#BakingBloggers ~ White Texas Sheet Cake

Welcome to December's #BakingBloggers! Sue of Palatable Pastime and Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm have brought together some of their blogger friends to create #BakingBloggers - every month we have a general theme (such as pies, muffins, cakes, etc.) and we get to share any recipe we'd like! This month we are sharing some ideas for "white" recipes with you. 

White cake is my go-to favorite cake flavor, but I very rarely make a good white cake, because there are so many fun baking challenges I take part in each month and white cake doesn't often fit the bill! So, you can imagine I was pretty excited when I learned we were going for anything "white" this month - powdered sugar dusted, butter cream frosted, white chocolate... you name it! I wanted a cook white cake, and I do love a good simple sheet cake! 

Baking Bloggers

Snow

Winter means snow- with snowflakes both outside and in our kitchens!

• Billowy Gingerbread Trifles from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Christmas Cookie Tree from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Grandma's Meringue Cookies from Our Good Life
• Kourabiedes Greek Cookies With Powdered Sugar from Recipe Pocket
• Mexican Wedding Cookies from The Schizo Chef
• Snow Ball Cupcakes from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Snowy Mountain Cookies from Jolene's Recipe Journal
• Sweet Buttermilk Pie from Food Lust People Love
• White Texas Sheet Cake from Making Miracles
• Winter Wonderland Cake from Sid's Sea Palm Cooking

This is a lovely, rich and buttery, super moist, tender white cake with a kiss of almond extract flavoring. The original recipe calls for toasted walnuts in the icing which would be a fantastic touch - except I live in a household of "no baked goods should contain nuts" believers. So I left them off. I think some slivered or sliced toasted almonds would be ideal with all that almond extract.

White Texas Sheet Cake adapted from Taste of Home

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup butter, cubed
1 cup water
2 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon almond extract

Frosting:
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup milk
3 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees; spray a jelly roll pan with nonstick baking spray. 
2. In a medium bowl combine the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Whisk to combine and set aside.
3. In a small saucepan, combine the 1 cup of butter with 1 cup of water. Bring just to a boil and turn off heat and mix into the flour mixture, whisking to combine.
4. While the butter and water are melting / coming to a boil, combine the eggs, sour cream, and almond extract in a small / medium bowl and whisk to combine. 
5. Add the sour cream mixture into the flour / butter / water mixture, whisking quickly to incorporate eggs into the warm batter.
6. Spread batter into the prepared baking sheet and place in the oven for 16-20 minutes, or until the edges are golden and starting to pull away from the pan, and a toothpick inserted into the thickest portion comes out clean.
7. Place on a cooling rack and prepare the frosting. Combine the 1/2 butter with the 1/4 cup milk in a saucepan and bring just to a boil; whisk til the butter has completely melted. Remove from heat and add in the almond extract and sifted confectioner's sugar. Stir to blend and spread over the warm cake. You can serve warm, or allow to cool to room temperature.