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a square of chocolate cake with pecans on a white background.
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4.78 from 9 votes

Grammy's Texas Sheet Cake

A simple and deliciously nostalgic Texas chocolate sheet cake with a plush chocolate cake and fudge icing topped with toasted pecans. Recipe courtesy of JoAnn Westmoreland and Alissa Minshew!
Prep Time25 minutes
Cook Time25 minutes
Total Time50 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Servings: 24
Author: Erika Kwee

Ingredients

For the cake

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour 260g
  • 2 cups granulated sugar 400g
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon Diamond kosher salt
  • 8 tbsp unsalted butter 113g
  • 1/3 cup neutral oil 66g (vegetable, canola, grapeseed, etc all work)
  • 1/4 cup natural cocoa powder such as Hershey's 21g
  • 1 cup water 227g
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 cup buttermilk 227g
  • 1 tbsp vanilla extract

For the toasted pecans

  • 2 tbsp unsalted butter 28g
  • 2 cups pecans, chopped 228g

For the icing

  • 8 tbsp unsalted butter 113g
  • 4 oz cream cheese
  • 4 cups powdered sugar 454g
  • 3 tbsp natural cocoa powder 16g
  • 1 tbsp vanilla extract

Instructions

For the cake

  • Preheat oven to 375 F. Grease and flour a half sheet pan (13x18"). See notes for additional size options.
    In a large mixing bowl, sift together the 2 cups of flour, 2 cups of sugar, 1 tsp baking soda and 1 tsp salt.
  • In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine 8 tbsp butter, 1/3 cup oil, 1/4 cup cocoa powder and 1 cup of water and heat until melted. Add butter mixture to the dry ingredients and mix until incorporated.
  • In a separate bowl (or the saucepan that you just emptied), whisk together 2 eggs, 1 cup buttermilk and 1 tbsp vanilla. Gradually add to the butter mixture and stir until fully incorporated.
    Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the cake is fragrant and springs when you press it.

For the toasted pecans

  • While cake is baking, melt 2 tbsp butter in a medium saucepan over medium low heat. Add 2 cups of chopped pecans to the butter and toast, stirring occasionally, until golden and fragrant, about 5-10 minutes. Remove from saucepan and let cool.

For the icing

  • In the same saucepan (no need to wash), combine 8 tbsp butter, 4oz cream cheese, 4 cups powdered sugar and 3 tbsp cocoa powder and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until melted. Remove from heat, stir in 1 tbsp vanilla, then pour over the warm (but not hot) cake. Sprinkle the toasted pecans over the top.
    Cake is best served the day it's made. Wrapped well or put in an airtight container, cake will last 1-2 days at room temperature or up to a week in the fridge.

Notes

Texas sheet cake is traditionally baked in a 13x18" half sheet pan. You may also use a jelly roll pan (typically 10.5x15.5") but will likely need to add 5-10 additional minutes of bake time (I haven't tried this iteration). If you'd like to use a 9x13 pan, I'd recommend baking at 350 for at least 30 minutes and adding additional time as needed.
Buttermilk sub: If you don't have buttermilk on hand, you can sub an equal volume of 1 part milk to sour cream or Greek yogurt. In a pinch, you can sub 1 cup of buttermilk for 1 cup of milk (ideally whole milk, but any kind will work) with 1 tablespoon of milk replaced with vinegar.