Texas Chocolate Sheet Cake (Blue Ribbon Winner)
This Texas sheet cake recipe is a blue ribbon winner that's been passed down from generation to generation. The perfect chocolate sheet cake with a pourable frosting that sets up so you can stack cut squares of cake for picnics or party dessert!
Servings: 20 servings
Equipment
- large sheet pan about 1" deep and 16-18" long
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour unsifted
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 stick unsalted butter or margarine
- ½ cup Crisco
- 3 ½ tablespoons cocoa powder
- 1 cup water
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 large eggs beaten
- ½ cup buttermilk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the Icing:
- 1 stick butter or margarine
- ⅓ cup milk
- 3 ½ tablespoons cocoa powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 16 ounce box powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup chopped pecans
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400℉. Grease a large sheet pan and set aside.
- Mix the unsifted flour, sugar, and baking soda in a large bowl. Set aside.
- In a medium saucepan, add stick of butter or margarine, Crisco, cocoa powder, water, salt, and cinnamon. Bring to a boil while mixing.
- Boil cocoa mixture for about 2 minutes, being careful not to burn it.
- Pour cocoa mixture over your dry ingredients from Step 2, and mix to combine.
- Add beaten eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla extract, and mix to combine.
- Pour the cake batter into the greased sheet pan, spreading it around with a spatula so that the batter is in an even layer. *See notes on sheet pan size.
- Bake at 400°F for approximately 14-16 minutes.
For the Icing:
- While the cake is baking, make the pourable icing. Add stick of butter or margarine, milk, cocoa powder, and salt to a medium saucepan and boil for 1 minute. Then remove from heat and whisk in powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and nuts. Mix to combine.
- When the cake is done baking, pour the icing onto the warm cake. Allow the cake to cool and the icing to set up. Then cut the chocolate sheet cake into squares and serve.
Notes
- Storage - After cutting the cooled cake into squares, you can store in an airtight container either in the fridge or on the counter. If storing on the counter, enjoy within 2-3 days. If you keep it covered in the refrigerator, the leftover cake will stay good for a bit longer, about 4-5 days. You can also stack the cake squares in the airtight container, layering squares of parchment paper in between each to preserve the frosting.
- Sheet pan size - Sheet pan should be about 1" deep and about 16" to 18" in length.