Texas sheet cake is unsung hero of desserts
Texas barbecue is, by and large, about tradition. One of its enduring and endearing characteristics is that it delivers comfort in both food and experience.
Though many barbecue joints are branching out when it comes to new menu items, we’ll never get our Texas card revoked for ordering brisket, pork ribs, sausage, coleslaw and banana pudding.
Still, lingering on the periphery of many menus are items that are either lesser-known or are a regional specialty. For instance, only in recent years have Central Texas joints acknowledged Southeast Texas as a legitimate barbecue region by accepting smoked boudin as a standard menu item.
The dessert section usually features its own Texas trinity of sweet treats: banana pudding, cobblers of various flavors, and pecan pie. My own personal hall of fame in this category include the banana pudding at Heffernan Barbecue, cobbler at CorkScrew
BBQ and Goode Company pecan pie. An honorable mention would be the variety of cakes at Truth BBQ, including triple chocolate, German chocolate, and banana caramel.
Interestingly, cakes are not a dish you find at many barbecue restaurants. Why? Many don’t have commercial ovens. When most barbecue trays come with a slice of prebought white bread, a big baking
J.C. Reid operation is unnecessary.
That’s not the case at Tin Roof BBQ in Atascocita.
Co-owner/pitmaster Brek Webber oversees a fleet of commercial ovens for Tin
Roof ’s extensive menu of baked-in-house cakes, including a classic yellow cake with chocolate frosting, carrot cake and strawberry sheet cake (call for availability).
But the Texas chocolate sheet cake is standout. Depending on how long you’ve lived in the Southeast Texas region, you might be flooded with memories upon seeing “Texas sheet cake” on a menu.
Texas sheet cake is a classic dessert in the Lone Star State, featuring a shallow chocolate base that’s reminiscent of both cake and brownie, and topped with a glistening chocolate icing, and often spiked with pecans or other nuts.
Many a community event, funeral service or pot luck invariably included a Texas sheet cake. For me, sheet cakes are associated with school or church gatherings. Parents’ night at school featured cafeteria tables filled with containers of potato salad and pans of
TIN ROOF BBQ
18918 Town Center Blvd., Atascocita; 281-852-5577 Closed Sunday & Monday.
Texas sheet cake.
At Tin Roof, Webber and general manager Mark Mason make a classic chocolate sheet cake involving a moist sponge made with buttermilk covered in a not-too-sweet icing.
On the day I visited, the sheet cake was without nuts, evoking a purity even the most hardcore chocolate lover would appreciate (they also occasionally make a more traditional nut-laden version). I also acquired a slice of strawberry sheet cake with bright red sponge, pink icing and multi-colored sprinkles for research purposes — it was great, too.
To be sure, Tin Roof embellished its point-of-sale-adjacent dessert lineup with a formidable single-serving pecan pie, warm peach cobbler and obligatory cup of banana pudding. But it’s hard to pass up the comfort-food king of barbecue desserts: the Texas sheet cake.