Salty, Sesame-y, Not Too Sweet Texas Sheet Cake

A childhood dessert grows up!

Welcome to a recipe post for paid subscribers! This sheet cake has been a party favorite since childhood. Next Tuesday, all subscribers will receive a photo essay from the road. As always, check out my past posts here and learn more about my day job here. Thanks for reading!

Of all of the desserts in my childhood canon, this one stands alone. Sometimes literally, because apparently Texas sheet cake was not a thing that most people grew up eating (outside of Texas, I presume). After a few frustrating “you’ve REALLY never heard of this?” conversations with friends, I finally did what any person living in the year of our lord 2025 should do and Googled it.

You will be unsurprised to learn that there is not an exact origin story and no one can quite agree: either the recipe for this cake was first published in a Texas newspaper OR the size of the cake reminded people of the size of the state of Texas (?). Whatever her origins, though, we love her.

Rich, chocolatey, and extremely handy for feeding a room full of people a generous helping of dessert, Texas sheet cake is my newly rediscovered obsession. I also ate probably half of this by doing the classic cut-it-in-half-as-you-walk-by, so that should tell you all you need to know.

Tips

• This cake has the tendency to dry out quickly, so whatever you do, don’t overbake it. Once you’ve cut it into pieces, try to keep it in as airtight of a container as possible, either by wrapping it in cellophane or using up most of your leftover containers to hold the slices.

• I use salted butter AND I add a pinch of salt to the batter. There’s a decent amount of sugar in this recipe, which I loved as a kid, but has to be tempered with something to please my 30-something self. The salt helps correct that without affecting the texture. It also pairs *perfectly* with the tahini icing if I do say so myself.

• Yes, speaking of the icing: this is not even close to a traditional Texas sheet cake icing, which is often really caramel-leaning and sometimes flavored with toasted pecans (hard no from me on the grounds of texture). I went rogue and tested a new version with sesame, which I think really works to turn this from sweet + sweet + soft into sweet + salty + silky. You following? Okay good. Let’s get to it.

Texas Sheet Cake