Magic of the Fifth Kind

If I lived alone I would exist on scrambled eggs, sandwiches, canned soup, and oatmeal. Without a family to cook for, I would forget to eat.  My weight would drop to one hundred thirteen pounds and my doctor would say, "You're too thin. Gain some weight." (This actually happened to my godmother last year. With her children all grown and my uncle dead, she found herself in a completely empty house for the first time with no reason to cook beyond feeding herself. So she didn't.)

I never dreamed that I would spend my days measuring, chopping, and stirring. When I was a young woman I thought, "I'm going to be a singer...a writer...or a naturalist (not to be confused with naturist!). But, then I fell in love and discovered that food, ordinary and common, was powerful magic:  it gathers, it comforts, it nourishes, and sometimes it elicits moans of happiness.I don't bake and cook all day long because I love preparing food; I do it because I love my people.

(For the record: I don't regret the loss of my youthful dreams--the reality of my life has proved better, richer, and more permanent than they. Besides, what are dreams but:

the children of an idle brain,

Begot of nothing but vain fantasy,

Which is as thin of substance as the air

And more inconstant than the wind, who woos

Even now the frozen bosom of the north,

And, being angered, puffs away from thence,

Turning his face to the dew-dropping south.  (Mercutio, Act 1, Scene IV of Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare) 

But, I digress. I am here today to share some fifth food group magic. Yes, I am talking about cake. Yesterday I made the Pioneer Woman's, Best Chocolate Sheet Cake Ever, and you know what? She wasn't kidding. It is the best. Ever.

Oh, the cheers, the smiles, the sighs and moans...and the very empty cake pan.

This recipe makes a thin layer cake (brownie thin, but 100% rich, decadent, chocolate cake--if it was any thicker you might die from chocolate cake happiness; better to leave you wanting for more). The Pioneer Woman bakes hers in a 13 x 18 inch sheet pan. I halved the recipe and baked it in a standard 13 x 9 inch pan.