Jennifer Garner’s Favorite Texas Chocolate Cake Is So Good, I’m Making It for All My Friends on Their Birthday

If you’re a fan of cake mix in a box, spread into a baking pan or sheet pan, then you’re probably going to love the chocolate sheet cake recipe that Jennifer Garner has proclaimed is one of her favorites.

In an episode of her “Pretend Cooking Show” — a series where she cooks some of her favorite dishes, like her favorite blueberry buckle and fruit cobbler — Garner shares about her favorite chocolate sheet cake recipe she loves to make. The recipe is actually from the Pioneer Woman, aka Ree Drummond, who has a recipe for Texas Sheet Cake that Garner says “works all the time.”

“There’s never a day that is not a good day for chocolate cake,” she exclaims. So is it as good as Garner says it is? I decided to give this chocolate sheet cake recipe a try to see for myself. Here’s what I thought.

Get the recipe: The Best Texas Sheet Cake Ever

In a large bowl, mix together the all-purpose flour, sugar, and kosher salt. Set aside.

In a saucepan, melt the butter. Whisk with cocoa powder, then add the boiling water. Transfer the chocolate mixture to the dry ingredients and whisk until everything is incorporated.

In another small bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, eggs, baking soda, and vanilla extract. Pour into the cake mixture and whisk until everything is smooth.

Grease an 18×13-inch sheet pan with cooking spray or butter. Pour the cake batter on to the sheet pan, then bake in the oven at 350°F for 20 minutes.

In a saucepan, melt the butter for the frosting. Add the cocoa and stir to combine, then remove from the heat and add the milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar. Whisk until smooth. Stir in pecans, if desired. Pour onto the cake and let the frosting set, then cut into squares and serve.

I am in love with this chocolate cake — I’m not joking. There’s a reason why Garner adores it so much. Not only does it live up to the hype as being the “best chocolate cake ever” as she says, but it’s also incredibly easy to make. It’s a no-frills, low-bar way to bake a cake for a crowd without having to worry about removing cake rounds from the oven and frosting it beautifully. For someone like me who is admittedly not the best at baking, this cake was just the thing I look for when I’m in charge of making dessert.

Plus, the taste is outstanding. Not only is the texture of the cake moist and fluffy, but the frosting is the perfect mix of firm and smooth. I’m not the biggest fan of a heavy buttercream on my desserts, so this frosting is definitely more my speed. It’s a thin-enough layer that it doesn’t overpower the thin slice of cake, giving each bite the perfect frosting to cake ratio. The cake is sweet, but the touch of salt helps to balance it out. All in all, this is my kind of cake, and I will absolutely be making it again in the future. Especially when you can get 24 slices in one cake; talk about a crowd-pleaser!

• Use salted butter: Apparently Ree Drummond says the trick to getting the taste of this cake just right is by using salted butter, which helps to cut into the sweetness from all of that sugar. If you have unsalted butter on hand, then be sure to add in a sprinkle of salt with the icing to balance out the taste.
• Wait for the cake to completely cool: Although the recipe says to pour the frosting over a warm cake, I decided to wait for the cake to cool. I didn’t want it to seep into the warm cake and lose that frosting goodness, so I let the cake completely cool before making the frosting then pouring it over.
• Give the frosting time to sit before cutting: In that same vein, I would also give the frosting time to cool and set before cutting the slices. The butter in the frosting will solidify and create more of a solid frosting structure, which is a lot more appealing and makes for a clean cut when you’re serving this cake.

Get the recipe: The Best Texas Sheet Cake Ever