Scarbrough Mark - All-time favorite sheet cakes & slab pies: easy to make, easy to serve

Even after twenty-nine books, we cant do it on our own! This ones thanks to

Susan Ginsburg and Stacy Testa at Writers House;

BJ Berti, Gwen Hawkes, Kristopher Kam, Lisa Davis, Karen Lumley, Erica Martirano, Michelle McMillian, and Young Lim at St. Martins;

David Venable at QVC for his ongoing support;

Lisa Ton at Dole Packed Foods, LLC, for a generous supply of frozen fruit;

Gretchen Holt and her team at OXO for a stack of 18 13-inch sheet pans;

Jenna Llewellyn at Digitas and her always supportive client, KitchenAid, for a new mixer to make all these cakes;

Danielle Dexter at 5WPR and her client Krups for a crazy-good espresso machine;

Grainne Sweetman at Ketchum for boxes and boxes of chocolate from Nestl;

Tom Payne and Katie Walker at King Arthur Flour for boxes and boxes of flour;

Kathy Blackshaw at Pine Hill Farms for donating more than two hundred eggs;

the members of the literary seminar at the Scoville library in Salisbury, Connecticut, as well as those of the book group at the Norfolk library in Norfolk, Connecticutthey ate enough cake and pie to make up for all the James and Bront they had to read.

Bruce Weinstein is the chef and co-creator of All-Time Favorite Sheet Cakes & Slab Pies with Mark Scarbrough. A life-long New Yorker, he wanted to leave the cityso he now lives in rural New England. Dont ask. He can rip through Chopin Nocturnes, knits whenever hes not cooking, and is quick to ask Whos up for a cocktail? He went to Fame for high school, took off for chef school, and put in his time at Manhattan advertising firms. He loves Modigliani, is indifferent to Picasso, and has been forced to sit through more post-modern, avant-garde music than anyone should. His patience is boundlessexcept when it comes to bridge. You can sign up for author updates here.

Mark Scarbrough is the writer and co-creator of All Times Favorite Sheet Cakes & Slab Pies with Bruce Weinstein. A former academic, hes sometimes snarky because hes ridiculously innocent in the marrow. He reads Dante for fun and hangs out in art museums on sunny afternoons. Hes a bemused Texan in snow drifts, a dumbfounded progressive, and a self-confessed culinary snob. He still teaches literature on the side and leads raucous book groups at Connecticut libraries. You can sign up for author updates here.

Never make our basic chocolate sheet cake when youre home alone! Its irresistible: topped with salty pretzels, laced with caramel sauce, set over a superrich buttercream made with caramel sauce, with a light, almost delicate chocolate cake underneath. Its as if a fine, fancy layer cake batter morphed into a big ol sheet cake that will stand up to the incredible caramel/chocolate/pretzel fandango on top.

For the cake

19 tablespoons (2 sticks plus 3 tablespoons) cool unsalted butter, cut into small chunks, plus additional for the sheet pan

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, plus additional for the sheet pan

6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup warm water (about 100F)

1 teaspoons baking soda

teaspoon salt

1 cup plus 3 tablespoons granulated white sugar

1 cup plus 3 tablespoons packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs plus 1 large egg white, at room temperature

cup full-fat sour cream

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Position the rack in the center of the oven. Heat the oven to 350F. Generously butter and lightly flour the inside of a 13 18-inch lipped sheet pan.

Whisk the cocoa powder into the water in a small bowl until smooth. Set aside to cool for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl until uniform.

Using a handheld electric mixer or a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and both sugars in a large bowl at medium speed until light, velvety, and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then beat in the egg white. Scrape down the inside of the bowl, then beat in the sour cream and vanilla until smooth and uniform.

With the mixer at low speed, beat in half the flour mixture. Pour in half the cocoa mixture and beat until smooth. Now beat in the remaining flour mixture, followed by the rest of the cocoa mixture. Make sure there are no dry specks of flour down at the bottom of the bowl, then use an offset spatula to spread the thick batter evenly into the prepared pan.

Bake until set and a toothpick or cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, 18 to 20 minutes. Cool in the pan on a wire rack to room temperature, about 2 hours.

For the buttercream

19 tablespoons (2 sticks plus 3 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

1 cups jarred caramel sauce

cup full-fat sour cream

1 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 to 3 cups confectioners sugar

3 cups crushed salty pretzels, preferably pretzel nuggets, for topping

Using a handheld electric mixer or a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, beat the butter and cup of the caramel sauce in a clean, dry large bowl until smooth, about 2 minutes. Then beat in the sour cream and vanilla.

With the mixer at low speed, beat in 1 cup of the confectioners sugar until smooth. Beat in 1 additional cup until smooth. Continue beating, adding more confectioners sugar in -cup increments, until the frosting is smooth and spreadable but thick enough to hold its shape on the side of a spatula. Using an offset spatula, spread and smooth the frosting over the cooled cake. Set aside at room temperature to firm up, about 20 minutes.

To serve, sprinkle the top of the cake with the crushed pretzels, then drizzle with the remaining cup caramel sauce.

TESTER NOTES

Choose a jarred caramel sauce without a lot of chemical flavor enhancements. Better yet, look for a jarred butterscotch caramel sauce, like an ice cream topping.

Here, we get a dense, firm texture by adding melted butter to the batter, rather than creaming cold butter with the sugar at the start. We beat less air into the batter and end up with a cake that can stand up to this chocolate whipped cream, actually a cooked confection, sort of like a fluffy, marshmallowy meringue.

For the cake