I don’t know where the name came from, but growing up, we always called this unfancy, delightfully sweet dessert Chocolate Cinnamon Sheet Cake.
It wasn’t until I came across Joy the Baker’s Brown Butter Pumpkin Texas Sheet Cake that I discovered its real name: Texas Sheet Cake.
Apparently, when it’s spiced with cinnamon like this one, it’s also sometimes called Mexican Chocolate Cake.
Cake doesn’t usually tempt me as a dessert of choice, but I’ll take a piece of this any day! (Only if it’s alongside a glass of milk because it’s so sweet and rich!)
That’s probably because it was the only cake my family made for birthdays when we got together with aunts, uncles, and cousins. My Aunt Wendy – who I also got my Creamy Cauliflower Salad from – was always the one who baked it.
Like my grandma’s monster cookies, Mom always swore she couldn’t make it as well as Aunt Wendy did. She stuck to her own specialty instead: Perfectly Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies.
The “Sheet” in Chocolate Cinnamon Sheet Cake
While this is traditionally baked in an aluminum half-sheet pan (18 x 13 x 1), you can also use a 9×13 dish instead. It just takes about 50% longer to cook since the batter sits thicker.
I recently purchased both a quarter-sheet and an eighth-sheet aluminum pan, and I now use them as much as, if not more than, my half-sheets (of which I own 5). They’re especially handy for smaller jobs, like toasting nuts and baking a small portion of fish.
This Chocolate Cinnamon Sheet Cake recipe makes a big cake (it easily serves 16), so sometimes I halve it and bake it in the quarter-sheet pan instead.
My favorite aluminum sheet pans are from Nordic Ware. (Just a heads up that they’re not dishwasher-safe.) You can buy both quarter- and half-sheet sizes with or without plastic lids, but I find the lids worth it for the few times a year I need to transport food.
How to Make Chocolate Cinnamon Sheet Cake
Let’s get cooking!
I’m just going to warn you – when I said this was a delightfully sweet cake, well, there’s a reason I placed emphasis on the sweet. There’s a lot of sugar. Don’t say I didn’t warn you! That’s why we never eat this cake without a jug of milk nearby. Ice cream is good too (vanilla, mink chip, or cherry chip are especially good next to it), but milk is your best bet.
First, preheat your oven to 350°.
Butter and flour your pan. I just peel off the end of one of the sticks of butter I’m using in the recipe and rub it all over the pan.
Then take a spoon and sprinkle a good 1/4 cup of flour on it and carefully tilt it around (over a trash can is good), gently tapping it around until the flour is spread out and lightly coating it. Dump off the excess into the trash.
Mix all your dry ingredients in a large bowl (flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon).
In a small saucepan over medium low heat, melt the butter then add in water and cocoa powder. Whisk well, then pour into the flour mixture. Then add your eggs and buttermilk to the mixture. Whisk thoroughly until silky smooth.
Pour the batter into the half-sheet pan and gently jiggle it to make sure it spreads evenly. Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean from the middle of the cake. (If you’re using a 9×13 casserole dish, it will take about 35 minutes).
Icing Your Warm Sheet Cake
About 5 minutes before the cake is done, make your icing (if you do it too early, it just starts to set up and doesn’t spread as well). You want the icing to be warm when you go to spread it which helps it spread easier and leaves a glossier finish.
In a large saucepan melt the butter over medium heat. Add the cocoa powder and whisk, bringing it to a gentle boil. (You could use the same small saucepan you used earlier but it’s easier to stir all the powdered sugar if you just use a little bigger saucepan.)
Turn off the heat and add the buttermilk, powdered sugar, vanilla, salt, and nuts (if using; we prefer without). Whisk vigorously until smooth.
If your icing sits for more than 5 minutes before the cake finishes, put it back on low for a minute and give it a quick whisk to make sure it’s warm before pouring over the cake.
As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, pour the icing all over the cake and spread it all the way to the edges.
Like I said at the start of this post – it’s not a fancy cake!
We always cut it into large squares – about 16-24 slices per cake.
Wait. Where’s my milk?!
Chocolate Cinnamon Sheet Cake
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Butter and lightly flour a half-sheet pan (18 x 13 x 1) or 9×13 baking dish.
- In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
- In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium low heat, then whisk in water and cocoa powder.
- Add the melted mixture to the dry ingredients and mix well. Then add buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla and mix well.
- Pour the mixture the greased pan and bake for 25 minutes. (If using a 9×13 pan, bake 35 minutes), or until a toothpick comes out clean. (5-10 minutes before the cake finishes, make the icing.)
- In a large saucepan, bring butter and cocoa powder to a gentle boil.
- Turn off the heat, then add the buttermilk, powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt. Mix completely until smooth and silky.
- Pour icing over the hot cake as soon as it comes out and spread it clear to the edges.
Celebrating 46…
I timed this post to coincide with my 46th birthday a couple of weeks ago. We had friends over to help partake of all the cake and now I regret not capturing a photo! After we were already halfway through eating it, someone mentioned they thought maybe they would get to be in my post but it didn’t even dawn on me – and at that point it felt too late.
Oh well, it’s OK if every life moment isn’t caught with a photo, am I right? 🙂
Unless something else comes to mind, this was my last sweet/dessert recipe from my year of recipes with memories. Next up is my grandma’s meatloaf!
