Great for parties or large get togethers, this large cake is rich and fudgy. With equal cake to frosting ratios, one little square is all you need to totally fill your chocolate quotient. Free of gluten, dairy, egg, soy, peanut and tree nuts. It’s also top eight free and vegan!
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Do you know what I think of when I think of sheet cakes? Foot prints. Yes, foot prints.
My mom would make what she called Texas Sheet Cake (chocolate sheet cake) growing up. One fine summer day, she made one for a family party. Since it’s so large, she sat it on the floor of our so typical, 90’s, white Chrysler van–do you remember those? Well, in my haste to get in, I totally stepped RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE of the cake. My mom was pretty sad, but since it was time to go, there was nothing that could be done.
She had to present the cake, foot print and all to the party. Thankfully, my family is pretty chill, so we just ate the cake, with a wide perimeter to the foot print. Thank goodness sheet cakes are so large!
When I got older, I fell in love with Pioneer Woman’s recipe. It was a dessert my friend Stacey and I would love to make and pig out on. I’m sure it had a lot to do with the fact it had almost an entire box of butter in it.
I’ve haven’t had the cake in years and was wondering what on earth to make for Labor Day since we were having friends and family over. I decided to channel my mother and make a cake–sans foot print.
I really didn’t know how it’d turn out, taking Pioneer Woman’s classic cake, and completely using all allergy-friendly ingredients, but I knew my family was chill if it turned out badly.
Thankfully, this cake was AMAZING. My friends said it was almost brownie like because it was so dense and fudgy. The thick, satiny layer of frosting is just divine. The reason there’s no photos of the entire cake is because we ate wayy too much of it before I got my hands on a camera. It was THAT good.
I will forever love sheet cakes, because it doesn’t make you dig through inches of cake to get to the frosting. Each bite is slathered in frosting, and that to me is how cake should be.
This is perfect for birthday parties, office parties, get togethers, and anytime you want to feed a large crowd over overdose on chocolate cake by yourself.
If you need a keto chocolate cake, you can check out the linked recipe by Cassidy’s Creavable Creations. Or, if you need a smaller, more decadent version without the hassle of frosting, try my Flourless Chocolate Torte.
Enjoy!
Gluten Free Vegan Chocolate Sheet Cake (Top 8 Free Too!)
Great for parties or large get togethers, this large cake is rich and fudgy. With equal cake to frosting ratios, one little square is all you need to totally fill your chocolate quotient. Free of gluten, dairy, egg, soy, peanut and tree nuts. It's also top eight free and vegan!
Ingredients
CAKE:
- 2 cups gluten-free flour
- 2 cups sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon Salt
- 4 heaping Tablespoons cocoa
- 2 sticks vegan butter
- 1 cup Boiling Water
- 1/2 cup plain rice milk mixed with 1/2 Tablespoon vinegar to make a "buttermilk"
- 3 teaspoons Ener-G egg replacer mixed with 4 Tablespoons of water to make "eggs"
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum (omit if your gluten-free blend has this in it already)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
FROSTING:
- 1 and 3/4 sticks vegan butter
- 4 heaping tablespoons cocoa
- 6 Tablespoons plain rice milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 pound powder sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients for the cake (except the cocoa).
- In a small sauce pan over high heat bring two cups of water to boil. (I find boiling extra ensures you have enough in case some evaporates.)
- In a large saucepan over medium-low heat, melt the vegan butter. Add cocoa and whisk together until there are no lumps. I find a flat whisk works well for this.
- Measure one cup of boiling water and add it to the cocoa/butter mixture. Allow it to boil for 30 seconds, then turn off heat. Pour over the dry ingredients and stir.
- In a measuring cup, pour the "buttermilk" , "egg" and vanilla. Whisk and then pour into the bowl, stirring until all of the batter is combined and smooth.
- Grease a 13x18 inch sheet pan and pour the batter. Spread it until it's flat and even. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the cake done.
- While cake is baking, make the icing. Melt the vegan butter in the large saucepan. (You can wash the large saucepan in between making the cake and icing, but I just re-use it.) Add cocoa, stir to combine, then turn off heat. Add the rice milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar. Stir together. until smooth. Pour over the warm cake, as this helps it spread evenly.
