Texas Sheet Cake
A big, thin chocolate buttermilk cake baked in a half-sheet pan and covered with a fudgy chocolate icing, the cake for church suppers, funerals and crowds.
The Library of Congress tried to find out where Texas sheet cake came from, and could not. In "The Great Sheet Cake Mystery" (2013), Jennifer Harbster found a chocolate cake baked in a shallow pan in the Galveston Daily News in 1936, many names for the same idea (buttermilk brownies, Texas cake, even "Texas sheath cake") and one common thread, buttermilk, with the cake baked in a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan about an inch high. She also checked a popular claim that Lady Bird Johnson created or named it: historians who searched her recipes at the LBJ archives in Austin found no evidence. A 1986 newspaper she quotes called the cake a revival of German's Sweet Chocolate Cake (our German Chocolate Cake recipe). Her conclusion: she did not discover who named the cake or when.
🇺🇸 This one is American
A big, thin chocolate buttermilk cake baked in a half-sheet pan and covered with a fudgy chocolate icing, the cake for church suppers, funerals and crowds.
🇦🇹 The original
Vienna's original is a dense chocolate sponge spread with apricot jam under a hard, glossy chocolate glaze, served with unsweetened whipped cream. See the Sachertorte (Viennese Chocolate Apricot Torte) recipe.
📖 Myth check: Is German Chocolate Cake German? The Man Behind the Name → 📖 Myth check: Why Is Red Velvet Cake Red? Cocoa, Beets or Food Coloring →
Why it works the kitchen science
A thin cake bakes fast
Spread an inch deep in a half-sheet pan, the batter is done in under 20 minutes and stays moist from edge to edge.
Oil and buttermilk
The oil keeps the thin cake soft for days, and the buttermilk gives the tang every version the Library of Congress found had in common.
Step by step
- Step 1
Heat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 13 x 18-inch half-sheet pan, line it with parchment and grease the parchment.
- Step 2
Heat the chocolate, butter, oil, water and cocoa in a saucepan over low heat (or in the microwave), stirring, until smooth, about 3 minutes. Pour into a large bowl.
- Step 3
Whisk the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt together, add to the chocolate and stir just until combined.
- Step 4
Whisk the buttermilk, eggs, yolks and vanilla together, add to the batter and stir just until combined. Spread evenly in the pan.
- Step 5
Bake 18 to 20 minutes, until a tester in the center comes out clean. Cool completely in the pan, about 1 hour.
- Step 6
For the icing, microwave the chocolate, corn syrup, vanilla and cream until the cream is very hot and the chocolate soft, about 1 minute, and stir until smooth. Beat in the powdered sugar and cocoa until smooth.
- Step 7
Spread the icing over the cooled cake and let it set 30 to 60 minutes before cutting into 24 squares.
Texas Sheet Cake
Serves 24 · one 13 x 18-inch sheet cake · 45 min total
Cake
- 1 1/3 cups (227 g) semisweet chocolate chips or chopped semisweet chocolate
- 4 tbsp (57 g) butter, at room temperature
- 3/4 cup (149 g) vegetable oil
- 3/4 cup (170 g) water
- 1/2 cup (43 g) Dutch-process cocoa
- 2 cups (240 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 cups (397 g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp table salt
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 2 large egg yolks, at room temperature
- 1/4 cup (57 g) buttermilk, at room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Chocolate icing
- 2 cups (340 g) semisweet chocolate chips or chopped semisweet chocolate
- 2 tbsp (43 g) light corn syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2/3 cup (149 g) heavy cream
- 1 cup (113 g) powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup (43 g) natural or Dutch-process cocoa
Method
- Heat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 13 x 18-inch half-sheet pan, line it with parchment and grease the parchment.
- Heat the chocolate, butter, oil, water and cocoa in a saucepan over low heat (or in the microwave), stirring, until smooth, about 3 minutes. Pour into a large bowl.
- Whisk the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt together, add to the chocolate and stir just until combined.
- Whisk the buttermilk, eggs, yolks and vanilla together, add to the batter and stir just until combined. Spread evenly in the pan.
- Bake 18 to 20 minutes, until a tester in the center comes out clean. Cool completely in the pan, about 1 hour.
- For the icing, microwave the chocolate, corn syrup, vanilla and cream until the cream is very hot and the chocolate soft, about 1 minute, and stir until smooth. Beat in the powdered sugar and cocoa until smooth.
- Spread the icing over the cooled cake and let it set 30 to 60 minutes before cutting into 24 squares.
Adapted from King Arthur Baking's "Texas Sheet Cake" (Charlotte Rutledge). Amounts, the half-sheet pan, oven, timing and icing are King Arthur's (King Arthur credits Food52 for the idea). King Arthur's cake uses melted chocolate as well as cocoa; many older Texas sheet cakes ice the cake warm with pecans, which we give as a tip. Serving count is ours. King Arthur Baking. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
All sources (2)
Tips
- Old-school Texas move: stir 1 cup chopped toasted pecans into the icing (not counted).
- Don't overbake; check at 18 minutes. A thin cake dries out fast.
- Serve it right from the pan. It travels well, which is why it shows up at potlucks.
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- Lady Bird Johnson created or named it. Folklore: the Library of Congress reports historians found no evidence in her recipes at the LBJ archives.
- It started in Texas. Disputed: the name says Texas and the earliest example the Library of Congress mentions is from the Galveston Daily News (1936), but similar sheet cakes appeared under many names and nobody has found who named it.
- Texas sheet cake must have pecans. Folklore: the Library of Congress says most recipes call for pecans or nuts; King Arthur's has none.
- Ice it while the cake is warm. Folklore: common in older recipes; King Arthur ices a cooled cake. Both work.
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