Peanut Butter Texas Sheet Cake

Ah! Mother's Day Weekend. The children have been busy at school making Mother's Day gifts. I've received a beautiful potted flower and handprint card along with some writing samples of why I'm loved and special. Apparently, it has a lot to do with me buying them things and making them laugh by sticking candy corn on my teeth. You just never know what's going to make an impression on a child.

Now, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches made an impression on me when I was a child. In fact, I still love a good old PB&J or two, or maybe even three if the bread is fresh and I'm calling it a meal. My younger son was right there with me for quite a while with his love of the PB&J. I could make a hearty snack with the crusts that I removed from his sandwiches. But, times change and now neither of my sons share my love for the classic. Sadly, for some reason, they only want jelly sandwiches so I'm left with way too much peanut butter on my hands. I thought this cake would be the perfect way to use it up. This recipe is from Gooseberry Patch's Church Suppers, Copyright 2008.


Peanut Butter Texas Sheet Cake

2 c. all-purpose flour
2 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 c. butter
1 c. water
1/4 c. creamy peanut butter
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 c. buttermilk

Sift together flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl; set aside. Combine butter, water and peanut butter in a saucepan over medium heat; bring to a boil. Add to flour mixture and mix well; set aside. Combine eggs, vanilla and buttermilk; add to peanut butter mixture. Spread into a greased 15"x10" jelly-roll pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes, until it springs back when gently touched. Spread Peanut Butter Icing over warm cake. Makes 15 to 20 servings.

Peanut Butter Icing:
1/2 c. butter
1/4 c. creamy peanut butter
1/3 c. plus 1 tbsp. milk
16-oz. pkg. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Combine butter, peanut butter and milk in a saucepan over medium heat; bring to a boil. Remove from heat; stir in powdered sugar and vanilla to a spreading consistency.

I'm not much on sifting dry ingredients. I just blend them all together with a whisk.

Melting the butter, water, and peanut butter together in a small saucepan. After the mixture has come to a boil, pour into the dry ingredients.

I put the two eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla flavoring together in a measuring cup and beat them with a fork. I wanted the eggs to be fulling incorporated into the milk since I wasn't using a mixer for the cake batter.

I used my whisk to blend all of the ingredients together. This will be a very loose batter.

Pour the batter into a prepared 15"x10" pan. Bake for about 20 minutes or so in a 350 degree oven. Just start checking for doneness at the 15 minute mark. While the cake is baking, prepare the frosting.

Melt the peanut butter, butter, and milk together. Pour over powdered sugar and add the vanilla flavoring. You will need your mixer for this step.

I went with a medium consistency like this.

The beauty of this cake is its spongy texture. As soon as I removed it from the oven, the sides started pulling away from the pan. These Texas sheet cakes always make for cleanly cut cake squares. Frost while the cake is still warm so that the icing melts into the cake. They become one!

The sliced peanut butter cups were just a little bonus. I want folks to know there's peanut butter in the cake.

This cake is very moist and creamy with peanut butter. The chocolate is just a little gift for myself! Happy Mother's Day!

Enjoy!!

If you have a dessert that you would like to share here on A Well-Seasoned Life, come join the linky party at Sweet Indulgences Sunday! I can't wait to see what you've made!

Linked to Little Rays of Sunshine's So Sweet Sundays, la bella vita's Seasonal Saturday, Lark's Country Heart's Made it on Monday, Sweet as Sugar Cookies' Sweets for a Saturday, Alli-N-Son's Sweet Tooth Friday