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Learn the secrets to making the the best Texas Sheet Cake from scratch. This rich, chocolate cake is topped with a buttery cocoa frosting that has a delicious crackly texture. It’s easy to make and delicious to eat, everything you want in your next dessert.
Meggan’s notes
The secret to the ease and taste of Texas Sheet Cake is its old-fashioned method: boiling. Boiling cocoa powder in water and fat helps the chocolate flavor “bloom” and unlock its full potential. Do this with both the cake batter and the frosting for massive chocolate flavor.
The other trick that makes this cake irresistible is the baking pan. By using a jelly roll pan (10 inches by 15 inches), you create a more equal cake-to-frosting ratio which, as you’ll discover, is definitely a good thing.
Table of Contents
What is Texas Sheet Cake?
Texas Sheet Cake is a dessert with many names and a true cult following. It’s also known as:
- buttermilk brownies
- brownie sheet cake
- chocolate brownie cake
- chocolate sheet brownies
- Mexican chocolate cake
- Texas brownie cake
- Texas cake
- Chocolate sheet cake
- Rosie cake
Besides being flamboyantly rich, Texas Sheet Cake is a giant chocolate sheet cake that eats just like a brownie. This recipe features a butter-cocoa frosting that’s slathered over a deeply-flavored chocolate cake. If you love chocolate, you’ll love this recipe.
Texas Sheet Cake Recipe Ingredients
At a Glance: Here is a quick snapshot of what ingredients are in this recipe.
Please see the recipe card below for specific quantities.
- Sour cream
- Vanilla
- Eggs
- Salt
- Powdered sugar
- Sugar
- Milk
- Butter
- Water
- Cocoa powder
- Flour
- Baking soda
Helpful Equipment
- Jelly roll pan: To get the ideal cake-to-frosting ratio, bake this cake in a 10-inch by 15-inch jelly roll pan (I love this one by OXO).
How to Make Texas Chocolate Sheet Cake
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Coat a 10-inch by 15-inch jelly roll pan with nonstick spray. In a medium saucepan, combine butter, water, and cocoa. Bring to boil.
- Meanwhile, in large bowl whisk together flour and sugar. Stir in boiled mixture. Beat in eggs, baking soda, vanilla, and sour cream. Pour into prepared pan.
- Bake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool completely.
- While cake is cooling, in small saucepan bring butter, milk and cocoa to boil. Stir in powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth.
- Spread on cooled cake while frosting is hot.
- Cool and cut into 24 bars.
Texas Sheet Cake Recipe
- Yield: This recipe makes 24 squares, 2 1/2-inch by 2 1/2-inch each, cut in a 4×6 configuration.
- Texas Sheet Cake with buttermilk: I make my Texas Sheet Cake with sour cream, but if you’d like to use buttermilk, that’s fine, too! You need to add a little more butter, though. For every ½ cup sour cream, substitute ½ cup buttermilk and 1 tablespoon butter.
- Texas Sheet Cake with cinnamon: Ladybird Johnson made the cake famous by adding a 1 teaspoon of cinnamon to the batter, for a Mexican chocolate flavor that people go crazy for.
- Texas Sheet Cake with coffee: Some cooks add black coffee instead of water in the batter to give the cake another layer of body. If you love mocha, this variation is for you.
- Texas Sheet Cake cupcakes: Pour the batter into paper shells and bake, then frost and everyone gets their own.
- Almond Frosting for Texas Sheet Cake: Use ½ teaspoon almond extract and ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract in the frosting. Add chopped toasted almonds, if you dare.
- White Texas Sheet Cake: To make Texas Sheet Cake white, you can simply omit the cocoa powder in this recipe and add 1 teaspoon almond extract in its place into the batter. If cakes were clouds, this one would be the fluffiest!
- Peanut butter frosting: My favorite Peanut Butter Frosting is made with powdered sugar, vanilla, butter, heavy cream, and a pinch of salt.
Storing Chocolate Texas Sheet Cake
Store covered at room temperature for 1 to 2 days. Or, cover and refrigerate for up to 1 week.
Freezer
Tightly cover unfrosted or frosted bars and freeze them up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
Frequently Asked Questions
Historians are split. Some say that the large size of the cake lends itself to the phrase “everything is bigger in Texas” and that such a cake must have originated there. Others believe the recipe first appeared in a newspaper in Dallas, Texas. Either way, this recipe goes by many other names as well (see the full list above).
A sheet can is any cake made in a baking sheet and could come in any possible flavor including vanilla, chocolate, or marble. Texas Sheet Cake, in contrast, is a specific sheet cake that is always chocolate in flavor with a smooth, pourable frosting.
Yes, you can leave Texas Sheet Cake out at room temperature (covered) overnight or even up to 2 days. For longer storage, refrigerate Texas Sheet Cake for up to 1 week.
More chocolate desserts to love
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No Bake Chocolate Cheesecake
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Cookie Recipes
Soft Baked Chocolate Chip Cookies
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Chocolate Texas Sheet Cake
Equipment
- 1 10" x 15" jelly roll pan (see note 1)
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 1 cup butter (2 sticks)
- 1 cup water
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup sour cream
For the frosting:
- 1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
- 6 tablespoons milk
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar sifted (1 pound)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a 10-inch by 15-inch jelly roll pan with parchment paper or nonstick spray. In a small saucepan, whisk together butter, water, and cocoa. Bring to boil; remove from heat.
- Meanwhile, in large bowl whisk together flour and sugar. Stir in boiled mixture. Beat in eggs, baking soda, vanilla, and sour cream. Pour into prepared pan and bake 20 minutes. Cool completely.
- While cake is cooling, in medium saucepan whisk together butter, milk and cocoa and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth. Spread on cooled cake while frosting is hot. Cool and cut into 24 bars.
Recipe Video
Notes
- Jelly roll pan: To get the ideal cake-to-frosting ratio, bake this cake in a 10-inch by 15-inch jelly roll pan (I love this one by OXO).
- Yield: This recipe makes 24 squares, 2 1/2-inch by 2 1/2-inch each, cut in a 4×6 configuration.
- Storage: Store covered at room temperature for 1 to 2 days or refrigerate for up to 1 week.
Nutrition
Meggan Hill is a classically-trained chef and professional writer. Her meticulously-tested recipes and detailed tutorials bring confidence and success to home cooks everywhere. Meggan has been featured on NPR, HuffPost, FoxNews, LA Times, and more.
My icing wasn’t pour-able. I whisked the ingredients until boiling. They separated. I poured in the powder sugar and it was immediately thick. What did I do wrong?
Hi Lynn, I’m so sorry for the trouble the icing is giving you. A couple things might have happened. (I wish I was standing next to you in the kitchen so I could better help!)You might have boiled a little too long, the mixture just needs to be brought to a boil, then the powdered sugar and vanilla added in. Also, were the cocoa powder and powdered sugar fluffed up some and spooned into the measuring cup or were they packed in, and was powder sugar sifted? If they were packed in, you would need some more milk in the mixture to thin out and balance the additional dry ingredients. You may want to add the sifted powder sugar gradually to the next batch and stop when it’s the perfect consistency to help control it. I hope this all helps! I’m sorry again about your frosting. – Meggan
Thanks for teaching me what a Texas sheet cake is, Meggan!
This would be perfect to take to a party – loving the sound of all that butter!