Texas Sheet Cake

By Caroline Cummins, from the Culinate Kitchen collection

Total Time

1 hour

Introduction

There are many versions of this Southern classic, but all are essentially dump-and-stir cakes baked in a rectangular pan and served cut into squares. A potluck and birthday-party favorite, this cake is reliably moist and quite sweet.

Ingredients

Cake

	2	cups sugar
	1	cup vegetable oil, such as canola
	2	eggs
	2	cups all-purpose flour
	1	tsp. baking soda
	½	tsp. salt
	⅓	cup baking cocoa
	1	cup buttermilk
	½	cup water
	1	tsp. vanilla extract

Icing

	6	oz. confectioners’ sugar, plus more if needed
	¼	cup baking cocoa
	⅛	cup (¼ stick) melted butter
	⅛	tsp. vanilla extract
	⅓	cup buttermilk

Steps

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a bowl, mix the sugar, oil, and eggs together. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, and baking cocoa. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix well. Add the buttermilk, water, and vanilla extract and mix well; the resulting batter will be thin.
3. Spoon the batter into a lightly greased 13-by-9-by-2-inch pan. Bake for about 35 to 40 minutes.
4. While the cake is baking, prepare the icing. Sift together the confectioners’ sugar and the baking cocoa. Whisk in the melted butter, vanilla extract, and buttermilk; icing should be smooth and free of lumps. If the icing seems too thin, sift and whisk in more sugar.
5. When the cake is done, pour the icing over the hot cake and let cool in the pan. Cut into squares to serve.

Notes

For cupcakes, simply divide the batter evenly among two muffin trays, for a total of 24 cupcakes. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. When cool, frost with the marshmallow-tasting White Fluffy Frosting, the frosting from Catherine’s Carrot Cake with Cream-Cheese Frosting, or a light dusting of powdered sugar; the runny icing used on the sheet cake is too liquid to use on cupcakes.

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