White Texas Sheet Cake is made in a saucepan just like our favorite chocolate Texas sheet cake recipe, but it is flavored with vanilla and almond making it taste more like wedding cake. It is perfect for parties, potlucks, BBQs and more.
With this recipe, you can make a homemade vanilla cake topped with smooth white icing in the simplest possible way. This cake is made like the traditional chocolate Texas sheet cake, but there’s no chocolate in site.
Take a 13x18x1″ half sheet pan and get to work. This recipe makes enough buttery vanilla cake to feed a crowd with very little effort.
The fact that is ready to eat in an hour or two is pretty amazing for a homemade cake. Plus you don’t have to worry about remembering to soften the butter ahead of time.
It will melt when you cook it with the water. There’s no creaming, no mixers, no fuss. Heck, you don’t even need a mixing bowl!
MiMi originally shared this recipe with us in 2015. She had been on a Texas sheet cake baking bender, making all sorts of different flavors.
She asked Pops to choose a flavor for Father’s day and he chose vanilla cake with vanilla icing. Wedding cake, or the mix of white cake and white frosting, is always one of his favorites.
Most cake recipes require softened butter and room temperature ingredients. MiMi doesn’t always plan ahead when making cake so she really likes that Texas sheet cakes start by melting the butter in a saucepan.
It also cuts out the steps of creaming the butter and any other bits that she finds fiddly. She likes recipes as simple as possible and this one fits the bill.
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Most of the ingredients are pantry staples. The icing is cooked also and it spreads out to form a nice smooth layer without much effort, another thing she loves.
You don’t have to worry about crumbs surfacing as you ice the cake. A few sprinkles are all you need to make the cake look finished, there are no decorating skills required.
We used the White Texas sheet cake recipe from Kitty’s Kozy Kitchen as a starting point. After reviewing several recipes, I realized that most of them follow this same recipe.
We like using a mix of almond extract and vanilla extract to give it that wedding cake flavor, so we did alter the recipe for that. Plus we bake it in a 13×8-inch jelly roll pan, because that is a size that most people seem to have.
If you like chocolate frosting on your birthday cake, feel free to use the icing recipe from the chocolate sheet cake. The mix of vanilla cake and chocolate icing is always a hit.
Can I omit the almond extract in this white Texas sheet cake?
Yes. If you want your cake to be a fully vanilla Texas sheet cake, you can leave out the almond flavoring. I would replace it with additional vanilla extract to give it plenty of vanilla flavor.
Using a 10×15-inch pan
We have baked this cake in a 10×15″ pan several times. It gives you a thicker cake layer, which is nice.
Though we have heard from some people that it fills their pan so it is hard to ice the cake. We use a USA Pan cake pan and have had luck with that particular pan.
Storage
Texas sheet cake can be stored loosely covered at room temperature for 3-4 days. If you have a half sheet pan lid, that works great
Otherwise, loosely cover the cake with plastic wrap or foil to the keep the exposed cake from drying out.
For longer storage, you can freeze the cake for up to three months. Either wrap the entire cake in plastic wrap and foil to freeze, or place individual slices in airtight containers to freeze.
Allow frozen cake to defrost at room temperature for a couple of hours and then enjoy.
Vanilla Texas Sheet Cake
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 cup salted butter
- 1 cup water
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs beaten
- ½ cup sour cream
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
Icing
- ½ cup salted butter
- ⅓ cup milk
- 4½ cups powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 375°F and grease a 13x18x1-inch half sheet or jelly roll pan
- Bring butter and water to a boil in a large saucepan.1 cup salted butter, 1 cup water
- Remove from heat and stir sugar until it's dissolved.2 cups granulated sugar
- Add remaining ingredients and stir until a uniform batter is formed.2 cups all purpose flour, 2 large eggs, ½ cup sour cream, 1 teaspoon almond extract, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon salt
- Pour into prepared pan and bake for 18-22 minutes.
- Cool for about 10 minutes.
Icing
- While cake is cooling, bring butter and milk to a simmer in a large saucepan.½ cup salted butter, ⅓ cup milk
- When the butter is melted and the mixture starts to bubble, remove from heat and whisk in remaining ingredients.4½ cups powdered sugar, ½ teaspoon almond extract, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Spread warm frosting over warm cake with an offset spatula. Top with sprinkles if desired. Let cool completely before serving.
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This brings this misplaced Texas girl back home 🙂 Thanks for sharing with us at From The Archives Friday!
Texas sheet cakes are some of my favorite to make!
Is there a way to modify this recipe for a smaller crowd? Thanks!
We have never tried it, but I don't see why you couldn't half it and make it in a 9×9 or 8×8 pan. Just watch it in the oven so you don't over bake it.
Is this cake supposed to be not very "cakey" or did I do something wrong?
Texas sheet cakes are traditionally thinner than a regular cake (like a cake mix cake). Is that what you mean? It should still have a cake texture, just not as tall as you might be used to. Maybe slightly denser too, but you should definitely recognize it as being cake. What does yours look like?
Looks so good, and I REALLY love the thick frosting! =)
I think frosting make the cake, so there has to be a good balance of cake to frosting! Thanks so much! Have a great weekend!
9×13 jelly roll pan? I have a 9×13 cake pan, is that the same thing?
A regular 9×13 would work as well, it will just sit lower in the pan (or you could use a slightly larger jelly roll pan). It is just easier to frost when the the side of the pan are lower.
I had MiMi remeasure the pan just to be sure. The pan she used is 9×13 on if measured on the bottom, but it flares slightly and measures 9 1/2x 14 1/2 on the top, so I would imagine that would sell as a 10×15 with an inch lip.
I think a 9×13 would work great, I would just add a few minutes to the cook time as it will be a little thicker cake.
Me too! Thanks!
I usually make chocolate cakes all the time so this recipe will be a nice change for everyone. thanks for sharing at #AnythingGoes
It is so hard to pick what flavor to do with so many options, but sometimes it is really nice to have a white cake and white frosting! It is my dad's favorite and one of mine too!
I'm a fool for sheet cakes, and I love white cake. Any recipe to try! Thanks for sharing at Funtastic Friday:-)
It had been a while since I made a sheet cake, but now I am on a roll! I can't stop making them. They are so easy and fun!
This looks is yummy! My hubby is a big fan of simple sheet cakes and this one is a winner in his book.
Sometimes simple is really good! It had been quite some time since I had a sheet cake, but I have been getting into them again. This is the third one we have had this year! My littlest sister was in heaven with this one.
I love Texas Sheet Cakes! I've been making the chocolate ones since I was 16, wayyyy back in the day! I believe I've tried this one, but so happy to see the recipe so I can pin it, in this age of technology. lol….thanks so much for sharing. The peanut butter one is also delicious, and sometimes, I make one flavor cake and another flavor icing. Such an easy and delicious cake.
Me too! We used to have the chocolate version all the time when I was younger, but I hadn't had one in quite some time. Now we have been on a sheet cake kick! There is something really fun about them. Plus I really like frosting, so the thinner cakes lends itself to a better cake to frosting ratio for me! 😉