Almond milk chocolate sheet cake

I love chocolate sheet cake! It was one of my favorite desserts as a kid. There's just something about all that chocolate and the unique flavor (maybe it's the vinegar and baking soda) that sets it apart from other cakes. When planning the menu for Sunday's tea party/Pride & Prejudice marathon, I found a recipe for a chocolate sheet cake that uses almond milk. Since milk from a cow sometimes makes me sick and my aunt is lactose intolerant, I thought it was perfect.

I added more cocoa than the recipe called for simply because I got a little carried away. The cinnamon flavor got lost, but I think that's because I did go overboard with the cocoa. This cake smells amazing when you are making it - you boil the butter, milk, and cocoa so it smells like hot chocolate and then you pour that over the sugar/flour/cinnamon mixture and it makes you want to grab a spoon and just dig in (I don't recommend it, though). The cake was a huge hit at the tea party. I brought what was left to work today and it disappeared before I could run out to the car to grab a box of plastic forks! If you see about fifteen guys with chocolate around their mouths, they work for me!

All the food at the tea part went over very well (which makes me happy because I spent all day Saturday baking). I will post pictures and recipes throughout the week.

-- Note, because I wanted to cut the cake in small pieces, I put it in the fridge for a couple of hours once it was done. It will cool very nicely on it's own, but if you want the glaze to harden faster you should chill it. --

Taken from the Silk Pure Almond website, here is the recipe for the chocolate sheet cake.

Ingredients:
Cake
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup butter or margarine
4 tablespoons cocoa
1 1/2 cups Silk Pure Almond Vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vinegar
2 eggs, beaten
Frosting
1/2 cup margarine or butter
4 tablespoons cocoa
6 tablespoons Silk Pure Almond Vanilla
3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup toasted, chopped pecans or walnuts, if desired

Instructions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray or grease a 9x13-inch baking pan. Whisk together flour, sugar and cinnamon in a large bowl; set aside.

In a medium saucepan, melt butter or margarine. Add cocoa and Pure Almond and bring to a rapid boil. Remove from heat and pour over dry ingredients, mixing well. Stir in soda, vinegar and eggs. Mix well and pour into prepared pan. Bake in top rack of oven for 20-25 minutes. While cake is still warm, prick thoroughly with a fork and pour frosting over cake.
I sprinkled mini chocolate chips over the top of the cake before I poured the frosting. They partially melted and added another layer of chocolate yumminess.

To make the frosting:
Melt butter or margarine in a medium saucepan. Add cocoa and Pure Almond and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and add powdered sugar, vanilla and nuts. Keep warm.