- Once cooled and the frosting has set up, cut into squares and die of chocolaty heaven.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 18 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 384Total Fat: 15gSaturated Fat: 9gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 49mgSodium: 246mgCarbohydrates: 61gFiber: 1gSugar: 49gProtein: 3g
Adapted from: The Pioneer Woman
Hi! I’m Megan, a mom to four kids, two with multiple food allergies & one with EOE. I’m a published cookbook author that constantly tweaks recipes to make them allergy friendly–it’s an addiction. I share every recipe & tip with you, to help you eat like you did before food allergies & dietary restrictions. You can still be awesome, even with food allergies!
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Vegan Gluten-free Lemon Raspberry Streusel Cake
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No Bake Vegan Chocolate Cheesecake (GF Option too) + VIDEO
Amy
Is there a way to omit the butter for olive oil or canola oil? My son cannot have the vegan butter. If so, how much? Thanks!
Megan Lavin
Hi! I’m curious what he can’t have in the vegan butter? If it’s soy, Earth Balance has soy free buttery sticks. This cake is known for its richness, so it won’t taste quite the same if you’re not using butter. I have not tried it, but typically speaking, so I can’t say for sure if this would work, but you can sub olive oil at a 3/4 ratio of butter. And, for the frosting, I wouldn’t use either of those, I’d use the same amount of coconut oil. Good luck!
Rhonda P Chandler
Hey. What can replace xantham gum in recipes? I have a sensitivity to it.
Megan Lavin
Hi Rhonda, guar gum should work. Thanks and enjoy!
Britney Croad
How many eggs is this replacing? I can’t use Ener-g we have to use Bobs Redmill egg replacer.
Britney Croad
So sorry I just found where you commented that it’s 2 eggs. 🤦♀️
Megan Lavin
No problem! Glad you found what you needed.
Stephanie
Have I already commented on this recipe?! I just love it so much! Making it again today! It’s the best for big crowds! Yum!!
Megan Lavin
That’s so nice of you Stephanie. I appreciate you making sure you’d commented. Eat an extra slice for me!
Kristine
Hi!
I know this is an old post, but I am trying to make a birthday cake for my multiple food allergy son and this recipe looks promising. Is there a specific brand of vanilla and cocoa that you use, which are allergy friendly. Thank you for your help!
Megan Lavin
Hi Kristine. While a simple question–that’s tough to answer. Everyone has different standards of “safe”. I go by label alone. Some people feel the need to call companies and see what is processed on the same lines, or see what the derivatives are of certain ingredients, I do not. While my family is extremely anaphylactic, I’ve never had problems with Hershey’s cocoa and wilton or great value vanilla. But, you do whatever works for your individual family and comfort level!
Tracy Parker
Best allergy friendly cake EVER!!! Seriously this is going to be our new go-to cake. It was SO GOOD. My daughter has serious allergies and is top 8 free. It’s so hard to find cake that tastes good to “non allergy” people and this was was delicious! Way better than expensive fancy bakery made allergy friendly cakes that we’ve bought in the past. I’m a huge fan of all your recipes – thank you!!
Megan Lavin
Wow–better than expensive fancy bakeries? That’s a huge compliment. Thanks so much. I’m so happy this can help your family celebrate!
Judy
I made this last month and my family loved it. They said it filled their TEXAS sheet cake empty spot. I added chopped nuts to half of it with the icing for those who think it is necessary. Definitely a Keeper!
Megan Lavin
Hooray! So glad you and your family could enjoy it. It definitely hits the spot. If you haven’t already, and wouldn’t mind, could you please also rate the recipe by clicking the stars in the recipe card? Thanks!
Pete
Hi, your instructions read “whisk together the dry ingredients for the cake” which to me meant include the four heaping tablespoons of cocoa. Then in the next step I realize the cocoa should go into the melted vegan butter. Am I the only person who thought cocoa was a dry ingredient?
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Thanks for your point of view. I’ll clarify the instructions to make sure that doesn’t happen again.
Jean
Hi, this looks like a great recipe for my son who is allergic to the top 8 allergens. Unfortunately he is also allergic to peas and the soy free Earth Balance vegan butter has pea protein. Would I able to use the Spectrum Naturals Organic Shortening (made of palm fruit oil)? thanks!
