White Texas Sheet Cake

Is it slightly weird that I’m posting a recipe for White Texas Sheet Cake when I don’t even have a recipe on here for traditional Texas Sheet Cake? Brian would say it is shocking, sad, and devastating since classic Texas Sheet Cake is one of his favorite desserts in the history of ever making the lack of a post about it all the more tragic, according to him. We do make it occasionally (when we do, he’s usually in charge since it’s his family’s recipe) but since there are 100 million versions of regular ol’ chocolate Texas Sheet Cake in the universe, I wanted to be rebellious and give you a white sheet cake version first.

It’s good. Really, really good.

Just like the chocolate version, boiling part of the cake ingredients and also part of the icing gives this cake its soft, melt-in-your-mouth texture. It bakes up into a deliciously light, thin cake layer and is complimented beautifully by the skinny layer of sweet icing. Funny how rereading that sentence makes me think if I ate another piece or three, I might actually lose weight. Dream on, Mel, dream on.

This simple, pristine cake is pretty much the perfect dessert to take anywhere you need to feed a crowd (potlucks, right?) since it fills up a large cookie sheet and is super un-fussy to serve.

I’ve included a note below about subbing in a bit of this and a little of that (coconut oil, for starters) to make this cake into a coconut lover’s paradise. It’s unbelievable (both the original posted version and the coconut version). And speaking of coconut oil, stay tuned because next week it’s time we sat down over a batch of freshly baked cookies and had a serious chat about the trendy stuff.

One Year Ago: Cheesecake Rice Pudding {Plus a Chocolate Version!}
Two Years Ago: Herb Focaccia Bread
Three Years Ago: Skillet Chicken with Mexican Green Rice

Yield: Serves 12-15

White Texas Sheet Cake

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Ingredients:

Cake:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup sour cream, light or regular
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 cup sweetened, shredded coconut (optional)

Icing:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 3 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly coat a 12X18-inch rimmed baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl combine the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder; set aside. In a medium saucepan combine the butter and water and bring to a boil. Once it comes to a rolling boil, remove from the heat and stir it into the flour mixture until combined. Whisk in the sour cream, eggs, almond extract and coconut (if using).
3. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan and bake for 20-25 minutes.
4. Toward the end of the baking time for the cake, in a saucepan, combine the butter and milk for the icing. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and whisk in the almond extract and then gradually whisk in the powdered sugar until smooth.
5. Once the cake has been taken out of the oven, pour the icing over the warm cake.

Notes:

Ok, let’s talk. You could {probably} halve the recipe for a 9X13-inch pan but I haven’t tried it yet so experiment and let me know how it goes. Also, if you just want to take this to a coconut-crazy level (which I’ve done and absolutely died over), sub the butter for organic, extra-virgin coconut oil in the cake and the icing, switch out the almond extract for coconut extract (or vanilla extract) and sprinkle toasted coconut over the top of the iced cake. The coconut oil gives it a slightly sweeter taste but is delicious. I’ve made it the original way (as posted) and also the coconut way and both are phenomenal. If you don’t love the flavor of almond extract, sub in vanilla extract.

All images and text ©Mel's Kitchen Cafe.

Recipe Source: adapted slightly from my cousin Katie (Aunt Marilyn’s daughter) by way of her sister-in-law, Amy C. (decreased the sugar a bit, experimented with coconut oil and extract, altered baking time just a tad) – thanks, Katie and Amy!