White Texas Sheet Cake
This recipe was originally published on my old blog: MomAndWife.com – June 21, 2011.
This White Texas Sheet Cake might be my favorite cake ever. On my old MomAndWife.com blog – I called it Almond Cake. It’s the one I ask Mom to make for my birthday now, so I think that says a lot. YaYa’s Famous Chocolate Texas Sheet Cake is traditionally superior, but have you tried a White Texas Sheet Cake before?
Picture this.. teenage me is minding my business walking through the house one day, and I stumble up on this cake on the kitchen counter. Discovering random desserts on the kitchen counter was the norm, so that wasn’t the part that surprised me. Mom was always in the kitchen, if there wasn’t some freshly baked something or other on the counter, I’d have been incredibly concerned. For instance, homemade coffee cake had a permanent spot next to the stove. But this was one I’d never seen before, so I thought it had to be for someone else and I shouldn’t try it…
It was the best smelling cake I’d ever encountered. Like, I never knew cake could smell so amazing. So, as we do in this house, I cut “a tiny sliver”. And then, no lie, I think I teared up a little bit. If there were such thing as the perfect cake, this was it. While the same density of a chocolate sheet cake still warm from the oven, it just had this extra bounce to it? Do I sound like a crazy person? Any fellow foodies know what I’m talking about? Whatever, make the cake, you’ll understand.
A few tips from Mom when you’re making this:
- Always mix the wet and the dry ingredients separate.
- Make more than one.
- Do half with pecans, and half without if there are picky kids around.
- Don’t overmix anything, especially the frosting
- Serve warm, don’t refrigerate.
White Texas Sheet Cake
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 cup butter
- 1 cup water
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 cups flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp almond extract
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup sour cream
Icing
- 1 stick butter
- 1/4 cup milk
- 4 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
- 1/2 tsp almond extract
- 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat your oven to 375° and grease your sheet pan
- Bring 1 cup of butter and 1 cup of water to a boil in a large saucepan over medium heat
- Remove from the burner and stir in your sugar until dissolved
- In a large bowl, mix your flour, baking soda and salt
- Make a hole in the middle of your dry ingredient mixture and pour your hot ingredients in then stir
- Mix in your beaten eggs, sour cream and almond extract
- Pour your batter into the greased pan
- Bake for 25-30 minutes - checking the center to ensure it's done. Some sheet pans will be done as quickly as 15 minutes, so keep an eye on it depending on the size of the pan you use.
- Once the cake is out of the oven, start on your icing.
Icing
- Melt your butter and milk in a large saucepan over medium heat.
- Add your confectioners sugar, and almond extract.
- As soon as that's combined, add your pecans or walnuts, stir gently then immediately pour over your cake so the frosting doesn't become tough.