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No need to make a trip to the Lone Star State to learn how to make 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 unbelievable and so good!
Texas Sheet Cake has many names: buttermilk brownies, brownie sheet cake, chocolate brownie cake, chocolate sheet brownies, Mexican chocolate cake, Texas brownie cake, Texas cake, and “plain old” chocolate sheet cake. but everyone who tries it agrees that it’s just plain delicious, no matter what it’s called.
For both the cake and the frosting, you boil some ingredients, stir in others, and spread. That’s it! No mixers, no fuss, just a simple, old-fashioned method with delicious results.
Table of Contents
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.
Equipment and ingredient 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).
Step-by-step instructions
- 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.
Recipe tips and variations
- 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 up to one week.
- Freezer: Tightly cover unfrosted or frosted bars and freeze them up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
- 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.
Recipe FAQs
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 rich chocolate cake that brings folks from miles around.
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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 up to one 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.
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!