You’re going to love this low carb Texas Sheet Cake recipe. This delicious keto chocolate cake stays true to the original, with a boiled cocoa frosting. You won’t believe it’s sugar-free! Now with an instructional video.
The creation of this Texas sheet cake recipe was a foregone conclusion. Pre-ordained. Written in the stars. Fate, destiny, kismet. It was an absolute inevitability.
From the moment I published my low carb Peanut Butter Sheet Cake, I had readers requesting one of the traditional chocolate variety. Texas sheet cake seems to speak to something deep within the collective American psyche. And I got requests from all over the country, so it’s not as geographically limited as the name might suggest.
It’s a well loved American classic and I simply can’t argue with that. So you know I had to give it a go!
How To Make Keto Texas Sheet Cake
However, it’s hard to stay true to a classic when working with a completely different set of ingredients. Almond flour is not the same as wheat flour and my low carb sweeteners are not the same as sugar.
But this non-Texan, non-American resident alien did her best. I researched Texas sheet cake recipes for several days before even attempting to de-carbify this iconic dessert.
See, with the peanut butter version, I was straying far enough from the original concept to just do what I wanted with it, tradition be damned. Basically, it was a delicious grain-free peanut butter cake with a delicious sugar-free peanut butter frosting.
But if I was going to attempt a real Texas sheet cake recipe, I wanted it to be as close to the original as possible, and yet still without gluten or sugar. Tricky, that! I could easily have just relied on any one of my low carb chocolate cake recipes and then simply spread it with chocolate frosting, sprinkled it with pecans, and called it done.
Instead, I tried to take some main tenets from the traditional recipes and apply them to my low carb ingredients. Such as bringing the butter, water, and cocoa powder to a boil before adding it to the flour mixture for the cake, an unusual step that I had never done in any other cake recipes.
And also to stay true to the original, I poured the warm frosting over the warm cake, instead of letting it cool as I would any other cake. This makes something of a marriage between the frosting and the cake so that the cake is extra moist.
Again, not something I would do with any other cake recipe. But it worked beautifully.
The final result? Oh, kids, do you even need to ask? From Anchorage to Miami and everywhere in between, low carb dieters can now enjoy real Texas sheet cake. Maybe even some of my fellow Canucks will give it a go!
Tips for making Low Carb Texas Sheet Cake
Grease the pan well: And then do yourself a favor and grease it again. This is what I call double greasing and it helps my low carb cake recipes release more easily. I do a solid fat first, like butter, really working it into the creases. Then I spray with coconut oil or avocado oil spray.
Use a rimmed baking pan: Sheet pans or jelly roll pans come in various sizes. The one I used for this Texas sheet cake recipe is 10×15, which is a slightly unusual size. It’s okay to use an 11×17 pan too, but your cake will be thinner and will bake a little faster.
Protein powder: yes, it’s necessary. No, you can’t skip it. It’s part of what helps the cake rise and hold its shape. However, you can use egg white protein or hemp protein. Please do not try collagen, it will make the cake very gummy.
Pour the glaze over the cake while it’s hot! This is part of the charm of Texas Sheet Cake, the way the cake and glaze come together and are almost melted into each other. You can let the cake cool a bit but the glaze needs to be quite warm as you pour it over.
Let it cool to room temp: You don’t need to refrigerate the cake, just let it cool and the frosting will set.
Have some friends over and enjoy!
More Keto Sheet Cake Recipes
There’s also a fabulous Tiramisu Sheet Cake in my best-selling Easy Keto Desserts Cookbook!
Texas Sheet Cake
Ingredients
Cake:
- 2 cups almond flour
- ¾ cup Swerve Sweetener
- ⅓ cup coconut flour
- ⅓ cup unflavoured whey protein powder
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup butter
- ½ cup water
- ¼ cup cocoa powder
- 3 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- ¼ cup water
Frosting:
- ½ cup butter
- ¼ cup cocoa powder
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- ¼ cup water
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups powdered Swerve Sweetener
- ¼ teaspoon xanthan gum
- ¾ cup chopped pecans
Instructions
Cake:
- Preheat oven to 325F and grease a 10x15 inch rimmed sheet pan very well.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the almond flour, sweetener, coconut flour, protein powder, baking powder, and salt. Break up any clumps with the back of a fork.
- In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine the butter, water, and cocoa powder, stirring until melted. Bring to a boil and then remove from heat. Add to the bowl.
- Add eggs, vanilla extract, cream and water and stir until well combined. Spread in prepared baking pan.
