Texas Sheet Cake

We're a long way from Texas here in Australia, but this Texas Sheet Cake sure feels homely and comforting.

It's a sweet and moist boiled chocolate cake – baked in slice dimensions – topped with a thin layer of chocolate icing.

It's also a cinch to put together.

A taste of Texas... in Kurri Kurri

The recipe is from a community cookbook celebrating Kurri Kurri’s 75th anniversary.

I've cooked up a few recipes from this cookbook which my Aunty Judy (one of Nana Ling's granddaughters) gave me and it's quickly becoming one of my favourites.

So many treasures waiting to be cooked up!

Kurri Kurri is a small town in the coalfields area of the Hunter Valley in NSW, Australia, and it's the place where much of my family have lived in or around for generations.

It may be a small town, but the recipes reflect the diversity of Australia that exists even in the smaller country towns.

And here, I've found a little taste of Texas. And it's a taste I'm not going to forget in a hurry. So, so good.

I've adapted and tweaked this original recipe, so please continue scrolling right through to the end of the post to find the updated recipe in the recipe card.

Texas Sheet Cake: the ingredients

To make this cake you'll need:

• butter
• cocoa
• egg
• milk
• white vinegar
• vanilla extract
• bicarb soda
• plain flour (all purpose flour)
• caster sugar
• salt
• icing sugar.

The precise quantities can be found in the recipe card at the end of the post.

These quantities make up a slice tin sized cake (approx 28 x 18cm). 

If you want to make a sheet sized cake (approx 40 x 27cm), you'll need to double the ingredients and add 5 minutes to the cooking time.

Making Texas Sheet Cake

All of the steps can be found below, however here's a quick outline and a few tips:

• The butter, water and cocoa are first brought to the boil before adding the rest of the ingredients. Make sure you use a medium sized saucepan so you can add the rest of the ingredients and mix up the cake in the saucepan.
• The boiled mixture needs to cool for 20 minutes before you add the rest of the ingredients.
• The cake is iced while still warm. The best way to time this is by mixing up the icing about 10 minutes after taking the cake from the oven.

Some versions of this recipe add chopped pecans or other nuts to the icing. Try this as a variation idea.

Store your Texas Sheet Cake in the fridge for best results.

Finally, enjoy your Texas Sheet Cake – wherever you are in the world!

And if you're looking for other US desserts baked up down under, check out my Key Lime Pie recipe.