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
- 3/4 cup Swerve Sweetener
- 1/3 cup coconut flour
- 1/3 cup unflavoured whey protein powder
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 3 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1/4 cup water
Frosting:
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups powdered Swerve Sweetener
- 1/4 tsp xanthan gum
- 3/4 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 1/2 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
Nutrition
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Can I just tell you how much I love you?!!? Texas sheet cake was always my ‘go to’ thing to bring to family pot lucks. Since going keto I have been struggling to find THE DESSERT recipe that I could share with both keto and non-keto family and friends. THIS IS AMAZING!!! I can’t believe how easy it is to make and how AWESOME it tastes. I had trouble convincing some people it was low carb. Now I won’t be able to show up for any family function without this cake. Thank you = )
YAY!!!
Hello please can you confirm that it is 1 tablespoon of baking powder. Only looks like a teaspoon in the video??
Only made something recently that said tbsp which I took be tablespoon and erupted in the oven, such a mess????
Love all your recipes now have such a stack of ones on file to work my way through❤️
It is one full tablespoon… in the video and in the recipe.
In some of the comments regarding what to use if you don’t have unflavored whey protein, i am a little confused.
Please clarify all proper choices in order you would choose: egg protein, chocolate whey protein, chocolate protein powder, vanilla whey protein, vanilla protein powder, plant based protein powder vanilla or chocolate. Bottom line need to understand if all protein powders are the same when baking.
Love your videos, all inspiring me to take chances to become a better Ketogenic living human!
Why worry about all the comments and let yourself be confused? Tell me what you have and I can guide you.
I have Strawberry Whey Protein Powder (2carbs/25.6g), Vanilla Plant Based Protein Powder (8carbs/34g), and Chocolate Plant Based Protein Powder (7carbs/23g). Would like to know if whey is preferred when baking goal is low carb or is it preferred because it creates better texture for end product.
Chocolate would probably be best in this recipe. They are all going to be just fine, though.
Thanks Carolyn,
Texas sheet cake was a hit for my insulin dependent husband’s birthday this year.
It makes his week to be able to enjoy cake without the quilt/fear of insulin spikes.
life has changed for him! We both have enjoyed your other low carb desserts cakes:
Italian Cream Cake, Kentucky Butter Cake, Chocolate Cream Cheese Muffins
Thanks!
The cake is delicious and the frosting set up beautifully. However, even though I used powdered swerve, the frosting has some grittiness to the texture. I simmered and whisked the frosting but did not bring it to a boil. Do you think perhaps I should have increased the heat or something?
The glaze is supposed to boil so that may be part of it.
I made this and it was AWESOME!!! Quick question though I have a friend at work requesting it to have a bit less sweetener. Crazy I know lol. I was going to make one for her birthday but afraid the frosting will not set if I use less powdered sugar. Any advice!?
I think is more of a glaze than a frosting so I think it will be okay.
I really like your recipes.. But, have you considered also including the Metric measurements? As I live alone, I often want to cut recipes to half. Also, with years of baking I have come to rely on grams so repeat recipes are consistent. Yes, I do measure and write down the grams as warranted, But I think you could make this step disappear if you provided. Thanks for listening. Eva
Just work from this: almond flour = about 100g per cup. Coconut flour = 110g per cup.
Good morning. I am really wanting to try this cake. however, husband can detect coconut flour like no ones business. any suggestions of what to sub?
Thank you!
You can replace it with 3x the amount of almond flour. So another full cup of almond flour in addition to the other two.
I don’t have any unflavored whey powder. I do hasn’t Keto chocolate protein powder & chocolate whey powder. Would either of those work? If yes, would I need to change like the amount of cocoa powder to make it work out?
Do the chocolate whey protein, but don’t worry about adjusting the cocoa. It isn’t enough to really skew the ingredients.
I’ve made this cake 3 times now, and it is such a winner. Absolutely love it. Be sure not to overbake (I do 15 min in a 12×17 half sheet), and whisk that frosting well (I use an immersion blender)!
This was excellent! I was worried it would be dry, but it wasn’t. The flavor and texture were great.
So glad to hear it!
I would like to make it one day ahead (xmas celebration)
Should I store it in the fridge then or let in on the counter?
The fridge is probably best.
I’m a Texas gal who loves Texas Sheet Cake. Now that I’m Keto I’m so tickled to find this recipe! Gonna give it a shot. I have one question. It says “cream” in the ingredients for the frosting. Is this heavy cream???
Yes, sorry. I always use heavy cream.
I’ve made this before and LOVED IT! I want to make again this weekend but realized I gave away the unflavored protein powder to my daughter and only have chocolate flavored protein powder. Can I use that and if yes, should I adjust any other ingredients because of the substitution?
Yes, it shouldn’t be too much of an issue, although it is sweetened so your cake may be sweeter.
5 Stars in advance because this is so close to my very high carb recipe. I want to make your version but use Granulated and Powdered Monk Fruit sweetener. Monk Fruit measures the same as sugar as does Swerve, will this mess up the cake and frosting? My grandkids who live with me don’t seem to notice Monk Fruit in place of sugar, but they shy away from all the other low carb sweeteners. Thanks for all of your hard work for those of us trying to eliminate sugar and high carb flour from our diets.
When you say monk fruit, do you mean Lakanto? Because it is mostly Erythritol,just like Swerve. But the powdered version is 2x as sweet so you need less.
Wow! I just made this seemingly simple chocolate cake recipe and boy, it tastes so moist and delicious! So worth the little time it took to make it. What a good piece of cake! Will bring it to my next family gathering!
So glad you liked it!
Is there a substitute flour we can use for coconut flour in your recipes? We have an allergy to all forms coconut. Thank you for all the hard work you do making these recipes.
You can replace the coconut with 3x the amount of almond flour. So if it’s 1/3 cup coconut, it would now be an added 1 cup of almond flour.
Thank you Carolyn, my daughter thought I was crazy because she does not have the cooling effect either. Either way this cake is amazing and again thank you
I love this cake, thank you for all of your hard work coming up with these great recipes. I am the worlds worst baker and thanks to you know one will ever find out. I do have a question about swerve, what can I use to either replace or to eliminate the swerve cooling effect.
I don’t experience that (although I do with plain erythritol) but many people find that cutting the Swerve with another sweetener can help a lot. My suggestions for the cake itself would be to use 1/2 Bocha Sweet. And since they now make a powdered version, you could do 1/2 Bocha Sweet in the frosting as well. It’s expensive but if you’re only using half of it each time, it should last you. You could even try doing as little as 1/3 or 1/4 Bocha Sweet and the rest Swerve. https://amzn.to/2jOXwsh
This cake looks so good! I can’t wait to try this tomorrow. Thank you so much for sharing!
Great recipe…..just a little note being from Texas…..the butter (in both cake and glaze) is much butter when heated until golden brown, then other ingredients added….try that!!
Ah you mean browned butter. that would be lovely!