Default Dessert

Despite being someone who has spent most of her adult life putting food on the table, I am not a particularly good cook. Oh, I can follow a recipe, and most of what gets to the table is edible, but it's not particularly inspiring.

The exception to this is my chocolate sheetcake. Chocolate sheetcake is my go-to contribution for any occasion. Potluck? Check. Birthday at the office? Check. Ladies club hostess? Check.

This dependable delicacy fits my requirements for speed (45 minutes from turning on the oven to ready to transport), simplicity (it's the one food I can make without referring to a recipe card) and, well, chocolate. Fortunately, Husband and Boys are brainwashed into thinking this concoction, which was a staple in every cook's repertoire during the 1970s, is haute cuisine.

And the fact that this is such an old recipe is starting to work in my favor. This week I took a sheetcake to the office for a staff birthday. One of the whippersnappers was duly impressed.

"Wow, this is almost as good as my grandma used to make," he said.

Thanks, I think?