I made a healthy shepherd’s pie without starchy potatoes using leftover pulled pork. I wanted to share this easy recipe with others so they might enjoy it as much as my husband and I did!
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 25 mins |
| Additional Time: | 1 hr |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 55 mins |
| Servings: | 24 |
| Yield: | 1 sheet cake |
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup dark cocoa powder (such as Hershey’s® Special Dark)
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
- ½ cup white sugar
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup strong brewed coffee, at room temperature
- 1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- ¾ cup dark cocoa powder (such as Hershey’s® Special Dark), sifted
- 1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 cups powdered sugar, or to taste
- 7 tablespoons heavy whipping cream, or as needed
Instructions
- Gather all ingredients.
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- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 10×15-inch rimmed baking sheet and line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper.
- Whisk flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt together in a bowl until thoroughly combined. Set aside.
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- Beat brown sugar, white sugar, and butter together in a large bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
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- Mix in vanilla extract.
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- Add in 1/3 of the flour mixture, and mix until just combined.
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- Add in 1/2 of the coffee and buttermilk, and mix until just combined.
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- Continue alternating additions of the flour mixture with coffee and buttermilk, mixing just until combined.
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- Pour batter into the prepared pan; smooth into an even layer. Tap pan firmly on the counter several times to remove air bubbles.
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- Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out with a few moist crumbs, about 25 minutes. Do not overbake. Place cake on a wire rack and allow to cool completely.
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- Meanwhile, make the frosting. Beat butter in a large bowl until completely smooth.
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- Mix in cocoa powder, espresso powder, and salt until throughly combined. Mix in vanilla.
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- Add in powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, mixing well after each addition.
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- Pour in heavy cream and beat until frosting is light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. If frosting is too thick, add more heavy cream.
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- Spread frosting over the cooled cake.
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Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 286 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 39 g |
| Cholesterol | 52 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Protein | 3 g |
| Saturated Fat | 9 g |
| Sodium | 190 mg |
| Sugars | 29 g |
| Fat | 15 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I made this for the 4th of July and everybody LOVED it. I was skeptical about adding coffee to the cake because I don’t like coffee but couldn’t taste it at all – just delicious, rich dark chocolate! I did not add espresso to the frosting. Definitely a keeper and will make again and again. Thank you so much for this recipe!!
This cake is delicious! If I could give it 10 stars, I would. I made it for a special event and everyone enjoyed it. Luckily there was some left bc several wanted to take some home.
Loved this recipe! I didn’t use the frosting, or the baking sheet. I put it in a 10 inch round (350F for 40-45min) and made the cake recipe to a “T.” I doubled this to make a layered chocolate cake with a cheesecake for the center layer. Then used a cream cheese whipped cream for the frosting. I honestly was kind of winging it but the results were so very yummy!
I’ve been making my Texas chosheet cake with Hershey’s dark cocoa powder for years.
This cake was very rich. Everyone liked it. The only things I would do differently is add the full amount of powdered sugar to the icing and use the correct size pan. I only used 3 cups per reviews it was too sweet. I felt it left it a bit bitter. I also used a 9 x 13” baker & the cake was very high in the center and took longer to cook, so the sides were a bit over cooked. I will make this again.
Easy, and good. Thank you for the recipe and thank you for putting the size of the rimmed sheet pan needed. I have several size rimmed sheet pans and many recipes on here do not say the measurements
This was super delicious, especially the frosting. I’ll definitely make it again.
It was FABULOUS!!! My husband wasn’t sure if he’d like it because it was soooo dark, but it was EXACTLY what I wanted for a super dark, midnight chocolate cake. It is definitely going in my favorites.
LOVE it!!! I used espresso coffee in the cake batter as the strong coffee called for. Huge hit!
This was outstanding! We had a couple of friends over for an outdoor, socially distanced, pizza making gathering. Since we haven’t been able to do that much, I figured it was a special occasion and I should bake a cake. This was a HUGE hit. I didn’t think the frosting was too sweet at all. I did bake the cake in a 10 x 14 brownie style pan so it needed to bake for an extra 10 to 15 minutes (just until it wasn’t giggling in the center) and it was superb. My husband thought we should have it for breakfast too lol
Was great, moist and flavorful. Used regular cacao, not a specialty cacao. Used a 10×10 in pan, 25 min at 350 F. Really good. Kids loved it.
I didn’t have baking soda and used baking powder as a substitute. The cake turned out beautiful!
Love this cake. It’s moist, delicious, so chocolatey. Easy to make too. The frosting compliments it well, and is perfect. It’s creamy, chocolaty, and makes the right amount to cover the cake without overwhelming it. Everyone loved it. Reading another review: I cannot believe that someone would find this frosting “sickeningly sweet.” Like, have you had frosting before? It’s supposed to be sweet. And this one is most definitely not “sickening.” It has less powdered sugar than most other frosting recipes out there, and has a predominate chocolate flavor. You must simply not like frosting. Anyway, I made this as written, and would not change a thing. It’s a great dark chocolate cake.
I made this exactly as described. The cake was delicious but the frosting is sickeningly sweet. I’ll likely make the cake again but find a less sweet frosting recipe.