Lemon Texas Sheet Cake

Lemon Texas Sheet Cake - made August 30, 2021, modified from Five Heart Home 

1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) butter

1 cup water

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 1/2 cups granulated sugar

2/3 cup sour cream

2 tablespoons lemon zest

2 eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon pure lemon extract

1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

Glaze

2 cups powdered sugar

4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 teaspoons lemon zest

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9 x 13 pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a large pot over medium heat, melt the butter. Whisk in the water and lemon juice. Increase heat and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and let cool for 5 minutes. Whisk in flour until smooth.
3. Transfer to bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add sugar, sour cream and lemon zest, mixing until combined.
4. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until just combined after each addition. Mix in the vanilla and lemon extract. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the top of the batter and mix in until combined.
5. Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool cake completely.
6. Make the glaze: combine the powdered sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice until smooth. Adjust amounts of powdered sugar or lemon juice until glaze is desired consistency. Pour over cake and smooth. Let glaze set before cutting and serving.

I love sheet cakes. The most common ones are chocolate and vanilla but since I'm batch baking for larger populations these days, I'm branching to try different flavors. Yes, still going through my Costco bag of lemons. After this recipe, I now have two left.

I loved this cake. It has the tender crumb of all good sheet cakes and I loved the texture. The only thing I would do differently is cut the glaze amount in half. I keep forgetting the proportions are for an actual sheet pan, not the 9 x 13 pan I prefer to use. 

While using the smaller pan makes for a thicker cake, which is why I do it (who wants thin cake??), it also makes more frosting than is necessary to cover a smaller surface area. If you're not a frosting person, which I'm not, this is not good news. So if you do bake in a 9 x 13 pan. you might want to make only a half recipe of the glaze or a 2/3 recipe if you don't mind a little more icing. Either way, this is good cake.