Amazing Chocolate Recipe For Texas Sheet Cake With Buttermilk

Chocolate Texas Sheet Cake is perfect for a crowd.  The frosting is so good you can eat it with a spoon and the cake is so moist it will last a week if well covered…but no worries…I promise, it won’t last that long!

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It took me years (about 30) to make this chocolate Texas sheet cake recipe and the rabbit catcher was pretty happy when I served it.

My son liked it too, but he likes everything and he loves chocolate cake!

So hell. I’m going to give you this moist chocolate cake recipe because it really is the perfect dessert.

Why This Recipe For Texas Sheet Cake with Buttermilk is So Amazing!

This chocolate cake, which is perfect for a crowd, is the best chocolate sheet cake I know of.

Moist and tender, easy to make, no mixer required, and the frosting is killer.

Plus, it is meant to be made for large crowds, hence the name sheet cake.

No cute three layer cake here, folks. This one is the bake in a pan, take to the bake sale cake. Or take to the potluck, perfect cake.

You could serve it with ice cream, but I’m a purist kind of girl. Just give me a glass of milk and I’m happy.

This truly is a favorite cake of mine.

How Did Chocolate Texas Sheet Cake Originate?

During the ’50’s German chocolate cake was becoming pretty popular.

Apparently a newspaper in Dallas picked up the recipe for German chocolate cake which became quite popular.

Being married to a Texan for so long, I know how much he loves pecans.

German chocolate cake has a layer of pecan filling and though this this recipe for Texas sheet cake with buttermilk does not, it is often topped with crushed pecans.

Frankly, I prefer the chocolate cake and the warm chocolate frosting just the way I made it, but if you are so inclined, feel free to load the top with chopped pecans!

Much easier than baking a three layer German chocolate cake, a chocolate Texas sheet cake is baked in a 13 x 9 pan or a half sheet pan and is made in one bowl.

No mixer required.

Somehow this recipe morphed into this Texas sheet cake and the rest is history.

That is one story.

The other I've heard mentions how large this cake is and since Texas is large, well, who knows, maybe that's how it got its name!

Though it isn't the size of Texas, I guarantee it is perfect for large family gatherings.

Recipe for Texas Sheet Cake with Buttermilk Ingredients

​Sugar

Flour

Melted Butter (I do this in the microwave. Every microwave is different so I hesitate to tell you how!)

Cocoa (not Dutch processed)

Coffee (Use leftover coffee from breakfast as long as it is cool)

Room Temperature Large Eggs

Buttermilk - Texas sheet cake always has buttermilk and that is what makes this cake tender while giving it  a softer texture.

Baking Soda

Vanilla Extract

Chocolate Chips

Frosting:

Butter

Cocoa Powder

Milk (I have lactose free milk that is 2% and it works fine.)

Vanilla Extract

Powdered Sugar

How To Make a Traditional Texas Sheet Cake

Mix the dry ingredients of sugar and all-purpose flour together in a large mixing bowl.

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, heat the butter until melted.

Stir in the cocoa and coffee and heat until boiling.

Pour chocolate mixture over flour mixture and stir well.

In a large 4 cup measuring cup or a small bowl, stir together the buttermilk, eggs, baking soda and vanilla.

Pour the buttermilk mixture over the cake batter and stir well.

Pour batter into a greased 9 x 13-inch pan and bake at 400 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes.

Insert a toothpick into center of cake to test for doneness. Just a few moist crumbs should be clinging to it.

Cake should also be pulling away from the sides of the pan.

​Sprinkle with chocolate chips immediately to melt.

Spread melted chips with an offset spatula before pouring the warm frosting on to the warm cake.

​Spreading the warm frosting will also help melt the chocolate chips.

If you find it hard to spread, put the cake back into the TURNED OFF oven for no more than 5 minutes and then try spreading again.

Prepare frosting while this recipe for texas sheet cake with buttermilk is baking.

Melt butter in large bowl in microwave. Stir in cocoa, milk, vanilla.

Add powdered sugar and stir well. 

Immediately pour over warm cake and chocolate chips.

As cake cools, the frosting will harden.

Tips for Making this Recipe for Texas Sheet Cake with Buttermilk

Chocolate chips are optional, but they do add an extra layer of goodness to this classic cake.

Want to add more depth of flavor? Instead of using all granulated sugar, use part brown sugar.

Don't have coffee? Use  water. Personally I think coffee really adds to this moist sheet cake.

Powdered Sugar Lumpy? Put it through a wire mesh strainer to get the lumps out.

Want a thinner cake? Traditionally a sheet cake is often made with a half sheet pan which is about 18 x 13".

If you choose to bake the larger size, remember to reduce the baking time about 5 minutes

I am happy with a 13 x 9" which makes a thicker cake slice.

Add pecans? Many recipes feature pecans sprinkled on top of the cake.

I love this moist cake exactly like it is, but if pecans float your boat, toast them and sprinkle on!

Add a hint of cinnamon?

Some recipes recommend adding a ½ t of cinnamon to the cake batter.

You do what you want!

FAQ's

And now to the rest of the story!

The rabbit catcher is from Houston. “Uston” to be exact. A long u please..

That’s how they all say it when they talk and catch up, y’all.

We met in Colorado where we both moved to escape our various climates and to go to school.

Yes, I did go to school kids, even if I met your daddy there. 

And I did graduate and not just with an MRS, as some like to say.

Thirty some years later we are both still here.

But I think the rabbit catcher’s parents have always blamed me for not getting their boy back to Texas.

And what can I say? I may not have brought the boy back, but Texas is still in his DNA.

Now the rabbit catcher loves his bbq. He loves his TexMex. And he loves his beer. Now he loves this thin chocolate cake.

But I gotta tell ya’. He had never heard of this chocolate cake recipe for Texas sheet cake with buttermilk.

When I told him it was a Texas sheet cake, “He said-a what? It doesn’t taste like sh–.” 

His hearing isn’t so good either.

Yeah, the rabbit catcher’s humor is surely interesting.

When I explained  a Texas sheet cake is called a Texas sheet cake by virtue of the fact that it is baked on a sheet or a large pan, he wondered why he’d never heard of it before.

I don’t know rabbit catcher, but I’m sho glad ya liked it.

So now Father’s Day is upon us. I don’t have to look at a calendar to know this.

When you read many blogs you know what holidays are coming up, by the topics people write about.

I can  tell you without a doubt that men like meat. They like bbq and nachos. And lasagna.

They love steak and hot sauce. The hotter, the better.

My man likes his cigars, his special tequilas and mezcal.

And I mustn’t leave out hamburgers or hot dogs or brownies or cake or watermelon.

Yes, it is pretty clear to me what dads like to eat. FOOD.

And as long as it is prepared by someone else, things are pretty, pretty good.

So y’all. If you got a big group gathering this weekend, this is most definitely the best chocolate cake to bake or make.

This tender chocolate cake with intense chocolate flavor is the easiest chocolate cake to make.

Or take. Wow, Mondays are so eloquent!

And I can attest to the fact that it keeps for a good 7 days not refrigerated but covered with plastic wrap, and still tastes sweet and moist and plain old delicious.

Make the dads happy. Make anyone happy. If chocolate is their thing, this recipe for Texas sheet cake with buttermilk oughta do.

More Recipes You Will Enjoy!

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