And you obviously know what this means. It’s cake time!!

Actually, it’s cake time, times like three. That is how many times I made this cake in less than seventy-two hours. Ah huh, that is three giant sheet cakes over the course of just two days. No I am not feeding a wedding and yes, if you live in Colorado you should probably stop by for cake. Plus cold milk, muffins, croissants and homemade hot chocolate because I currently have massive amounts of all these things. Let’s just say it’s been a busy and interesting week, full of stress, excitement and lots of good stuff coming from my oven. The muffins smell amazing, the croissants are just perfection, the hot chocolate is just so cozy, but this cake?? Oh this cake, it’s basically all kinds of wonderful. Yes, I do know how cheesy that sounds, but it’s true, it’s a cake that dreams are made of – it is, it is.

So while the muffins, croissants and hot chocolate all had other purposes, the cake had only one purpose – birthday celebrations!! Well, birthday celebrations on the blog at least. See, my cake making is not even close to being over yet. Tomorrow, this simple chocolate birthday cake will be made because no Gerard family birthday is complete without THAT traditional cake. Then a week from tomorrow yet another cake will be made for Asher’s birthday party, which was pushed back a week because her best friend will be camping this weekend. She simply could not have a birthday party without her best friend. So basically in true Gerard fashion, little Asher’s birthday is being spread out over the week. Princess?? Oh my gosh, totally. But I guess that is what you get being the youngest…. and the cutest little person ever. Can you tell I love this girl to death? Because I do.

Oh, and I just have to tell you what I got her. If you do not want to hear about this skip on to after the next picture, but if you want to hear all about the pretty Elsa dress I got her then read on. So this dress, oh my gosh. It was way too much money to spend on a six-year old’s birthday present, but I could not resist. Like every little girl her age, she is mildly obsessed with the Disney movie Frozen and anything to do with Queen Elsa. Really, I cannot blame her. I love that movie and think it is the cutest movie ever, and I usually hate animated movies. I found this dress on eBay and you guys, it is so cute. She is gonna freak. So excited to give it to her.

Ok so anyway, this Chocolate Meringue Texas Sheet Cake. I made it three times. It’s not hard or even time consuming in the least, I am just a perfectionist and it took me three tries to get it completely perfect and even then I was not one hundred percent happy. I mean, all three cakes tasted amazing. It’s not the taste I was trying to perfect, it was more the look. I wanted the cake to look just as good as it tastes. I still do not feel like I completely achieved what I was going for, but all that really matters is the taste. You guys if you like moist and gooey chocolate cake than this is for you. It’s actually so gooey it’s intense… but in a very good way!

The base of the cake is a simple Texas Sheet Cake. This was actually my first Texas Sheet Cake, but not my last for sure. They are so easy and so good. Once you have the cake baked, you simply drizzle on the magic layer. Meaning the gooey chocolate. I call it the magic layer because I think anything containing sweetened condensed milk is magic. That stuff works wonders on anything and everything. After the magic layer comes the chocolate meringue. This is an easy meringue because you do not have to worry about cooking it properly. This meringue stays soft and gooey and trust me, it is such a good thing. It’s even better eaten slightly warm. Oh my gosh, yes. Slightly warm with a heavy dusting of powdered sugar and a cold glass of milk. And for me, minus the raspberries you see on top there. Remember I do not mix my chocolate and my berries. Only for pictures, not for eating.

My only little note about this recipe is that you have to use a baking dish with high sides and not an actual sheet pan. A lasagna baker would work great, or something a little bigger than a 9×13 inch baking dish. I used a 10×15 inch Pyrex pan and it was the perfect fit.  I do not recommend using a jelly roll pan as I tried that on trial number two. Basically my gooey magic layer went all over the oven, which clearly made me really sad. I mean, I had to clean the oven… and I lost my precious magic layer. Bummer. So please, use something with high sides!!

Other than that this cake is pretty simple and straight forward. Bonus, it’s larger size makes it perfect for Labor Day too!

But really, who can resist that. So fudgy.

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