This melt in your mouth Texas sheet cake has been a family favorite dessert for years and years. It's easy to make and serves a crowd. Spread the homemade frosting over the warm cake, and sprinkle with pecans or walnuts. Perfection! This post contains affiliate links.
If you'd like an amazing twist on this classic recipe try our Buckeye chocolate peanut butter sheet cake or our rocky road Texas Sheet Cake. I'm dying to try out this lemon version, too!
Watch our step by step video!
My go-to recipe is Texas sheet cake. This cake is SO easy to make, uses basic ingredients, and absolutely melts in your mouth. I make this when company comes over because it comes together so quickly! Sheet cake is also perfect for birthday parties---delicious and feeds a crowd! Traditional Texas sheet cake is made with pecans, but we’re walnut fans over here. Especially Ruby. They are her favorite nut to snack on so I usually have a bag on hand.
What is Texas Sheet Cake?
Some say the recipe originated in a newspaper in Texas, others say it's because it's the size of Texas. Regardless, the chocolate cake we all know and love as Texas Sheet Cake is a large sheet cake pan cake that is soft and smothered in chocolate frosting as soon as it comes out of the oven. This creates an amazingly rich and smooth texture.
The ingredients are basic:
Cake: Flour, sugar, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda. You’ll also need butter (you can use unsalted butter, but I always bake with salted butter), vinegar, eggs, milk, water and vanilla. You probably have most of these ingredients on hand.
Frosting: Butter, powdered sugar, cocoa powder, milk, vanilla, and chopped nuts.
If you're wondering about the whisk used in my video, it's a Danish dough whisk and I use it for so many recipes! I rarely pull out my kitchen mixer for bread or batters.
Texas sheet cake is made in a sheet pan that has been sprayed with non stick cooking spray. You can use a 9×13 pan, but would need to adjust the baking time to 35-40 minutes. If made in a 12″ x 17″ sheet pan, this cake will bake up in 25 minutes (preferred method). Use the toothpick method to test the cake for doneness.
As soon as the cake comes out of the oven chocolate frosting is spread across, and nuts are sprinkled over the cake. The frosting melts and gives the cake a smooth finish.
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One cake will easily serve 15 people. It's rich, but not as rich as our peanut butter version, so I cut the slices a little more generously.
Melt In Your Mouth Texas Sheet Cake Recipe
Melt In Your Mouth Texas Sheet Cake
Ingredients
Cake
- 2 cup all purpose flour
- 2 cup white sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup butter
- 1 cup water
- ⅓ cup cocoa powder (baking cocoa)
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup milk
- 1 Tablespoon vinegar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Chocolate Frosting
- ½ cup butter softened
- 3 ¾ cup powdered sugar sifted
- ⅓ cup baking cocoa
- ⅓ cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Toppings
- 1 cup pecans or walnuts chopped
Instructions
Cake Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Mix flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.
- Heat butter, water, and cocoa powder in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir as butter melts. Bring to a boil then remove from heat.
- Slowly pour the butter/chocolate mixture over the dry ingredients. Stir.
- Mix eggs, milk, vinegar, baking soda and vanilla together in a small bowl. Add to the large bowl and mix until combined.
- Pour batter into a greased 12" x 17" baking half-sheet pan (jelly roll pan).
- Bake for 25 minutes.
Frosting Instructions
- Cream butter in a mixing bowl. Add baking cocoa, powdered sugar, vanilla and milk. Beat on high until fluffy.
- Spread over hot cake. Chop pecans and sprinkle over finish cake.
Donna says
Only change I make is to put the nuts on the cake before the hot frosting so they too get covered in chocolate
Brandy says
Great idea!
Mame says
In the frosting recipe, it says peanut butter frosting but it contains no peanut butter. Please advise.
Brandy says
Hi Mame! Thanks for catching that! The cake recipe is the same as my chocolate peanut butter version. Went I copied and pasted the recipe over (and swapped the peanut butter frosting for chocolate), I forgot to update that part! It's fixed now. It's a chocolate sheet cake with chocolate frosting.