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    Home > Cookies and Candy > Texas Sheet Cake Cookies (with cake mix)

    Texas Sheet Cake Cookies (with cake mix)

    Published: Apr 13, 2023 by Kathleen · This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. See full disclosure · 4 Comments

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    If you love Texas Sheet Cake, you're going to love this shortcut Texas Sheet Cake Cookies recipe. These chocolate Sheet Cake Cookies are a bite size version of the popular chocolate cake made with a cake mix and a tub of store-bought frosting!

    Stack of texas sheet cake cookies on white plate and glass of milk in background.

    Thank you to my friends at Whaley Pecan Company for sponsoring this post.

    This quick and easy version of chocolate sheet cake cookies are made with a box of Devil's Food chocolate cake mix, but any chocolate cake mix will work. The soft and fudgy cookie center is covered with a layer of chocolate icing made by melting the ready-to-spread frosting in the microwave and stirring in chopped pecans.

    The trick with these chocolate sheet cake cookies is not to over-bake them. You want the center of the cookie to be soft and chewy.

    Since they can be prepared and baked in less than 20 minutes, I'd call these super easy sheet cake cookies. They are also fun cookies for baking with kids!

    Hand holding a bite taken out of chocolate sheet cake cookie.

    Why butter vs. oil? When I was researching and testing this recipe, every single one of them used ⅓ cup vegetable oil and I found the taste was bland. I made it with a stick of melted butter and the change in taste and texture was tremendously better!

    Shortcuts

    • For ease and the most intense chocolate flavor, I use a box of Devil's Food cake mix.
    • A great time-saving option when is comes to icing the cookies, is to melt a tub of ready made chocolate frosting which you will be able to get in most stores.
    • Save the parchment paper the cookies are baked on to place under the wire cooling racks so the melted icing will drip onto the paper. Saves paper. Saves cleanup time.

    Ingredients

    What you will need to make Texas Sheet Cake Cookies.

    Scroll down to printable recipe for exact ingredient quantities.

    Ingredients for Texas Chocolate Cake Cookies.
    • Eggs - I use 2 large eggs in this cookie dough.
    • Cake Mix - I used a box of Duncan Hines Devil's Food cake mix for these photos, which has a great intense chocolate flavor, but any brand and any flavor version of chocolate like milk chocolate will work.
    • Butter - If using unsalted butter add a pinch of salt - or not.
    • Chocolate Frosting - A 16 ounce tub of ready-to-spread chocolate frosting melts beautifully in the microwave! Any store-bought frosting such as Duncan Hines, Betty Crocker or Aldi brand will work. It doesn't have to be dark chocolate frosting, either.
    • Pecans - Use toasted pecan pieces or chopped pecans, or try making your own coarsely chopped roasted pecans. Of course, I love to use Alabama products so I'm using Whaley's Pecan Company pecans from Troy, Alabama.

    How to make these cookies with a cake mix

    Scroll down to the bottom for the printable recipe with detailed instructions.

    Glass bowl with melted butter and red spoonula in it.
    Glass bowl with melted butter  and chocolate cake mix 
and red spoonula in it.
    • Preheat the oven.
    • Melt the butter in the microwave at HIGH for 40 seconds. Stir until butter is completely melted. You don't want to get the butter too hot because eggs are added next.
    • Beat in the two eggs for 30 seconds before adding the cake mix. This will add a little air in the batter and lighten it up a bit.
    Glass bowl with  chocolate cake mix batter being mixed with red hand mixer.
    Chocolate cookie dough balls on white parchment paper with cookie scooper of dough laid on the paper.
    • Beat cake mix, melted butter and eggs with an electric hand mixer to form a thick batter for 1 minute.
    • Drop spoonfuls of cookie batter onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheets. This recipe will yield 24 cookies. I like to use a small cookie scoop or tiny ice cream scoop to easily measure out exactly the same amount of batter for each cookie.
    Glass bowl with dark chocolate frosting in it with measuring cups of chopped pecans beside it.
    Dark chocolate icing dripping from chocolate cookies on racks onto parchment paper.
    • Bake the cookies for 8 minutes, they will firm up when cooled.
    • Meanwhile, melt the frosting in the microwave. See printable recipe below for times. Stir in the pecans.
    • Cool the cookies on the baking sheet 4 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
    • Pour or spoon icing over cookies, allowing the icing to drip onto the same parchment paper the cookies were baked on.

