This Texas sheet cake recipe is ready to feed a crowd! This chocolate cake is tender and soft and with lots of festive gingerbread flavor!
When I was little, the only vacation we took were to Michigan or Canada and this purely to visit family. We never did much “on vacation”, there was lots of eating and sitting on people’s couches visiting. I think my mom as a whole album full of the family sitting on couches.
In Michigan, we would visit my mom’s uncle. They had a farm, although I don’t remember much. I remember land, but no animals or crops. Aside from the farm land, I mostly remember being bored. And I remember my great aunt’s grumpy demeanor. The women never smiled, barely spoke and was, in general, unpleasant to be around. My great uncle had a similar personality, and while they had older children, they did their best to ignore me. The best part about going to visit the farm was the family dog. At least, the dog was joyful.
I vividly remember being offered a piece of cake during one of our visits. I was so excited, for one thing, it was cake, and secondly, I mistook that offer of cake as a sign that my great aunt was a sweetheart after all. Well, I was wrong on both accounts. The cake was a dry, unfrosted spice cake which was given to me out of obligation. I hated that cake. I hated everything about it from the bitter taste to the stout coloring.
That horrid cake was in the back of my mind as set out to make this gingerbread Texas sheet cake recipe. I had success with gingerbread and chocolate in these Gingerbread Cupcakes and this Gingerbread Cake so I felt pretty confident diving into this recipe. When it comes to cake, a stout colored cake is fine as long as the cake tastes like chocolate (this cake does) and a little gingerbread spice is good as long as it’s not overpowering (it isn’t). All in all, this Texas sheet cake recipe turned out splendidly. It is easy, quick and a true crowd pleaser!
Notes about the recipe:
- This recipe makes enough to feed a crowd. Of course, the cake slices are not very thick. If you wanted, you could use a 9 x13 inch cake pan instead of a jelly roll pan for denser cake slices. You will have to adjust your bake time accordingly.
- There is not an overwhelming amount of molasses in this cake. Again, I had my memories to contend with; you could add a bit more if you wanted that deep molasses flavor come out more.
- Aside from the molasses the most important part of the Texas sheet cake recipe is the frosting. I made a vanilla cream cheese frosting that I spread on the warm cake.
- While many Texas sheet cakes have pecans stirred into the frosting, I opted just to sprinkle pecans over the top.
Gingerbread Texas Sheet Cake
A soft and tender Texas sheet cake with the perfect blend of chocolate and gingerbread!
Ingredients
- 2 cups flour
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon cloves
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
- 1/3 cup molasses
- 1/2 cup water, divided
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/4 cup milk
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 cup toasted pecans, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Spray an 11 x 17 in. jelly roll pan with non-stick spray and set aside.
- Combine flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves in the bowl of a stand mixer.
- In a medium saucepan, combine butter, 1/4 cup water, cocoa, and molasses and bring to a boil over medium heat.
- Add butter mixture to flour mixture, followed by remaining water, buttermilk, vanilla, and eggs. Beat mixture until combined and smooth. Pour cake into prepared pan and bake for 17-19 minutes or until the cake springs back when touched. Remove the cake from the oven.
- To prepare the frosting, combine butter and milk in a medium saucepan. Allow mixture to come to a boil. Whisk in powdered sugar; remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in vanilla. Immediately pour frosting over warm cake. Sprinkle cake with pecans.
Nutrition Information
Yield 16 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 428Total Fat 15gSaturated Fat 8gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 6gCholesterol 54mgSodium 233mgCarbohydrates 72gFiber 1gSugar 58gProtein 3g
Medeja says
I love everything gingerbread! Including this cake!
Annie says
“at least the dog was joyful” haha!! Dogs are good for that!
At least you got this yummy cake out of the experience, it looks amazing!
Sagan says
Love how much frosting is on that cake! Looks like a good frosting-to-cake ratio to me 🙂
Alayna says
Looks fantastic. I bet this recipe is a real winner at holiday parties. Thanks for sharing with us at the #HomeMatersParty
Megan says
It looks so yummy 🙂
I am going to try it!!
Connie says
Families can be so hurtful. there could have been something so hurtful to her that she just gave up being nice.The cake looks so delicious and I am going to try it soon.
Auntiepatch says
4. Add butter mixture to flour mixture, followed by buttermilk, water, vanilla and eggs.
I don’t see the water after the buttermilk. Am I missing something?
Ruth Ohlsen says
is there more water to this recipe that is not listed
Tanya Schroeder says
No, the order appears differently in the directions than in the ingredient list.
BR says
You really need to check the recipe directions. There’s a random extra water and the frosting came out horrible. I think you meant 1/2 cup butter instead of 1 cup? I had to put in way more than 6 1/2 cups powdered sugar to salvage it.
Terrie Sutton says
This recipe sounds wonderful but you have the word water two times in your directions you have the water in with the butter mixture to melt in the pan then you have the word water before you add in buttermilk so is it two different Waters or what
Tanya Schroeder says
Thank you the water is divided. I did fix this in the recipe card!