Texas Chocolate Sheet Cake
Starting the weekend off the right way with this classic Texas Chocolate Sheet Cake with fudge-y chocolate pecan frosting. Extra rich and fluffy, this deep dark chocolate cake is so much better than any other chocolate cake out there. Hinted throughout with sweet vanilla and pecans. This cake is topped with deepest, fudgiest dark chocolate frosting with chopped pecans.. Each and every single bite is full of the best dark chocolate flavor. Perfectly sweet without being too much. SO GOOD! Enjoy as a quick delicious dessert, birthday cake, anniversary, or whatever you want! Truly the perfect cake anytime throughout the year.
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About The Recipe
Today we’re going back to my childhood roots with this cake, and not just mine! My mom’s as well. This recipe is an adaption from The Pick of The Crop, just made easier and so much better!
For any of you that know anything about my family, then you should know that I come from a long line of home cooks. That said line helped produce a cookbook for my mom’s school. We have been baking and cooking out of that cookbook for my entire life. Always making adjustments as we go. Making them easier to understand (seriously, what the heck is an oleo?) and more delicious!
When we started this blog, we dedicated a whole section to doing just that.
It’s been a great trip down memory lane. Finding recipes we’ve made hundreds of times to things we’ve never even seen more. We landed on this Texas Chocolate Sheet Cake by pure accident but I’m so glad we did!
I actually haven’t had this cake in SO long that I almost forgot how good it actually is. There is nothing more classic or delicious than chocolate and pecans, then you add a frosting that tastes like fudge?
This is surely going to becomes everyone’s new favorite cake. Especially for all the chocolate lovers out there.
Ingredients
- Flour
- Sugar
- Cocoa Powder
- Baking Soda
- Baking Powder
- Salt
- Butter
- Milk
- Eggs
- Vanilla
- Water
Instructions
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.
In a small bowl, combine the buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla. Whisk until thoroughly combined. Set aside.
Place the butter, cocoa powder, and water in a small saucepan. Let melt over medium heat and the mixture begins to bubble.
Pour the chocolate mixture into the dry ingredients and mix well.
Stir in the egg, buttermilk, vanilla mixture.
Pour the chocolate cake batter into a greased 9×13 inch pan and bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes, or until the cake tests done. Remove from the oven.
Gather ingredients for the chocolate frosting.
In a small saucepan, combine the butter, cream, and cocoa powder. Cook over medium-low heat until the butter had melted and the mixture begins to bubble.
Pour the chocolate mixture into the powdered sugar and add the rest of the dry ingredients. Mix well.
While the cake is still hot, quickly spread the frosting over the cake.
Let the cake cool and enjoy!
How To Store
The great thing about this cake is it’s quite literally meant to be left in the pan. So, you can easily just cover this cake with foil and leave it out on the counter for a few days. Alternatively, you could also do the same thing and place it in the freezer to keep for a few months!
But, if you’re super attached to the pan you baked it in, you can go ahead and slice the cake into individual servings, put them in a freezer safe bag, and place in the freezer. Whatever option works for you! Just keep in mind that no matter what you do, you’ll have set the cake out a few hours before you want it.
You could reheat it in the microwave for a quick and hot bite, but remember the frosting will melt if you do this.
Expert Tips
- Right before the cake comes out of the oven, start on the frosting. The frosting needs to be applied while the cake is still hot/warm, or it won’t spread!
- The cake will be very tender so be very careful when spreading the frosting!
- Make sure to sift the cocoa powder and the powdered sugar.
- You may need to cover the pan with foil while baking to keep from over browning the cake.
When you make this Texas Chocolate Sheet Cake, leave a comment down below! We love hearing from you and answering any questions you might have! Also, be sure to tag us on social media and hashtag it #BakersTable.
Texas Chocolate Sheet Cake
Ingredients
Cake
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup salted butter
- ¼ cup cocoa, sifted
- 1 cup water
- ½ cup buttermilk
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Frosting
- 16 ounces powdered sugar, sifted
- ½ cup salted butter
- ¼ cup cocoa, sifted
- 6 Tablespoons milk
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup pecan halves, broken
Instructions
For the Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Spray a 9"X13" pan with baking spray. Set aside.
- Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and baking soda in a large bowl. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, whisk buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla together. Set aside.
- Combine butter, cocoa, and water in a saucepan.
- Heat over medium heat until butter is melted and mixture starts to bubble.
- Pour chocolate mixture over flour mixture and stir together.
- Stir in egg mixture.
- Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 25-30 minutes, until cake tests done.
For the Frosting:
- Sift powdered sugar into a large bowl. set aside.
- In a saucepan, combine butter, cocoa, and milk.
- Cook over medium low heat until butter is melted and mixture starts to bubble.
- Pour over powdered sugar.
- Add pecans and vanilla.
- Mix well.
- Spread on hot cake.
Notes + Tips!
- Right before the cake comes out of the oven, start on the frosting. The frosting needs to be applied while the cake is still hot/warm, or it won’t spread!
- The cake will be very tender so be very careful when spreading the frosting!
- Make sure to sift the cocoa powder and the powdered sugar.
- You may need to cover the pan with foil while baking to keep from over browning the cake.
Tools You May Need (affiliate links)
Nutrition
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Thanks for sharing my grandmother made this all the time. I so miss her. When I found this recipe it brought back fond memories.
Can I bake this in a jelly roll sheet pan?
Hi! Unfortunately, the sides of a jelly roll pan are not high enough for this cake. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Recipe sounds delicious! Can’t wait to make…husband loves Hershey’s chocolate cake and am thinking he will like this cake even better!
Hi! Thank you so much! This cake is definitely one of our absolute favorites. We hope you enjoy! x Caylie