This delicious Old Fashioned Texas Sheet Cake with Sour Cream is moist, rich and absolutely incredible!
If you love Texas Sheet Cake as much as we do, you’ll also love our Texas Sheet Cake Cookies and Texas Sheet Cake Cupcakes.
Why You’ll Love Texas Sheet Cake
We like it both with pecans and without the pecans, and honestly, it’s my favorite cake EVER!
Why is it called a Texas Sheet Cake
It was in a cookbook that was through my elementary school. It is not called a Texas sheet cake because it came from Texas, as many believe.
Actually it is called a Texas Sheet Cake because it is BIG and RICH and often served HOT, and once upon a time, it was believed that rich people lived in Texas and we all know everything is bigger in Texas (yes I was born there and lived there as an adult).
And well, if you’ve ever visited Texas in the summer, you know how incredibly HOT it is. So there ya go.
Texas Sheet Cake Tips
- Make sure you don’t just try this incredible cake warm or hot, or even just room temperature. Try layering slices between wax paper and storing them in the fridge to enjoy them cold right out of the refrigerator.
- Try this with pecans, walnuts, macadamia or crushed peanuts. Really you can’t go wrong with a good nut, or simply enjoy without.
- It is best to use the ingredients as they are listed and not the low-fat or no-fat version of anything. Don’t substitute margarine for the butter.
Ingredients for Texas Sheet Cake
- butter – we typically use unsalted butter and if you choose to use salted butter, omit the salt in the dry ingredients.
- cocoa powder – we don’t have a preferred brand here, but a higher quality cocoa powder will result in a deeper, richer flavor most of the time. Honestly we use whatever we have on hand.
- granulated sugar – I’ve been asked on occasion if you can substitute another sweetener for the sugar in this recipe, and I suppose you definitely can, but it does tend to change the flavor and texture a bit. We just stick with regular white granulated sugar.
- all purpose flour – I wouldn’t recommend a different type of flour, simply because other substitutions on this recipe will need to happen.
- salt – omit salt if using salted butter
- eggs – for this recipe I used large eggs
- baking soda
- sour cream – This version of Texas Sheet Cake calls for sour cream rather than the standard buttermilk recipe. This one is our favorite. We usually just use the full fat version but have tried it with lower fats and have had no issues.
- vanilla
- Icing (recipe below) – Texas Sheet Cake is incredible with the included icing recipe, and is traditionally served that way, but we have also made it without and it’s delicious too served with some whipped cream.
- Chopped Pecans, if desired – Nuts are optional in this recipe and if you want to switch out the nuts, we’ve found chopped walnuts or crushed macadamia nuts to go best with this recipe.
More Delicious Cake Recipes
If you make our recipe, please let us know! Tell us in the comments or you can take a photo and share it, tagging us on instagram, facebook or twitter with #dailydishrecipes. We love seeing your creations!
Making the Recipe
Old Fashioned Texas Sheet Cake Recipe
Ingredients
Cake:
- 1 cup butter
- 1 cup water
- ¼ cup cocoa
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 cups flour
- ⅛ teaspoons salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoons baking soda
- ½ cup sour cream
- 1 teaspoons vanilla
- Icing recipe below
Icing:
- ½ cup butter
- ¼ cup cocoa
- ¼ cup milk plus 2 tablespoons
- 16 ounces powdered sugar sift it first to remove lumps – otherwise icing remains lumpy
- ½ teaspoons vanilla
- Chopped Pecans optional
Instructions
- In a saucepan, combine the butter, water and cocoa over med. heat until the butter melts. Don’t let it cook too long.
- In a separate bowl, combine the sugar, flour, salt, eggs, and baking soda.
- Add the butter mixture to the dry ingredients. Careful, it’s hot.
- Add the sour cream and vanilla and mix well.
- Pour into a sheet cake pan or jelly roll pan.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.
- In a saucepan, combine the butter, cocoa and milk over medium heat and bring to a boil.
- Immediately remove from heat and combine with confectioners sugar and vanilla.
- Mix well with a mixer to remove lumps.
- Spread over the sheet cake while it is STILL hot. You can either mix the chopped pecans into the icing before pouring it over the hot sheet cake, or sprinkle them over the top after you put the icing on (or omit all together).
I just wanted to say that I have tried this recipe for my boss’ birthday and he loved it! I was shocked that it came out so good but I was lucky that I didn’t kill him! The cake was a hit with all of my co-workers so I would like to thank you for making my boss’s birthday party so special with this recipe!
Thanks for sharing this recipe. It looks delicious. It would be good with my coffee. If you get a chance stop by my blog Recipe for Life and check out some of my family favorite recipes at: http://deborah-bateman.blogspot.com
Blessings,
Deborah H. Bateman – author
Oh it’s fantastic with coffee (my favorite way to enjoy it!)
Thanks for stopping by Deborah, and I will be over to check you out.
do you use just a regular cake pan for this recipe?
No, usually a sheet cake pan is used for this recipe. I have no idea how a regular cake pan would work, since the cake is made for a sheet cake pan. Hope that helps. 🙂
I have no idea shat a sheet cake pan is as you reference in your reply. Is it a normal 9X13 cake dish?
Here is one available on Amazon… it is not the one I have, but is very close. http://www.amazon.com/Focus-Foodservice-Commercial-Bakeware-Aluminum/dp/B00188AJN6
Do you grease and flour the pan?
I have never greased my jellyroll pan when making this cake. It has never been a problem and honestly greasing won’t keep the topping from sticking, so when cutting we just take a knife and run it around the edges. The cake itself doesn’t stick on the bottom or hasn’t for me. If you want to grease the pan, you totally could. I don’t think I would flour it.
Not sure where you got this recipe but its not the Texas Sheet Cake made in Texas. On the cake its buttermilk not sour creme. And the icing is 6 tablespoons of milk. This is the original recipe with respects to Lady Bird Johnson.
Well, I explained in the actual post where this recipe came from. I also explained that it isn’t called a “texas sheet cake” because it came from Texas. I have seen the recipe you are referencing and have made it. I do not care for that version as much as this one. I also wasn’t sharing the “orginal” recipe or anything related to Lady Bird Johnson. The recipe you are referencing is available all over the Internet.
I really want to make this cake for a bake sale, and would prefer to use a disposable aluminum pan. The only disposable aluminum pans in my area are in the 9 x 13 size. Do you think the cake would still turn out ok in a 9 x 13? Should I check if the cake is cooked by using the clean toothpick as a guide? Thanks!