Texas Sheet Cake

From Cook's Country | February/March 2008

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Why this recipe works:

Texas Sheet Cake is a huge, pecan-topped cake with three distinct layers of chocolaty goodness. We poured sweet chocolate icing over a cake hot out of the oven. When it cooled, we had an icing layer, a fudgy layer where the icing and hot cake had mixed together, and a bottom layer of moist… read more

Texas Sheet Cake

The signature fudgy texture is created when warm icing is spread over a hot cake. Watch the Video

Serves 24

Toast the pecans in a dry skillet over medium heat, shaking the pan occasionally, until golden and fragrant, about 5 minutes.

Ingredients

• Cake

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs plus 2 yolks
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder

• Chocolate Icing

• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
• 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
• 3 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup toasted pecans, chopped

Instructions

1. 1. For the cake: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 18- by 13-inch rimmed baking sheet. Combine flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in large bowl. Whisk eggs and yolks, vanilla, and sour cream in another bowl until smooth.
   
   2. Heat chocolate, butter, oil, water, and cocoa in large saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until smooth, 3 to 5 minutes. Whisk chocolate mixture into flour mixture until incorporated. Whisk egg mixture into batter, then pour into prepared baking pan. Bake until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer to wire rack.
   
   3. For the icing: About 5 minutes before cake is done, heat butter, cream, cocoa, and corn syrup in large saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until smooth. Off heat, whisk in confectioners’ sugar and vanilla. Spread warm icing evenly over hot cake and sprinkle with pecans. Let cake cool to room temperature on wire rack, about 1 hour, then refrigerate until icing is set, about 1 hour longer. (Cake can be wrapped in plastic and refrigerated for up to 2 days. Bring to room temperature before serving.) Cut into 3-inch squares. Serve.
   

Timing is Everything

The key to perfectly moist Texas sheet cake is to let the warm icing soak into the hot cake. As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, pour the warm icing over the cake and use a spatula to spread the icing to the edges of the cake. This creates the signature fudgy layer between the icing and the cake.

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