Food and Recipes Desserts Cakes Dr Pepper Texas Sheet Cake Recipe 5.0 (1) 1 Review With 23 different flavors, no wonder people started adding Dr Pepper to their cakes. By Pam Lolley Pam Lolley Pam Lolley developed and tested recipes for Southern Living Magazine in the Souths most trusted Test Kitchen for 19 years. She worked closely with the editors planning and packaging stories, collaborating with art and photo teams on food styling and recipe reproduction to ensure reader satisfaction, content quality control, and recipe authenticity history and cooking. Her area of expertise was baking and and pastry development and she acted as the point person for these areas in the Test Kitchen. With 30+ years of experience in the culinary field, Pam created and tested 1000s of recipes for Southern Living. Southern Living's editorial guidelines Updated on December 21, 2022 Print Rate It Share Share Tweet Pin Email Active Time: 20 mins Total Time: 2 hrs 5 mins Yield: 16 serves Jump to recipe Chocolate sheet cakes were popular among early 20th-century cooks from Kentucky to California. Dr Pepper cake takes its cues from those recipes. Fragrant with spices like ground cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg and topped with chocolate frosting, that's speckled with pecans, it may remind some of Texas sheet cake. For nearly 20 years, I baked a version of this sweet treat to celebrate the birthday of a friend and neighbor from Wichita Falls, Texas, who was haunted (in a good way) by her childhood memories of the delicious dessert. —Toni Tipton-Martin Antonis Achilleos; Food Styling: Emily Nabors Hall; Prop Styling: Kathleen Varner Ingredients Sheet Cake 1 ½ cups spicy, fruity cola soft drink (such as Dr Pepper) 1 cup butter ½ cup unsweetened cocoa 2 cups all-purpose flour 2 cups granulated sugar 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon ½ teaspoon salt 2 large eggs, lightly beaten ½ cup whole buttermilk 2 teaspoons vanilla extract Rich Fudge Icing ½ cup butter ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa ¼ cup spicy, fruity cola soft drink (such as Dr Pepper) 2 tablespoons whole milk 4 cups powdered sugar, sifted 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Additional Ingredient 1 ½ cups coarsely chopped toasted pecans Directions Prepare the Sheet Cake: Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat a 17 ½- x 12 ½-inch rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray. Bring cola, butter, and unsweetened cocoa to a boil in a medium sauce-pan over medium-high, stirring often. Remove from heat. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl. Add cola mixture; whisk until blended. Whisk in eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla. Pour batter into prepared baking sheet. Bake in preheated oven until a wooden pick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 16 to 20 minutes. Remove from oven. Prepare the Rich Fudge Icing: Cook butter and cocoa in a medium saucepan over medium-low, whisking often, until butter melts and mixture is smooth, about 1 minute. Reduce heat to low; whisk in cola and milk until blended. Gradually add powdered sugar, whisking constantly until blended. Whisk in vanilla. Pour warm icing over warm cake; gently spread in an even layer. Sprinkle with pecans. Cool completely in baking sheet on a wire rack, about 1 hour. Rate it Print