This White Texas Sheet Cake is incredibly moist and has the richest Chocolate Frosting that you will love!
My White Texas Sheet Cake recipe is a perfect dessert for weekend dinners, potlucks, and cookouts!
This White Texas Sheet Cake is one of my most popular recipes on my blog. If I had to guess why, it is because this cake is simple, moist, and the photos make you want to try this cake recipe immediately, right? I can’t tell you how many times I have made this cake. My guess is almost close to 10 and that is a lot for me. I happen to think this White Texas Sheet Cake is the perfect cake for novice bakers. If you have never made a cake before, unless it came from a box (there is nothing wrong with that by the way), this cake is perfect for you! It is a bit unorthodox the way it is made. What I mean is the cake starts off on the stove and then transfers to the oven. Typically, cakes start off in a regular mixing bowl and it is taken from there. To be honest, I think warming the ingredients makes for a moist cake. In fact, I made a cake not too long ago where I warmed the milk and the cake came out incredibly moist and soft.
Although this cake seems easy and simple enough to make, and it is, I have never made a cake using the techniques that are used for making this cake such as melting the butter and the milk and adding it to the dry ingredients and pouring the frosting over a hot cake. I think these techniques are what makes the “Texas Sheet Cake” what it is. Before, I use to look at this cake as a regular cake just made in a rectangular pan, but after tasting it my mind will forever be changed.
I think this White Texas Sheet Cake is great for picnics or just to have friends over. I must warn you, the frosting is very rich and sweet, but it is very, very good.
NOTE: There have been some complaints about this cake not coming out well for some people. I am putting this out there because I want to be transparent with my blog followers and visitors. I have tested this recipe exactly 3 times before posting without any changes or alterations and it came out in the same consistency as you see in this picture. I have listed the links below as to where I have adapted these recipes and followed them down to the letter. I have even received good ratings from Tasty Kitchen from people that have made this cake and it turned out well for them:
This cake recipe was adapted from “Taste of Home”
This icing recipe was adapted from “Paula Deen Texas Sheet Cake Chocolate Frosting”
- FOR THE CAKE:
- 1 cup butter (2 sticks), cubed
- 1 cup water
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 eggs, beaten
- ½ cup sour cream
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon almond extract (you can use vanilla extract if you prefer)
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- FOR THE FROSTING:
- 1 cup Sugar
- ½ cups unsweetened Cocoa powder, Sifted
- ½ cups Milk
- 4 Tablespoons Butter, cut into cubes
- 2 Tablespoons Light Corn Syrup
- 4 cups Powdered Sugar, Sifted
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
- Preheat oven to 375 Degrees
- In a large saucepan, bring butter and water just to a boil.Once the butter has melted remove from heat. Next, add the flour, sour cream, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda, vanilla (almond) extract and eggs and mix to combine. smooth.
- Pour into a greased 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan. Bake at 375° for 18-22 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 20 minutes. The cake will still be somewhat warm.
- NOTE: I used a 9.5X13 inch rectangle glass dish and baked my cake for about 30 minutes or until toothpick is inserted and comes out clean. But if you have a traditional jelly roll pan, use the 15X10 pan that the original recipe recommends. If you use the recommended jelly roll pan, your cake will come out a bit thin. I didn't want a thin cake. But its up to you.
- For the frosting: In a large saucepan, whisk together the sugar and cocoa. Whisk in the milk. Then stir in the butter and corn syrup. Place the pan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil, whisking constantly. When the butter has melted and the sauce is slightly smooth, take the pan off the heat, stir in the confectioners’ sugar and vanilla.
- Pour the frosting on top of the slightly cooled cake (cool for 5 minutes). It may be a lot of frosting if you are using a 9X13 square rectangle pan( just a precaution). Allow the cake to cool with the frosting to completely set before serving.
Can you substitute the sour cream for anything? I only ask As my regular Texas sheet cake calls for buttermilk and another one the sour cream….both recipes match up outside of this ingredient.
It looks delicious!
You can use plain yogurt.
This is an amazing cake! I can’t have dairy so I sub for vegan stick butter and used plain unsweetened coconut yogurt. I’m from the Midwest and don’t care what you bake the cake in, just as long as it ends up in my belly!!
Thank you!
This is an absolutely delicious cake and I don’t even like cake. I made this for my husband’s birthday and we both devoured the cake. Can’t wait for the next celebration because this will be my go-to cake recipe.
Awesome! This makes me happy!
Hi, will this recipe work if I halve it
Thanks
It should.
I made this cake Easter Sunday 4/12, and it was fantastic! My husband kept saying over how good it was! PS I added an extra egg for more fluffiness.
Oh wow! I’m so glad!
I made this yesterday. My 9 x 13 layer came out perfectly. Good height, good color. That changed when I poured the frosting over it. Maybe I put it on too soon? The recipe said both 20 minutes and five minutes to add the frosting. I went with 5 since it was in the frosting section. IDK. All the qualifiers in the midst of the instructions were a little confusing in the midst of putting this all together. The taste is wonderful, but the texture is like a heavy bread pudding. 🥺
Thank you for your input Teresa!
Looks absolutely delicious! Is the butter salter or unsalted? Also, do you know if the cooking time would be the same for 2 round cake pans rather than the 9.5 x 13? Thank you.
Hello Cathy! I use unsalted in all baking goods to control the salt. But if you only have salted you can use that if you want just don’t add any additional teaspoons of salt to the recipe. If you’re using two round pans, the bake time would be less because there’s less volume to bake through. I would check the cakes around 15 minutes as it should be pretty close to finished at that point.
I made this cake yesterday for my sister in laws birthday. It was a huge hit. The cake was delicious! I loved the taste and texture! I am not a huge icing fan so it was a little sweet for my but everyone else over it! I will definitely make this cake again. Thank you for sharing the recipe!!
Oh my goodness! I’m so glad dear!
Do you have to use corn syrup?
You might be able to get away without it but frosting might not thicken the way its supposed to.
CAn leave out the corn syrup ? And have it still work out well I know the chocolate sheet cake is similar without the corn syrup
I would say you can try it but it may not be as thick as it should be.
What do you think about. Using egg whites to make a white cake? Would it change the texture?
I don’t know how that would work in this cake recipe because you’re making it over heat which will deflate the egg whites some. Otherwise, using egg whites in a cake recipe typically makes the cake fluffier but can leave a sponge sort of texture too.
I just made this for a picnic and it turned out absolutely perfect! I followed the directions exactly. Used a 9×13 pan, cooking for 25 minutes. I did cool the cake for 20 minutes before frosting and had no issues with spreading too much. Now to finish licking the frosting bowl 😍
That’s awesome Amylee! It’s one of my favs too!
Hi Teresa
What kind of milk do suggest for this recipe?
Ex .Whole, evaporated, skim??
Whole milk.