- Bake 15 to 20 minutes, until cake is set and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
Frosting:
- In another medium saucepan, combine butter, cocoa powder, cream, and water. Bring to a simmer, stirring until smooth. Stir in vanilla extract. Add powdered sweetener ½ a cup at a time, whisking vigorously to dissolve any clumps. Whisk in xanthan gum.
- Pour over warm cake and sprinkle with pecans. Let cool until frosting is set, about 1 hour.
Video
Notes
Lorraine Toner says
This keto Texas sheet cake is about as close to the original as you can get! It’s absolutely delicious! Everyone in my office loved it! Your recipes are amazing!! Thank you so much!!
Carolyn says
So thrilled you think so!
Josie says
This was terrific–made it last night for game day.
Only one problem–as another person posted, my frosting was also gritty. Yet I followed the recipe and directions to a ‘T’ and made sure to bring the frosting to a boil.
Another thing I noticed is there seemed to be a slight oiliness to the finish of the frosting, though it did set up fine.
Any other ideas as to why my frosting was gritty–I’d really like to make this again?
Carolyn says
Without being in your kitchen and watching everything you do, no I can’t say why except for the fact that it’s erythritol and it can happen. However, I’ve found that a little allulose can offset this, so perhaps you can try a tablespoon or two of that in the frosting next time.
Josie says
Thanks, Caroline!
I’ll try that, if I can find it, ha.
Anyway, just made the Poppyseed Bundt cake today for another game day tomorrow. It’s a ‘petite’ cake, but looks like it turned out well.
I used to follow your blog back in 2017, but got distracted (unfortunately for my chubby bod), but I’m back again!
Carolyn says
Welcome back!
Connie McDonald says
What brand of whey powder do you use?
Carolyn says
I like this one: https://amzn.to/3lRxXSa
Kimberly Gilliam says
Can you use all coconut flour. I have a family member who is allergic to almonds.
Thank you.
Carolyn says
Not in this recipe, no. But you could use sunflower seed flour in place of the almond.
Kristi says
So good. I would Love a keto White Texas sheet cake version. that was my favorite growing up in Texas! It has an almond flavor.
Carolyn says
I will think about that!
Penny Reveile says
Oh, Carolyn! You have done it again!!! This recipe is wonderful. The only thing I saw missing from this one that most of your other recipes had was the choice to use US or metric measurements. I had a wise woman tell me that measuring ingredients when baking keto/low carb was much more accurate. :o)
Jana says
This cake was amazing. Brought back childhood memories and neither of us could tell the difference from the original. Thank you for making low carb easy peasy.
Ananda Grimes says
I’ve wanted to try this for a long time! It’s just me and my husband so I halved tbe recipe. I usually don’t love almond flour based recipes, but this was amazing!! I used allulose for sweeter and added 1/2 tsp of espresso powder to the cake and frosting. I poked holes in the cake before I poured frosting over it. So moist and chocolaty and perfect!! Thanks Carolyn!
Carolyn says
Glad to hear it!
Deborah M Kloss says
Very tasty….thank you for the easy recipe!
Renee says
This is amazing! I made it last night and my husband loved it! (He’s sugar free skiddish) You can’t tell this is sugar free! It taste GREAT! Thankyou for taking the time to give us GREAT recipes!
Grace Tutt says
I cannot wait to try this. I’m a Texas gal and grew up eating Texas sheet cake. We all thought our mother invented the recipe. Lol
She always puts a teaspoon of cinnamon in hers and I do too. I’m so excited to see a keto version of my favorite chocolate cake. My dad, sister, brother are all diabetic and I have a great nephew is allergic to gluten. This will work for everyone.
Thanks so much for the recipe.
Suez says
OMG I am a Texas girl living. Healthy now in Portland, OR. I added a packet of instant coffee to cake and to icing! OMG thank you for this recipe… Susan
Alayna says
THIS IS AMAZING!!!! From this Texas gal and her picky kids! My son says it tastes just like the original! Thanks soooo much!
Carolyn says
So glad to hear it!
Lisa says
could you use whey isolate instead of unflavoured protein powder?
Carolyn says
Yes, that works.
Fay says
Hi there, my old original recipe calls for sour cream and I love how it makes the cake moist and gives it a great flavor. Do you think I could use sour cream instead of the heavy cream and water? Thank you in advance and I love all of your recipes!!
Carolyn says
You can certainly try! I would see how thick it is and add a bit of water if the batter is quite thick.
Fay says
Thank you for responding. I’m going to try this soon!!