This chocolate Texas Sheet Cake recipe is a potluck favorite that is baked in a single sheet pan! The light and fluffy cake base is topped with a poured chocolate icing that you can make with or without pecans for extra texture and crunch!
Be sure not to miss some of our other favorite chocolate desserts like Irresistible Mississippi Mud Brownies, Best Ever Moist Chocolate Cupcakes, and these Best Fudgy Chewy Chocolate Brownie Cookies!
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You'll love this Texas Sheet Cake Recipe
If you have a sweet tooth and you're looking to feed dessert to a crowd at family gatherings or potlucks, look no further than this Texas sheet cake recipe! My grandma used to make this classic recipe every summer to take to our annual family reunion and it's been a favorite all my life.
The warm, pourable chocolate frosting really sets Texas sheet cake apart from other chocolate cakes and creates a thin, almost fudgy layer on top of the cake beneath, especially after it sets all the way.
I always add chopped pecans to my frosting before pouring it over the cake, but you can leave them out entirely if you aren't a fan of nuts or just sprinkle them over the top after pouring the frosting instead.
This is a chocolate version, but you can also make a white Texas sheet cake if you love vanilla desserts!
What is a Texas sheet cake?
A Texas chocolate sheet cake is a large flat cake baked in a baking sheet. It’s a slightly dense, rich chocolate cake that is bordering on being brownie-like in texture.
Typically, Texas sheet cake isn't as strongly chocolatey as other chocolate cakes, which gives it a unique flavor all it's own and let's the tanginess of the buttermilk shine through a bit more. I add slightly more cocoa powder than classic Texas sheet cake recipes, because that's how I like it, but I don't go so far as to overwhelm the classic taste of Texas sheet cake by turning it into just another standard chocolate cake. You will definitely notice a difference in flavor between this cake and my One-Bowl Chocolate Cake Recipe, which is a classic chocolate cake baked in a 9x13-inch pan.
Everything is bigger in Texas and this cake is no different! When you cut the thin chocolate cake into squares for serving, you’ll notice that you can easily cut it to feed a dozen people or more, depending on how large you cut your squares.
Texas Chocolate Sheet Cake Ingredients
- All-purpose flour
- Sugar - You'll need both granulated sugar for the cake and powdered sugar for the Texas sheet cake icing.
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Water
- Salted butter
- Unsweetened cocoa powder
- Buttermilk
- Eggs
- Vanilla extract
- Milk
- Pecans or Walnuts (optional but I highly recommend!)
How to make Chocolate Texas Sheet Cake
- Prep. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease a large, rimmed 13x18 baking sheet.
- Whisk dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt, then set it aside.
- Heat butter, water, and cocoa. In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the water, butter, and cocoa powder. Bring it to a boil and continue stirring to make sure that there are no lumps. Pour your chocolate mixture over the dry ingredients and stir to combine.
- Stir in remaining ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk (or sour cream, which also works in this recipe), eggs and vanilla, then pour into the chocolate cake batter, stirring just until combined. You can do this with a hand mixer if you want to make sure that there are no lumps, but it's pretty easy to manage by hand.
- Pour & bake. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread the batter into an even layer. Bake for 18-20 minutes until the cake springs back lightly when touched and has barely started to pull away from the sides of the pan. Do not over bake!
How to make Texas Sheet Cake Frosting
- Timing. Wait until the cake is almost done baking before you begin to make the icing. Because this is a cooked, poured icing that will set up as the cake cools, you don't want to make it too early or it will start to set up in the pan.
- Cook the butter, cocoa powder, milk, and salt. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine the butter, cocoa powder, milk, and salt. Stir constantly just until the mixture comes to a simmer, which is usually between 6-9 minutes.
- Whisk in remaining ingredients. Immediately remove from heat and add in the vanilla. Whisk the powdered sugar into the cocoa mixture until the icing is smooth. Stir in the chopped nuts if you plan on using them. If the icing is done before the cake is ready, keep it warm and stir it every so often so that the icing doesn’t crust over and harden on top.
- Pour & spread. Let the cake cool for 10-12 minutes after it is done baking, then pour the hot icing over the warm cake and spread it out with a spatula. Let the frosting set for at least 20 minutes before cutting the cake into squares. The frosting will continue to set up and harden after 1-2 hours, which provides a nice fudgy shell almost on top of the cake if you can wait that long.
- Serve. Texas sheet cake is delicious served warm or at room temperature and it's great with a glass of cold milk or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
How To Cut A Sheet Cake
Let the cake cool completely before cutting it because cutting a hot cake results in torn pieces and a lot more crumbs. Take a sharp knife and cut down the center lengthwise first, then again on both sides before cutting the shorter sides to get evenly sized pieces. You can make them larger or smaller, depending on personal preference.
Recipe Texas Sheet Cake FAQS
A sheet cake is a large flat cake cooked in a pan with the intention of only frosting the top (or not frosting it at all). A regular cake is typically a cake made from smaller pan sizes with the intention of stacking, filling, and/or frosting the layers.
