This Gingerbread Texas Sheet Cake Recipe is ready to feed a crowd!
This chocolate cake is tender and soft and with lots of festive gingerbread flavor!
This is the BEST gingerbread cake recipe because it makes so many servings in one sheet pan so it’s perfect for serving at parties! Not only that but it tastes incredible, and that’s what really matters, right? This gingerbread sheet cake is one that you won’t soon forget. Made to taste like a chocolate texas sheet cake and gingerbread in one, this cake is rich, flavorful, and perfect for any occasion.
Holiday Sheet Cakes
This gingerbread sheet cake recipe is nothing like the gingerbread cakes you’ve eaten before because it is so much better. This cake is a truly quick and easy crowd pleaser and is sure to make a few appearances throughout the winter months. Made from scratch with simple and basic ingredients this dessert is very easy to pull together and you may even find that you already have many of the ingredients needed to make it inside your home right now! So get baking and enjoy this flavorful cake soon because you’ll see exactly what you’ve been missing out on!
Ingredients
For the cake, you will need:
- All-purpose flour
- Granulated sugar
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Cinnamon
- Ginger
- Nutmeg
- Cloves
- Butter
- Unsweetened cocoa
- Molasses
- Water
- Buttermilk
- Vanilla extract
- Eggs
For the frosting, you will need:
- Butter
- Milk
- Powdered sugar
- Vanilla extract
- Toasted pecans
How to Make Gingerbread Texas Sheet Cake Recipe
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F and spray the inside of an 11×7 jelly roll pan with cooking spray. Set it aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves.
- In a medium saucepan combine the butter, 1/4 cup of water, cocoa, and molasses. Bring to a boil over medium heat.
- Add the butter mixture to the flour mixture.
- Add in the remaining water, buttermilk, vanilla, and eggs.
- Beat the mixture until combined and smooth.
- Pour the cake into the prepared pan and bake for 17-19 minutes or until the cake springs back when touched.
- Remove the cake from the oven.
- Prepare the frosting by combining the butter and milk in a medium saucepan. Allow the mix to come to a boil.
- Whisk in the powdered sugar and then remove the pan from the stove.
- Stir in the vanilla.
- Immediately pour the frosting over the top of the warm cake.
- Sprinkle the top with pecans.
- Let set before slicing and serving.
- Enjoy!
Recipe Tips
- This recipe makes enough to feed a crowd. Of course, the cake slices are not very thick. If you wanted, you could use a 9 x13 inch cake pan instead of a jelly roll pan for denser cake slices. You will have to adjust your bake time accordingly.
- There is not an overwhelming amount of molasses in this cake. Again, I had my memories to contend with; you could add a bit more if you wanted that deep molasses flavor to come out more.
- Aside from the molasses the most important part of the Texas sheet cake recipe is the frosting. I made a vanilla cream cheese frosting that I spread on the warm cake.
- While many Texas sheet cakes have pecans stirred into the frosting, I opted just to sprinkle pecans over the top.
FAQs
Does Texas sheet cake need to be refrigerated?
While you can keep the cake covered and stored in the fridge for up to a week, it is safe to leave it out on the counter for up to 3 days if kept well covered and in a place not filled with a lot of heat and humidity.
Why do they call it Texas Sheet Cake?
The name is a fun play on the term “everything is bigger in Texas.” Texas sheet cakes are known for being larger than your average cakes which makes them not only fun to make and serve but also a great way to serve a crowd.
Can I freeze Texas sheet cake?
Yes, you can freeze the cake. I recommend freezing the cake after it has been frosted and as a whole. Simply place the baking sheet of cooled and frosted cake in the freezer for about 2 hours until solid and then wrap it well in plastic wrap before placing it back into the freezer. Let remain frozen for up to a month before thawing in the fridge or on the counter and serving. Enjoy!
Here are some more great gingerbread recipes to enjoy soon!
- Chocolate Gingerbread Cake
- Gingerbread Latte Cupcakes
- Butterscotch Gingerbread Cookies
- Cheesecake Filled Gingerbread Muffins
- Gingerbread Oatmeal Cream Pies
Gingerbread Texas Sheet Cake
A soft and tender Texas sheet cake with the perfect blend of chocolate and gingerbread!
Ingredients
Cake
- 2 cups flour
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon cloves
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
- 1/3 cup molasses
- 1/2 cup water, divided
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 eggs
Frosting
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/4 cup milk
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 cup toasted pecans, chopped
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Spray an 11 x 17 in. jelly roll pan with non-stick spray and set aside.
- Combine flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves in the bowl of a stand mixer.
- In a medium saucepan, combine butter, 1/4 cup water, cocoa, and molasses and bring to a boil over medium heat.
- Add butter mixture to flour mixture, followed by remaining water, buttermilk, vanilla, and eggs. Beat mixture until combined and smooth.
- Pour cake into prepared pan and bake for 17-19 minutes or until the cake springs back when touched. Remove the cake from the oven.
Frosting
- To prepare the frosting, combine butter and milk in a medium saucepan. Allow mixture to come to a boil.
- Whisk in powdered sugar; remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in vanilla.
- Immediately pour frosting over warm cake. Sprinkle cake with pecans.
Nutrition Information
Yield
16Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 428Total Fat 15gSaturated Fat 8gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 6gCholesterol 54mgSodium 233mgCarbohydrates 72gFiber 1gSugar 58gProtein 3g
Medeja says
I love everything gingerbread! Including this cake!
Annie says
“at least the dog was joyful” haha!! Dogs are good for that!
At least you got this yummy cake out of the experience, it looks amazing!
Sagan says
Love how much frosting is on that cake! Looks like a good frosting-to-cake ratio to me 🙂
Alayna says
Looks fantastic. I bet this recipe is a real winner at holiday parties. Thanks for sharing with us at the #HomeMatersParty
Megan says
It looks so yummy 🙂
I am going to try it!!
Connie says
Families can be so hurtful. there could have been something so hurtful to her that she just gave up being nice.The cake looks so delicious and I am going to try it soon.
Auntiepatch says
4. Add butter mixture to flour mixture, followed by buttermilk, water, vanilla and eggs.
I don’t see the water after the buttermilk. Am I missing something?
Ruth Ohlsen says
is there more water to this recipe that is not listed
Tanya Schroeder says
No, the order appears differently in the directions than in the ingredient list.
BR says
You really need to check the recipe directions. There’s a random extra water and the frosting came out horrible. I think you meant 1/2 cup butter instead of 1 cup? I had to put in way more than 6 1/2 cups powdered sugar to salvage it.
Terrie Sutton says
This recipe sounds wonderful but you have the word water two times in your directions you have the water in with the butter mixture to melt in the pan then you have the word water before you add in buttermilk so is it two different Waters or what
Tanya Schroeder says
Thank you the water is divided. I did fix this in the recipe card!
Roberta says
It says vanilla cream cheese frosting in your story/description, but there’s no cream cheese listed in the ingredients.
Vivian says
I have a question about that, too. My frosting is a gummy mess. Is there supposed to be cream cheese in the frosting?
If you will write “divided use next to the water in the ingredient list, that would help.
I think the cake needs to bake longer at a lower temp, maybe 350 or even 325. The sides of the cake rise while the middle stays sunken. I made the cake twice. The flavor is good and I love the concept. But you need to test it again as it’s written. Thanks.