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A slice of Texas sheet cake topped with walnuts, sitting on a wooden spatula, next to the rest of the pan.
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5 from 1 vote

Texas Sheet Cake

This Texas sheet cake is a soft, ultra-moist chocolate cake topped with warm fudgy icing and chopped walnuts, perfect for feeding a crowd with minimal effort.
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time20 minutes
Total Time35 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Servings: 15 slices
Calories: 539kcal
Author: Jessica Burgess

Ingredients

Cake:

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 cups granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ cup sour cream
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 cup 2 sticks salted butter, softened
  • ⅓ cup cocoa powder

Icing:

  • ½ cup salted butter 1 stick
  • ⅓ cup whole milk
  • ¼ cup cocoa powder
  • 4 cups powdered sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Garnish:

  • 1 cup chopped walnuts

Instructions

For the cake:

  • Preheat your oven to 350°F and spray a 10x15 jelly roll pan with non-stick cooking spray.
  • In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.
    Dry ingredients mixed together in a mixing bowl.
  • With a hand or stand mixer, beat in the sour cream, eggs and vanilla, until just combined and set aside.
    Brown sugar, eggs, and ingredients for sad cake in mixing bowl.
  • In a small skillet over low heat, combine the water, butter, and cocoa powder. Bring to a boil and immediately remove from the heat.
    Melted butter, water and cocoa in sauce pan.
  • Allow the cocoa mixture to cool slightly, before adding it to the mixing bowl with the other ingredients and beat until smooth.
    Chocolate mixture cooling in glass mixing bowl.
  • Pour the batter into the jelly roll pan and bake uncovered for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Set it aside to cool while you make your icing.
    Hot cocoa mixture poured over the top of the cake.

For the icing:

  • In a large saucepan, over medium heat, stir together the butter, milk, and cocoa powder. Once bubbling, remove from heat and stir in the powdered sugar and vanilla until well combined.
    Texas Sheet Cake frosting ingredients in sauce pan.
  • Spread this mixture over the warm cake and sprinkle with walnuts. Serve warm or room temperature. TIP: If your cake has baked to the top of your sheet pan, the icing can run off of the pan and get messy. Add a little, spread, add a little more, spsread, etc.
    Texas sheet cake frosting with walnuts.

Video

Notes

Tip to Keep in Mind:
Spread the icing quickly - the frosting thickens as it cools, so have a spatula ready and work right away.

Nutrition

Serving: 1slice | Calories: 539kcal | Carbohydrates: 75g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 26g | Saturated Fat: 14g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 76mg | Sodium: 312mg | Potassium: 137mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 59g | Vitamin A: 657IU | Vitamin C: 0.2mg | Calcium: 39mg | Iron: 2mg
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