White Texas Sheet Cake with Warm Almond Buttercream
As soon as I tasted this cake – I knew, I had to have the recipe, I had to share it on the blog – what the world needs now is this cake. One bite will start a chain reaction of all things good – hey, world peace starts with good cake ((I wish)). A cake this tasty is perfect for a celebration – how about and Independence Day celebration?
A few months ago, I was at a potluck dinner at mom & dad’s church. I usually pass on dessert – because once I start trying of the deliciousness at the dessert table, I find it hard not to sample everything. Regardless, one thing I simply cannot say no to is homemade white cake with homemade white icing.
Some people are chocolate cake people, others are white cake people….I am a white cake person, haha! I whispered to mom, ‘do you know who made this?’ – she pointed to the lady who made this little piece of Heaven and said ‘go ask her for it, I am sure she will share it with you.’ I twisted mom’s arm, trying to convince her to acquire it for me. Why I have a problem asking people for recipes I don’t know… I imagine someone snapping ‘NO – it’s a secret family recipe & you are not family…’ and I just can’t rev myself up to hear that.
Well, even though I twisted mom’s arm, she would not budge. Then David started teasing me. Oh, they were having a grand old-time at my expense. Then mom popped up and went to talk to the lady who made the cake. I felt relieved. Then a strange thing happened, mom came back to our table and set down. ‘Okay, you can go ask her now – I told her you were coming over.’
Now is where I go from relief to confusion. ‘Why would mom get up, walk over and talk – just to tell her I am coming to ask for her recipe?’ AND ‘now I look like a weirdo’. After a few minutes of mom’s persistence and my resistance, I walked up to the sweet church lady ((Cheryl)) and said ‘I just love your cake – I have never tasted anything so delicious – the almond extract just makes it perfect, could I please have your recipe?’. She looked at me and said ‘No, I just can’t – I don’t share my recipes…’
I gulp & start to apologize (why I am sorry has nothing to do with her and everything to do with being sorry I let mom push me into asking for the recipe…) and then she looks at me and dies laughing. Through the hahas she says – ‘your mom made me do it. I am sorry – I didn’t want to be mean, your mom made me say it ((interesting)), YES!! You can have the recipe!!’. It suddenly makes sense – Mom has tears coming out from laughing so hard. And that is the story of how I got this recipe and a list of neuroses I try to deny ownership of.
Nothing can distract from the deliciousness of this recipe. Possessing the recipe makes it all worth it! Here are a few tips I learned as I followed the recipe:
- The recipe is intended for a 15″x10″x1″ baking pan. I have a pan smaller and a pan larger, but not this size. If I went with the smaller pan – it would overflow & using the larger pan would cause it to be too thin. I fixed this by adding 1 cup flour, ½¼¾ t baking soda, ¼ cup sour cream, 1 cup sugar & one egg. Those additions caused the batter to fit perfectly into a 17″x11″x1″ jelly pan or a half sheet baking pan.
- You may think that sour cream is optional. It is not. I learned the hard way. Actually, I forgot it – the first time. It tasted good but had a weird texture. So – don’t leave out the sour cream.
- One thing that makes this recipe unique is adding raining ingredients to water and butter that have melted on the stove. I add the sugar right away, stirring cooks it slightly. Then I combine all the dry ingredients and add the dry in thirds alternating and egg between each third.
- When adding the eggs, whisk as if you are in the last turn of an Olympic race and you’re ahead by a nose ((fast)). If you are too slow your eggs will scramble – and I am pretty sure that would make this cake NOT the best white cake ever….
- Now for the icing, it is also prepared on the stove top. If you increase the amount of batter, you will need to increase the amount of icing. Just add 1-2 extra T of milk and 1 c of powdered sugar.
- One last tip, make sure you time the end of the cake baking pretty close to the end of icing making. I think the best timing is to pull the cake out, let it cool for 5 minutes & during that 5 minutes finish mixing up the icing. Once the icing is finished, pour it over the warm cake. This will help to spread out evenly and result in a smooth appearance. My timing was slightly off and the icing looked dry in a few places.
- 1 c water
- 1 c butter ((2 sticks))
- 2 c sugar
- 2 eggs, beaten
- ½ c sour cream
- 2 t almond extract
- 2 c flour
- 1 t kosher salt
- 1 t baking soda
- ½ c butter
- ¼ c milk
- 4½ c confectioners sugar
- 1 t almond extract
- 1 c pecans (optional - I didn't use pecans)
- Preheat oven to 375°. In a large saucepan, bring butter and water to a boil. Combine flour, salt & baking soda in a medium mixing bowl. Remove the butter & water from the heat, add sugar, stirring to dissolve. Add about 1/3 of the flour mixture, stir. Add a beaten egg, stir (quickly so the egg doesn't scramble) & and repeat this process until the flour and egg have been incorporated in the warm liquid and the batter is smooth. Add sour cream and almond extract, stirring to combine.
- Pour batter into a greased 15"x11"x1" jelly roll pan (I also lined it with parchment paper). Place in a preheated oven for 18 minutes until golden brown and the toothpick tests clean.
- Meanwhile, combine butter & milk in a medium saucepan & bring to a boil. Remove from heat & stir in confectioners sugar and almond extract. Continue to stir until smooth. Pour over cake that has cooled for about 5 minutes but is still pretty warm.
- Yields 16-20 servings.
- 1½ c water
- 1½ c butter ((3 sticks))
- 3 c sugar
- 3 eggs, beaten
- ¾ c sour cream
- 2 t almond extract
- 3 c flour
- 1½ t kosher salt
- 1½ t baking soda
- ¾ c butter
- ½ c milk
- 6 c confectioners sugar
- 1½ t almond extract
- 1½ c pecans (optional - I didn't use pecans)
- Preheat oven to 375°. In a large saucepan, bring butter and water to a boil. Combine flour, salt & baking soda in a medium mixing bowl. Remove the butter & water from the heat, add sugar, stirring to dissolve. Add about 1/3 of the flour mixture, stir. Add a beaten egg, stir (quickly so the egg doesn't scramble) & and repeat this process until the flour and egg have been incorporated in the warm liquid and the batter is smooth. Add sour cream and almond extract, stirring to combine.
- Pour batter into a greased 17"x11" jelly roll pan or half sheet baking pan (I also lined it with parchment paper). Place in a preheated oven for 20 minutes until golden brown and the toothpick tests clean.
- Meanwhile, combine butter & milk in a medium saucepan & bring to a boil. Remove from heat & stir in confectioners sugar and almond extract. Continue to stir until smooth. Pour over cake that has cooled for about 5 minutes but is still pretty warm.
- Yields 28 servings.