Yes! While Texas sheet cake tastes great warm, it can also be served at room temperature, so it's perfect as a make-ahead dessert. Just be sure to cover it well so that it doesn’t dry out. You don’t even need to remove the cake from the pan, just wrap it all in plastic wrap and you’re good to go. I find that this sheet cake is good for up to about 3 days when covered this way. You can also transfer the sliced cake pieces to an airtight container for longer storage to keep them fresh.
You will want to use a standard baker's half-sheet pan, which is 13x18 inches. It's probably the most common size baking and the one most of us have 2 or 3 or 8 of floating around in our kitchens that we use for baking cookies or making sheet pan dinners.
If for some reason you don’t have a half-sheet pan handy, you can also use different sized baking pans to make this sheet cake. A 10x15 inch jelly roll pan or a 9x13 baking dish will both work, but keep in mind that you will need to adjust the baking times since both pans are smaller and will take longer for the cake to bake through.
I have no idea why it's really called a Texas sheet cake because I don't know for sure that it originated in the Lone Star State, but this cake is the size of Texas and flavor of this perfect cake is definitely larger than life!
If your cake is turning out dense, be careful not to over mix the batter when adding the flour mixture. Instead of using an electric mixer, stir in the dry ingredients by hand in a large mixing bowl so as not to work the gluten in the flour too hard and make the cake dense.
More Chocolate Dessert Recipes You'll Love
- Easy Caramel Pecan Brownies
- Chocolate Peanut Butter No Bake Cookies
- Chocolate Cream Pie
- Raspberry Chocolate Tart
- Chocolate Molten Lava Cakes
Did you make this recipe?
Let me know what you thought with a comment and rating below. You can also take a picture and tag me on Instagram @houseofnasheats or share it on the Pinterest pin so I can see.
Texas Chocolate Sheet Cake Recipe
Ingredients
Cake
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup salted butter
- 6 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- ½ cup buttermilk*
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Chocolate Glaze
- 6 Tablespoons milk
- 4 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- ½ cup butter
- 3 ½ cups powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- Pinch of salt
- ¾ cup chopped toasted pecans or walnuts finely chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a large, rimmed 12x18-inch baking sheet (aka a half sheet pan).
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the water, butter, and cocoa powder and bring to a boil, stirring to make sure there are no lumps.
- Pour the chocolate mixture over the dry ingredients and stir until combined.
- Add the buttermilk (or sour cream, see note), eggs, and vanilla, and mix until combined. You can do this with a hand mixer to make sure there are no lumps.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread in an even layer. Bake for 18-20 minutes until the cake springs back lightly to the touch and has barely started to pull away from the sides of the pan. Do not overbake!
Icing:
- When the cake is almost done baking, start to make the icing. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine the butter, cocoa powder, milk, and salt. Heat, stirring constantly, just until the mixture comes to a simmer.
- Immediately remove from heat and add the vanilla, then whisk in the powdered sugar until the icing is smooth. Stir in the chopped nuts. If the cake isn't ready yet, keep the icing warm and stir it every so often so it doesn't harden on top.
- Let the cake cool for 10-12 minutes, then pour the hot icing over the warm cake and spread it evenly with a spatula. Let the frosting set for 20 minutes before cutting the cake into squares. The frosting will completely set after 1-2 hours.
- Serve the cake warm or at room temperature.
This cake looks seriously good! Such a classic recipe to have on hand! Can't wait to give it a try.
I made this tonight and it is crazy good!!  I couldn’t stop at one piece, I had to devour 2 more!  Love the buttery, chocolatey  flavor, definitely saving this recipe!
Easy and delicious 🥰
So yummy! I made this for my entry into her February giveaway and it was delicious!!
Thanks, Ginny! I'm glad you guys liked it!
This is my favorite chocolate cake. I’ve been making it for years! The only difference in my recipe is the addition of 1 tsp cinnamon to the batter. It makes the cake taste like Mexican Hot Chocolate. I sometimes add a sprinkle or two of cinnamon to the frosting as I’m mixing it up too. It’s delicious! 😋
What a great idea! I'm going to have to try that next time!
Can parchment paper be used instead of spraying the pan?
Yes!
I made this last night for my family of 6. Everybody loved it! My husband thought it was maybe a little too rich, but that's just him. Everybody else came back for seconds!
I used parchment paper instead of spraying the pan. Much easier cleanup.
I like nuts in Texas sheet cake frosting, but my daughter is allergic to tree nuts. I still wanted something crunchy in it, so I used Butterfinger Bits ice cream topping. So good!! (I've tried rice crispies before, but they just get soggy and then turn really gummy. I wouldn't recommend that.)
Love the idea of butterfinger bits! I bet toffee bits would be good too!
I have made this cake for over 39 years and it’s always a hit.
Can this be doubled to fit a full 18x26 sheet pan? What would the new bake time be if it can be doubled? Or perhaps this is not advisable??? I can see if I have some 1/2 sheets at the school. Thank you.
If using the sour cream in place of buttermilk, is the exchange exactly the same amount, 1 cup sour cream for 1 cup buttermilk?
Yes, it's 1 for 1.