This white Texas sheet cake is a thin party-sized vanilla cake with a soft, moist, and fluffy crumb then topped with sweet almond-flavored frosting!
Other cake recipes that my family loves include this homemade vanilla cake, strawberry shortcake bars recipe and vanilla cupcakes from scratch!
White Texas Sheet Cake Recipe
A white Texas sheet cake crumb is moist and soft, but this time it’s a white cake infused with vanilla or almond extract. I’d say it’s even better than a traditional chocolate Texas sheet cake or strawberry sheet cake!
This recipe comes from my friend Kristyn’s (Lil Luna) new cookbook, which is filled with so many easy and yummy recipes!
Why This Recipe Works
- Better than store-bought. A budget-friendly way to prepare a homemade dessert for a lot of people! The layer of frosting dries on top giving it that signature frosty, sugary texture that just isn’t the same from a box!
- Make 35 slices. This Texas vanilla sheet cake is ideal for office parties, large family gatherings, potlucks, retirement parties, and birthday parties.
Recipe Ingredients
Find the full printable recipe with specific measurements below.
- Baking staples: This recipe starts with unsalted butter, water, all-purpose flour, sugar, a whisked large egg, baking soda, and salt.
- Sour cream: The fat and acid from the sour cream do wonders in baking. It helps to make it light, fluffy, and extra moist.
- Vanilla extract: This Texas white sheet cake is popular with almond extract as well.
- For the frosting: Sliced unsalted butter, 2% milk, vanilla AND almond extract, sifted powdered sugar, salt.
- Optional toppings: Walnuts, sliced almonds, sprinkles, or fresh berries.
Substitutions and Variations
- If you prefer more of that delicious almond flavor in your white sheet cake, then use almond extract rather than vanilla.
- Swap the sour cream for plain yogurt if preferred. They both do the trick.
- If you’re celebrating a birthday, add some of your favorite sprinkles on top.
- This sheet cake is large enough to pipe a nice message! Although, if you need something smaller check out this recipe for texas sheet cake cookies.
- Chopped walnuts or pecans are a great topping as well. You could even mix 1/2 cup right into the frosting. If you want to take this further, I recommend toasting your nuts first.
- In the summer I like to add strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, or blueberries on top.
How to Make White Texas Sheet Cake
- Combine wet and dry ingredients separately. In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients and set it aside. Then, bring butter and water to a light boil over medium heat. Remove it from the heat and let it sit for 2 minutes.
- Mix to form a batter and bake it. Pour the melted butter and water into the flour mixture and stir to combine. Stir in the sour cream, eggs, and vanilla. Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan and bake in a preheated 350°F oven for 18-20 minutes.
- Make the icing. Once the cake is done, make icing right away by melting butter and milk in a saucepan over medium heat until it comes to a light simmer. Then, remove it from the heat and whisk in the vanilla and almond extract and a pinch of salt. Slowly stir in powdered sugar.
- Slather on the cake and serve. Beat icing with a handheld mixer until smooth and lump-free. The consistency should be thin enough to pour but not too thin that it’s a glaze. Pour over the warm cake and use a spatula to spread it evenly. Add any toppings if desired and cool before slicing into squares.
Expert Tips for Making White Sheet Cake
- Make ahead. Save some time on the day of your party and make it 24 hours in advance. Cover it and keep it at room temperature or in the fridge until you’re ready to serve it.
- Ice the cake while it’s warm. Using warm icing on a warm cake makes it easy for the icing to spread across the surface evenly, but it also kind of melts into the cake. The layer of frosting isn’t thick, because the cake itself is quite thin.
- Freezer-friendly. Whether you’re freezing leftovers, or freezing the entire cake to serve later on, this cake freezes beautifully.
Recipe FAQs
To be honest, I’m not so sure anyone knows! There is a theory that because it’s so big, people say it’s the size of Texas. While others say the recipe first appeared in a Texas newspaper.
The difference is in the size of the pan that we use to bake the cake. A typical cake is usually baked in an 8″ or 9″ cake pan. We use a 13×18-inch sheet pan. The larger surface area for the batter to spread means a Texas sheet cake will turn out thinner.
However, the many extra pieces you can get from it, make up the difference!
Keep them covered in an airtight container for up to 3 days. You can also freeze leftover white Texas sheet cake for up to 3 months.
Love vanilla desserts more than chocolate? Try these blondies, white chocolate macadamia nut cookies and homemade vanilla cake.
More Easy Cake Recipes
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White Texas Sheet Cake
Video
Ingredients
Cake:
- 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter , sliced
- 1 cup water
- 2 cups (260 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 cups (400 g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt or table salt
- ½ cup sour cream
- 2 large eggs , whisked
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract , or almond extract
Icing:
- ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter , sliced
- ⅓ cup milk , I used 2 %
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 3 1/2-4 cups (390 g) powdered sugar , sifted
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
Optional toppings: Walnuts, sliced almonds, sprinkles or fresh berries
Instructions
White cake
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter a half sheet pan (13×18 inches) and set aside.
- In a large bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- Heat the butter and water in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a light boil and then remove from heat and let sit 2 minutes (can use same pot for frosting). Then pour into the flour mixture. Stir until combined.
- Stir in the sour cream, eggs and vanilla. Pour mixture into prepared pan.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes clean.
Icing
- Start making the icing as soon as the cake comes out. Melt the butter and milk in saucepan over medium heat. Once the mixture has melted and comes to a light simmer, remove from heat and whisk in vanilla and almond extract and a pinch of salt. Then slowly stir in powdered sugar. Beat with a handheld mixer to remove any lumps. It should be smooth and pourable.
- Evenly pour the warm icing over the warm cake. Immediately spread out evenly with a rubber spatula. Add any toppings if desired (nuts and sprinkles need to be added right after frosting goes on).
- Allow to cool and then cut into squares.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition provided is an estimate. It will vary based on specific ingredients used.
Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to give it a star rating below!
Categorized as: 4th of July, American, Birthdays, Cake + Cupcakes, Desserts, Easter, Valentine's Day
Jamielyn Nye is the founder and recipe creator at I Heart Naptime. She is the author of the I Heart Naptime Cookbook and shares easy family-friendly recipes and desserts for every occasion.
Really enjoyed this sheet cake! Turned out moist and perfectly sweet. – Recipe tester
Agreed, so glad you enjoyed it!
I made this cake as a practice cake for my daughter’s birthday. She has a lot of friends coming, and I need something that yields a lot. My family loved the flavor of the cake and icing! We all ate 2 pieces each. My daughter definitely wants this cake for her party! It’s easy to make with ingredients we usually have anyway. Plus it’s a definite crowd pleaser! I’ll be adding this to my regular baking cycle. I did struggle to get the cake level. Any tips on how to make sure the batter is level in a sheet pan?
Maybe this is too late but. If you have a metal spatula for cakes it’ll work perfect. Go from left to right all the way down the cake, then back up the cake, then turn it horizontal and repeat. Regular spatula will work, or if you had a metal flat top scraper that’ll work too.
This sheet cake recipe for dessert is so much better than storebought! It was a huge hit with everyone at home. We all enjoyed it!
This sheet cake was everything that I wanted it to be and more! thank you so much for sharing this amazing recipe
So glad you enjoyed the cake!
So light, fluffy and delicious. Everyone had seconds. It was gone fast!
I don’t have the pan recommended. Can I use a 13 x 9 pan?
Hi Peggy! I haven’t tested this recipe using a 9×13 pan. If you try it, let me know how it turns out :)