Texas Sheet Cake
20 standard portions
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Dietary & allergen details
Based on listed recipe ingredients. No certification is implied.
- Celery: not fully checked
- Gluten-containing cereals: not fully checked
- Wheat: not fully checked
- Crustaceans: not fully checked
- Eggs: not fully checked
- Fish: not fully checked
- Lupin: not fully checked
- Milk: not fully checked
- Molluscs: not fully checked
- Mustard: not fully checked
- Tree nuts: not fully checked
- Peanuts: not fully checked
- Sesame: not fully checked
- Soya: not fully checked
- Sulphites: not fully checked
Check the actual product labels and preparation. Substitutions can change this information.
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 stick unsalted butter
- ⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 cup water
- 2 large eggs (at room temperature)
- ½ cup sour cream
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 stick unsalted butter
- ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- ½ cup milk (2% or semi skimmed)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 4 cups sifted confectioner’s sugar (powdered sugar)
- 1 cup finely chopped and toasted pecans, walnuts, or hazelnuts (optional)
Method
- Preheat your oven to 350°F (180°C), or 160°C for a fan oven. Grease a 18×13-inch (46x33 cm) rimmed sheet pan or a jelly roll pan that's 15x10.5x1 inch (38x26.5x2.5 cm) with softened butter, or use a non-stick baking spray (if using spray, only spray right before adding the batter).
- In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.
- In a saucepan, combine the butter, cocoa powder, and water. Heat over medium heat until the butter has melted and the mixture is smooth. Bring to a boil, whisk then remove from heat.
- Pour the hot butter mixture into the dry ingredients and mix well using an electric hand mixer.
- Add the eggs and sour cream to the mixture, and mix on low speed using an electric mixer until combined. The batter will be thin and easy to pour.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Make sure that it’s spread evenly and reached all corners.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
- While the cake is baking, prepare the frosting: In a saucepan, combine the butter, cocoa powder, and milk over medium heat until the butter has melted and the mixture is smooth. The butter will look separated and weird, but that’s ok because the sugar will bind everything together.
- Remove from heat, stir in the vanilla, and gradually stir in the sifted powdered sugar, use a whisk or beat with an electric hand mixer if necessary to ensure smoothness.
- Fold in the chopped nuts (if using) with a spatula, then quickly spread the warm frosting over the warm cake using an offset spatula.
- Allow the cake to cool completely in the pan on a wire rack. The frosting will harden slightly. Cut the cake into squares and serve.