calories: 325kcal
Equipment
Ingredients
Brownie Cake
- 2 cups flour
- 2 cups sugar
- ¾ cup butter
- 2 TBS cocoa powder
- 1 cup water
- ½ cup buttermilk
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp vanilla
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 cup chopped walnuts optional garnish
Icing
- ½ cup butter
- 1 TBS cocoa
- 6 TBS milk
- 2 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
Brownie Cake
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and grease a large baking sheet.
- Mix the flour, salt, baking soda, and sugar in a large bowl and set aside.2 cups flour, 2 cups sugar
- Heat a saucepan over medium-high heat on the stove. Melt butter in pot.3/4 cup butter
- Once melted, add the cocoa powder and water and bring the mixture to a boil.2 TBS cocoa powder, 1 cup water
- Once boiling remove from heat and add the boiling chocolate mixture to the flour mixture from earlier and stir until well combined.
- Add buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla to the mixture and combine until you have a nice smooth batter. This can be done by hand or with a hand mixer.1/2 cup buttermilk, 2 eggs, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp vanilla, 1/2 tsp salt
- Pour the batter into the prepped baking sheet making sure to evenly spread it across the entire sheet pan.
- Bake cake in the oven for 20-22 minutes or until cake is cooked all the way through.
- While the cake is baking, make the icing according to the instructions below.
- Top the cake with icing within five minutes of removing the cake from the oven.
- Top with chopped walnuts if desired.1 cup chopped walnuts
- Allow cake to cool completely then cut into squares and serve.
Icing
- In a medium, heat-safe bowl, measure out powdered sugar and set aside for later.
- Heat a pot over medium-high heat on the stove. Melt butter in pot.1/2 cup butter
- Add cocoa and milk to melted butter and bring to a boil.1 TBS cocoa, 6 TBS milk
- Put your powdered sugar into a small bowl then pour the boiled mixture over the powdered sugar and stir to combine to make your icing.2 cups powdered sugar
Notes
Add the walnuts immediately after adding the icing rather than waiting until it hardens. This will keep the nuts from falling off when you slice the cake.
Use a spatula to make sure that the chocolate brownie cake batter spreads around the entire sheet pan in one even layer.
Leave the chocolate brownie cake in the pan rather than slicing it all and removing for storage. I recommend just covering it with something like this sheet pan lid.
Remove the chocolate mixtures from heat as soon as they start boiling, don’t let them keep boiling or you’ll lose some of the moisture in the cake and icing.
Use a small rectangle spatula to remove the cake squares from the pan without destroying the rest of the squares.
Nutrition
Serving: 1square | Calories: 325kcal | Carbohydrates: 43g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Cholesterol: 48mg | Sodium: 230mg | Potassium: 73mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 32g | Vitamin A: 395IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 26mg | Iron: 1mg