    Note: If you don’t have a microwave, the tub frosting can spooned into a saucepan and heated on low heat on the stovetop.

    Texas Sheet Cake Cookies on wire cooling rack with spoon of frosting on the side.

    Tip: If the icing is too thin, wait a few minutes and it will thicken back up. If it’s too thick, microwave a few more seconds.

    Substitutions & Variations

    Trade "this" for "that" in this sheet cake cookie recipe.

    WANT TO SAVE THIS RECIPE?

    I'll email this recipe to you, so you can come back to it later!

    • Milk chocolate cake mix and milk chocolate tub frosting can be used with same ingredients and procedure for a less intense chocolate flavor and lighter color.
    • If using unsalted butter, add a pinch of salt. It's also fine without extra salt because the cake mix has salt in it.
    • Stirring in 2 teaspoons vanilla extract to the cookie batter will enhance the chocolate flavor and take away any artificial flavor of a box cake mix.
    • Substitute ⅓ cup vegetable or canola oil for the melted butter.
    • Love spice? Add a touch of ground cinnamon to the cookie batter for a Mexican hot chocolate variation.
    • Make your cookies extra chocolaty and add some chocolate chips to the cookie batter - milk or dark chocolate chips will work.
    • If baking with the kids, add some sprinkles or edible glitter for an extra pop of color.

    For a fancy Christmas cookie, leave out the chopped pecans in the melted frosting and top the iced chocolate cookies with one large pecan halve on each cookie.

    Texas Sheet Cake cookie with bite out placed on a wire rack.

    TIP: You can also put the racks of cookies (back on the cooled baking sheets) in the refrigerator to speed up the process of firming up the frosting for 10 minutes. 

    Homemade Texas Sheet Cake Frosting

    For these cookies, I've used store-bought frosting to make the chocolate icing, but it's really easy to make your own homemade icing for sheet cake cookies:

    • ½  cup salted butter
    • 3 tablespoons milk (any kind)
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    • 2 ¼ cups powdered confectioners sugar
    • 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
    • ¾ cup pecan pieces or chopped pecans

    Melt butter in a medium saucepan; stir in milk and vanilla. Add powdered sugar and cocoa, stirring until mixture is blended and smooth. Stir in pecans.

    Helpful Information

    What cake mix should I use?

    I recommend a Devil's Food cake mix as it has an intense chocolate flavor. However, you can use milk chocolate and any brand of chocolate cake mix in this recipe.

    Do you need to chill the cookie dough?

    With this easy recipe there's no need to chill the dough first.

    Stack of three Texas Chocolate Sheet Cake Cookies with a bite out of one laying on a white plate and cookies on wire rack in background.

    Storage Tips

    • To Store. Place the cookies between sheets of wax paper or parchment to keep them from sticking together in an air tight container. Store at room temperature or fridge.
    • To Freeze. I do not recommend freezing the cookies. The store-bought icing does not hold the same texture after thawing.

    Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube. Be social and share, y'all! Don't forget to sign up with your email so you don’t miss a single post on my Southern shortcut recipes!

    If you make this recipe I'd love to see it! Tag me on social media with #gritsandgouda or @gritsandgouda. Leave a comment below the printable recipe if you have questions or tell me how you liked the recipe. Don't forget to rate it 5 stars if you love it!

    Want more shortcut cookie recipes?

    • Cookies & Cream Shortbread Cookies
    • Coffee & Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies
    • Double Chocolate Chip Cookies
    • Sugardoodles
    stack of four Texas sheet cake cookies on a white plate with a glass of milk set alongside

    Texas Sheet Cake Cookies

    Kathleen Phillips: GritsAndGouda.com
    These chocolate Sheet Cake Cookies are a bite size version of the popular chocolate cake made with a cake mix and a tub of store-bought frosting!
    5 from 5 votes
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe

    WANT TO SAVE THIS RECIPE?

    I'll email this recipe to you, so you can come back to it later!