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I’ve only tested it with the earth balance. You’re welcome to try it, I would think so, but can’t say from experience.
Meg
Has anybody ever used Melt brand vegan “butter”?
Gaia
Hello. I am allergic to the top 8 allergens and I was very excited to see this recipe! Can I make this recipe with a sugar substitute like Swerve? I am supposed to avoid cane sugar also. Thanks again!
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Hi Gaia–I’m sorry but I’ve never tried to make it with anything but cane sugar. If you end up making it with a sugar substitute, I’d love to hear how it turns out.
Mandy
how do you get the cake to come out flat?
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Hi Mandy. Thanks for stopping by. Do you mean how do you get the cake level? Mine will dome a little but after it’s cooled mine flattens. Is that what you mean? I want to make sure I’m understanding your question. Also, as a follow up, did you do any substitutions or use any different ingredients than what I recommended?
Mandy
Yes! How to make it level. Mine puffed up into a dome, and then the icing was super thick on the edges and thin on top. The only thing different I did was use regular all purpose flour.
Either way it was amazing and after we tried it, we didn’t care that it wasn’t flat!
Nikki
I know this is an old recipe, but I noticed that you specify this recipe as being soy-free but then link to Earth Balance buttery sticks which contain soy. Earth Balance makes soy-free TUBS of butter but not sticks (yet? sob!). Otherwise, sounds like a good recipe to try out. I ate plenty of chocolate cake in my youth but *never* sheet cake. My mom only ever made traditional round or 9×13 cakes. o.O
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Hi Nikki! Glad to see that you’re a careful label reader, and thanks for making sure I was aware. However, Earth Balance actually does make soy free buttery sticks: https://www.earthbalancenatural.com/product/soy-free-sticks/
I was just only able to find the regular ones on Amazon to link to. I try to link to hard to find ingredients, just to show people what things look like–trusting my readers will do their due diligence and read all labels before purchasing products (as stated in my disclaimer at the bottom of my page). I recognize most won’t buy butter online as it will melt, but wanted them to see the specific brand. You’ll def have to try the sheet cake version. Happy baking! 🙂
Izzy
Hi! I LOVE this cake!!! I have allergies to most of the top 8, I was so thankful to see something like this! Thank you so so much!
Love and Joy,
Izzy
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Thanks so much Izzy. So happy it could work for your diet 🙂 Everyone needs chocolate cake in their life.
Lynann
Will this freeze well when all made? I need to make it ahead.
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Lynann–I’ve never frozen it as we eat it too fast. I would think the cake could freeze, but I wouldn’t freeze the frosting. I’d wait to make that fresh. Best of luck. Please come back and let me know how it turns out for future readers. Thanks!
Izzy
Hi! I have allergies to, eggs, dairy, nuts, tree nuts, and all fish… One day I wanted to make a cake but I couldn’t cause I didn’t have a recipe. I looked up some thinking I won’t be able to eat it but I saw this cake! I was so happy! This cake was so good! Thank you!
Love and Joy,
Izzy
Alison Steadman
Hi there! I am trying to make this recipe with eggs… If I omit the egg substitute, do you know how many eggs I would need for this cake? Thank you!
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Hi Alison! Thanks for stopping by. Yes, you would need two regular eggs if you are not using egg replacer. Enjoy! Wishing I had a slice right now!!!
Megan @ MegUnprocessed
I love the sound of these cake…such a delicious treat.
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Thanks Megan. Yes, cake is a great treat!
DessertForTwo
This looks delicious!
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Thanks so much!!!
Lauren Gaskill
Pinning and making soon! I know I’m going to LOVE this!
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Thanks Lauren! I’m sure you will–be warned though–it’s hard not to eat the entire thing! 🙂 Enjoy.
Emily @ Recipes to Nourish
I could totally go for a slice of this deliciousness right now! It looks so good!
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Thanks Emily! I wish you would have…I ate WAYYY too much 🙂
Keeley McGuire
omgosh i remember being in elementary school and cafeteria lady sheet cake was my favorite! i haven’t had it in ages and little miss never has so i will be making this recipe for her soon!
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Thanks Keeley! I hope you and your daughter enjoy! Isn’t it fun how food takes us back in our memories?? 🙂