After 22 years of marriage, Ree Drummond knows the way to husband Ladd Drummond’s heart on Father’s Day. Not surprisingly, there is plenty of delicious food involved, and The Pioneer Woman knows exactly what she’ll be whipping up to mark the occasion on Sunday, June 16.
“For Father’s Day it’s always a home-cooked dinner. Ladd never requests things but he doesn’t have to because I know what he wants,” Drummond, 50, told Us Weekly at a recent dinner she hosted to celebrate the launch of the all-new Pioneer Woman Dog Treats line with Purina.
Her hubby’s holiday meal of choice? “Steak, an iceberg wedge salad, some kind of really delicious biscuit or warm bread … and then some kind of hot or warm chocolate cake.”
As it turns out, that spread has pretty much been Ladd’s Father’s Day meal of choice since he became a dad 21 years ago with the birth of eldest daughter Alex. The Drummonds are also parents of daughter Paige, 19, and sons Bryce, 16, and Todd, 15.
“Ladd’s very much meat and potatoes and that’s where he lives,” Drummond explained, noting her husband is also a fan of Italian American dishes such as chicken Parmesan. However, for Father’s Day, the Black Heels to Tractor Wheels author likes to kick things up a notch. “The steak, warm bread, biscuits, chocolate cake … It’s my way of saying we’re still good. I still get you. I still feel you,” she said.
The linchpin of the meal, according to Drummond, is the chocolate sheet cake. “You pull out of the oven and pour the hot icing on it and it just kind of oozes,” she explained. “[I] serve it with vanilla ice cream and [Ladd] is putty in my hands!”
Check out Ladd’s favorite Father’s Day cake recipe below.
The Best Chocolate Sheet Cake
Makes 24 servings
INGREDIENTS:
For the cake:
• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 sticks butter
• 4 heaping tbsps cocoa
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 2 whole beaten eggs
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp vanilla
For the frosting:
• 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
• 1-3/4 stick butter
• 4 heaping tbsps cocoa
• 6 tbsps milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 pound (minus 1/2 cup) powdered sugar
INSTRUCTIONS:
- In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar and salt.
- In a saucepan, melt butter. Add cocoa. Stir together.
- Add boiling water, allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds then turn off the heat. Pour over flour mixture and stir lightly to cool.
- In a measuring cup, pour the buttermilk and add beaten eggs, baking soda and vanilla.
- Stir buttermilk mixture into butter/chocolate mixture. Pour into 18×13 sheet cake pan and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.
- While cake is baking, make the icing. Chop pecans finely.
- Melt butter in a saucepan. Add cocoa, stir to combine and then turn off the heat.
- Add the milk, vanilla and powdered sugar. Stir together.
- Add the pecans, stir together and pour over warm cake.
- Cut into squares and serve warm.
With reporting by Brody Brown
