Texas Sheet Cake

Cake

• 2 cups All-purpose flour
• 2 cups Granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1 cup Butter
• 1/3 cup Cocoa powder
• 1 cup Water
• 1/2 cup Buttermilk
• 2 Eggs
• 1 tsp Baking soda

Icing

• 1/2 cup Butter
• 1/3 cup Cocoa powder
• 1/3 cup Milk
• 3 1/2 cups Icing (powdered) sugar
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract

Prep

1. Heat the oven to 190°C (375°F) and grease a half sheet pan (roughly 13x18 inches).

Cake

1. Whisk the flour, sugar, and salt together in a large bowl.
2. Bring the butter, cocoa, and water to a boil in a saucepan, then pour over the flour mixture and stir to combine.
3. Whisk in the buttermilk, eggs, and baking soda.

Bake

1. Spread evenly in the pan and bake until a skewer comes out clean. (Tip: This is much faster than a layer cake because it's spread so thin — start checking early, since it's easy to overbake if you time it like a standard cake.)

Icing

1. A few minutes before the cake is done, bring the icing butter, cocoa, and milk to a boil, then take off the heat and whisk in the icing sugar and vanilla until smooth.

Finish

1. Pour the warm icing evenly over the warm cake right in the pan and spread to the edges. (Tip: Both need to be warm — a fluid icing spreads evenly, and pouring it onto a still-warm cake fuses the two together instead of leaving a separate layer that can crack when sliced.)