Texas Sheet Cake Recipe

For the past few, oh I dunno…. decades the only real question for family gatherings is: who is going to make the Texas Sheet Cake? It’s goes without saying that this unassuming, pecan studded cake will be sliced up at the end of every family celebration. As sure as the sun will rise, ya know? So… who is going to make it? We take this Texas sheet cake recipe very seriously.

The steady Texas Sheet Cake bakers in our clan are my dad, mom, and aunt Judy.  Is one cake better than another? I’ll never tell but they all work from the same, chocolate-stained recipe card from our late Aunt Mary.  We’ve learned, after a few well intentioned deviations, not to mess with Aunt Mary’s recipe. Don’t go thinking you can add peppermint extract to the cake, walnuts to the frosting, or god forbid a… fruit. You don’t mess with a good thing and if you do… I mean we’ll still eat it but we’ll shake out heads about it after our plates are clean.

It’s a crime that it’s taken me so long to share this cake with you. It’s classic Americana. It’s classic Wilson family shenanigans.

Let’s talk about a few things.

What is Texas Sheet Cake?

Texas sheet cake is a thin chocolate cake baked in a jelly roll pan.  The cake batter is thin, making for a light and tender baked cake.  What really sets a Texas Sheet Cake apart from other cakes is the stovetop cooked chocolate frosting made with melted butter, milk, chocolate, powdered sugar and, most importantly – pecans.  The warm frosting is poured over warm cake creating a fudgy, undeniably special chocolate cake.

Texas Sheet Cake is known by many other names. Southern Living touts it as a funeral cake, which made me do a double take and made me extra thankful that we don’t wait for a death in the family to enjoy this cake. Some people know it as a Chocolate Sheath Cake or with a touch of cinnamon as a Mexican Chocolate Cake. Some attribute the cake to Lady Bird Johnson. Some to the popularity of a German Chocolate Cake recipe printed in a Dallas newspaper in the 1950’s. Texas Sheet Cake is one of those recipes that, because of its ease and deliciousness (thank you pecans and chocolate), just got around through recipe cards and church cookbooks and imprinted itself into so many of our family recipe arsenals.

Here’s what you’ll need to make this Texas Sheet Cake recipe:

It’s simple really:

• butter for the cake and frosting.

• cocoa for the cake and frosting.

• baking soda and salt

• buttermilk (though sour cream also works wonderfully) and eggs

• milk, any fat will do

• and chopped pecans

To start, whisk together the dry ingredients – flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda.  Set aside, we have a bit of stovetop work to get to.

In a small saucepan, melt butter and whisk in cocoa and hot water.

I honestly love a stovetop cake.  See also: Neapolitan One Pot Chocolate Sheet Cake.

Add the warmed cocoa/butter mixture to the dry ingredients and whisk to combine.

Add the buttermilk and beaten eggs and hand whisk the thin batter smooth.

Pour the cake batter into a greased jelly roll pan and carefully transfer to the oven (truly the hardest part of the recipe).

Can you make this Texas Sheet Cake recipe in a 9×13-inch pan?

Yes you sure can! The cake will be slightly thicker but equally delicious. Keep an eye on the cake as it bakes. If baking in a 9×13-inch pan you may need to bake for an additional 5-8 minutes.

Bake until the cake is gently puffed and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry or with just a few moist crumbs. If the toothpick still has sticky batter, the cake needs a few minutes more.

While the cake bakes… guess what? More chocolate.

We’ll whisk together a warm chocolate and pecan glaze on the stovetop.  Butter, cocoa, milk, powdered sugar, vanilla, and chopped pecans. It’s beyond. It’ll take all you’ve got to not eat the frosting with a spoon before the cake comes out of the oven.

When the baked cake emerges from the oven it’s topped with warm chocolate pecan frosting and as it all cools, the most magical thing happens.

The cake and frosting become one. There’s this perfectly  tender cake topped with a chocolate pecan shell. In the center, where the cake and frosting meet is a fudgy equator that, as far as I can tell, is a thing of dreams (or, if you’re lucky, a thing of every family gathering).

You should need no further convincing.

In our family, this was the sort of cake that lived awkwardly in the pan, tilted and teetering in the refrigerator, for a day and a half. Each member of the family stealing moments at the open refrigerator to peel back the plastic wrap and sneak slivers with a butterknife.

I secretly hope this cake feels as nostalgic for you as it does me. If it doesn’t, maybe all this chocolate talk is enough to inspire a new tradition.  Either way, I sincerely hope this cake finds it’s way into your oven.

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