Nana’s Texas Sheet Cake
This cake was my mother’s signature dessert at church potlucks and family birthday parties alike. It is delicious eaten warm, especially with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side.
My adult children call it “the chocolate cake Nana always makes” and request it whenever they come home to visit. Try it, and it may just become a new tradition in your family, too.
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Nana’s Texas Sheet Cake
Ingredients you’ll need to get started
FOR CAKE:
- 2 sticks butter
- 4 Tbsp cocoa
- 1 cup water
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 cups flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup sour cream
FOR ICING:
- 1 stick butter
- 4 Tbsp cocoa
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 6 Tbsp milk
- 1 lb powdered sugar
- 1 cup chopped pecans (optional)
Directions for making Nana’s Texas Sheet Cake
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. Set aside
Heat and stir butter, cocoa, and water until mixture comes to a boil.
Pour over dry ingredients. Mix well.
Add beaten eggs and sour cream. Blend until smooth.
Pour into a large sheet pan that has been greased and floured. Bake for 20 minutes.
While cake is baking, prepare icing. Melt butter. Add cocoa. Mix well, then add milk and vanilla. Add powdered sugar a little at a time while beating with a mixer until smooth. Stir in pecans, if desired. (Whenever the whole family is home, I make one with nuts and another without.)
Once cake has finished baking, remove from the oven and frost while it’s still warm. Serve with a large scoop of vanilla ice cream. Then enjoy!
Love to cook? You can view a categorized list of my other recipe posts here: Our Favorite Recipes. Or — for even more Flanders family favorites, plus a wealth of ideas for making mealtime memorable — get a copy of my book Sit Down & Eat.
Have enough nutritious and delicious recipes to fill a book of your own? Then grab a copy of my new devotional journal for culinary artists, Bread of Heaven so you can put them all down in one place.