White Texas Sheet Cake

One of my all time  favorite desserts is this Texas Sheet Cake I posted a couple of weeks ago.  Seriously YUMMY!  Well, I got wind of a recipe for a white Texas Sheet Cake and had to try it out.  My my my--this cake is DIVINE!  Moist and buttery with a hint of almond in the frosting.  It really was equally fantastic to the popular chocolate version.  I love that it is so easy to make, comes together quick with ingredients I have on hand and the best part...it can be made ahead of time.  In fact, it is actually better the second day.  Now for those of you who are not fans of nuts, I have a little secret for you:

I left it off the majority of my cake:)  You can definitely leave them off, and it will still be over the top fantastic!!  I was bringing this treat to church for the young women that I work with (ages 12-18)  and wasn't sure that nuts would be very popular with that age group.  I was right--most of the girls requested their slice sans nuts:) All of them  loved it though, and so did I!  I brought home the leftovers for my family who also sang it's praises!  This cake really is amazing!  I am so glad I tried it out and will be making white texas sheet cake for years to come!  I was thinking it would be fun to have both varieties for the next party or gathering we have.  Either way, I have decided you just can't go wrong with Texas Sheet Cake!

White Texas Sheet Cake
submitted by Melanie~thesisterscafe.com

1 c. butter
1 c. water
2 c. flour
2 c. sugar
2 eggs
1/2 c. buttermilk or sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda

Frosting:
1/2 c butter
1/2 c buttermilk or milk
4 1/2 c. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp almond extract (or vanilla if you prefer)
pinch of salt

1 c. chopped walnuts, optional

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In a small saucepan, bring 1 c. butter and water to a boil. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt, mix to combine. Add hot butter mixture to wet, stir. Add buttermilk or sour cream to the cake mixture, blend. Then, add eggs and vanilla, blend. Grease large jelly roll pan, and pour batter into pan. Bake for 30 minutes, or until done. Do not overcook, the cake should not be brown! Let cake cool 20 minutes before making frosting, you want it to be slightly warm when you frost it.
For the frosting, in a small saucepan, combing the 1/2 c. butter and 1/2 c. buttermilk or milk, bring to a boil. In a large bowl, measure out 3 cups of powdered sugar and a pinch of salt, pour hot mixture and almond extract over powdered sugar, and mix to combine, adding more sugar to reach desired consistency. You don't want the frosting to be thick. Since the mixture is hot, as it cools, it will harden. Look for the consistency of slightly runny pudding.  Spread frosting on the cake quickly as the frosting cools fast!  Sprinkle with chopped nuts.  OR you can add the nuts to the frosting before you frost the cake.

Recipe Source:  TDF Recipes