    Prep Time 8 minutes mins
    Cook Time 8 minutes mins
    Total Time 20 minutes mins
    Servings 24 cookies

    Equipment

    • Hand mixer
    • 2 tablespoon cookie scoop
    • Parchment paper
    Prevent your screen from going dark

    Ingredients
      

    • 2 large eggs
    • 1 (15.25 ounce) box Devil's Food cake mix (or other chocolate cake mix flavors)
    • ½ cup butter
    • 1 (16 ounce) container or tub ready-to-spread chocolate frosting Duncan Hines, Betty Crocker or Aldi
    • ¾ cup toasted pecan pieces or chopped pecans

    Instructions
     

    • Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Melt the butter in the microwave at HIGH for 40 seconds. Stir until butter is completely melted. You don't want to get the butter too hot because eggs are added next.
    • Beat in the two eggs for 30 seconds before adding the cake mix. This will add a little air in the batter and lighten it up a bit. Beat cake mix, melted butter and eggs with an electric hand mixer to form a thick batter for 1 minute.
    • Drop spoonfuls of cookie batter onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheets.
    • Bake for 8 minutes or until tops of cookies barely indent when touched. Do not over-bake. The cookies will firm up when cooled.
    • Let cool on pan 4 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. Take the same parchment paper the cookies were baked on and place it under the wire cooling rack to catch drips of frosting.
    • To melt frosting to pour over cookies, spoon out the frosting into a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on HIGH for about 25 seconds. Stir the frosting to see if it is a pourable consistency. If the icing is too thin, wait a few minutes and it will thicken back up. If it’s too thick, microwave a few more seconds.
      Stir the pecans into the icing.
    • Pour the icing over the cookies or use a spoon to spread the icing over each cookie, allowing the icing to drip over the sides. The parchment paper will catch any drips that run off the cookies. Let the cookies completely cool to firm up the icing.

    Homemade Chocolate Icing recipe in NOTES

      Notes

      Note: If you don’t have a microwave, the tub frosting can be heated in a saucepan on the stovetop.
      Tip: If the frosting is too thin, it will run off the cookies. If it is too thick, it will not pour.
      Tip: I like to use a cookie scoop or tiny ice cream scoop to easily measure out exactly the same amount of batter for each cookie.
      Storage: Place the cookies between sheets of wax paper or parchment to keep them from sticking together in an air tight container. Store at room temperature or fridge.
      I do not recommend freezing the cookies.
       
      Homemade Icing for Chocolate Sheet Cake Cookies:
      ½  cup salted butter
      3 tablespoons milk (any kind)
      1 teaspoon vanilla extract
      2 ¼ cups powdered confectioners sugar
      2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
      ¾ cup toasted chopped pecans
      Melt butter in a medium saucepan; stir in milk and vanilla. Add powdered sugar and cocoa, stirring until mixture is blended and smooth. Stir in pecans.

      Nutrition

      Serving: 1frosted cookieCalories: 112kcal
      Did you make this recipe?If you love it, share it! Comment below before you go!

      Nutrition analysis on GritsAndGouda.com recipes are mostly calculated on an online nutrition calculator. I am not a dietitian and nutritional information is an estimate and can vary based on products used.

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      Reader Interactions

      Comments

      1. Emily F Zimmerman

        November 18, 2023 at 11:43 am

        5 stars
        I love all your recipes. So easy and good.

        Reply
        • Kathleen

          November 18, 2023 at 11:56 am

          Thank you Emily! I appreciate you so much!

          Reply
      2. Jodie Kay Baker Minor

        July 19, 2023 at 1:51 pm

        My preteen daughter made these and they were a hit!!! Don’t skip the pecan on top- it MAKES the cookie!!!

        Reply
        • Kathleen

          July 19, 2023 at 3:49 pm

          I'm so proud of your daughter for making these! They really are easy, right? You are also right about those yummy pecans. Don't skip 'em!

          Reply
      5 from 5 votes (4 ratings without comment)

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      Hi y'all! I’m Kathleen. I share Southern shortcut recipes! I’m a food stylist, cookbook author, and former test kitchen director in Alabama. I take traditional Southern recipes you know and love (and a few new ones) and make them with shortcuts so you can enjoy them faster.

      More about me →

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