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This Vanilla Sheet Cake is a wonderfully moist and fluffy vanilla cake recipe that is easy to make! It’s covered in a creamy vanilla buttercream and made in a 12×18 inch pan, so it’s perfect for a crowd!
Table of Contents
Is it weird that I’m already starting to think about what I’ll do for the boys’ first birthday? Yes, they are just over 6 months old, but they are already starting to show preferences for things and gravitating towards certain foods and toys, so themes are popping into my head.
If you’re like my mom, then you don’t understand the whole first birthday party thing and why people make a big deal out of it when the kids don’t even remember it. Well I’ve discovered as a new parent to twins that the real reason for a first birthday party is not for the kids – it’s for the parents. When we make it to that one year mark, it’ll not only be a celebration of a whole year with those sweet boys, but a celebration that we made it! These early months are precious, but boy are they hard too! Especially with two!
Seriously though, if there’s one thing I should be good at as a mom, it should be cakes and birthday parties. I’m thinking that parties with friends and such will feature my fair share of cakes, so I’m getting ready with this Vanilla Sheet Cake. It’s a classic birthday party cake! Pink frosting is optional, of course. 🙂
One thing that’s great about sheet cakes is the ease of making them. You know I’m a lover of layer cakes, but when baking for a larger group or with only a little time to prepare, sheet cakes are handy to have.
How to make a Vanilla Sheet Cake
To get started with this vanilla sheet cake, you’ll want to cream your butter, sugar and vegetable oil together until they are light in color and fluffy. Don’t skimp on the creaming – it adds air to the batter that gives the final cake part of its fluffy texture. The butter adds great flavor and moisture to the cake, while the vegetable oil adds some additional moisture that sticks around for days.
The remaining ingredients are all staples – eggs, vanilla extract, flour, baking powder, salt and milk. I chose to go with all purpose flour and regular milk, but I also tested this sheet cake with cake flour and buttermilk.
The hubs and I really preferred this cake with the all purpose flour, but cake flour was also delicious. The texture is completely different! The all purpose flour gave a looser crumb, while the cake flour was tighter and reminded me a little more of a “bakery-style” cake. Even though we had our preference, you really couldn’t go wrong with either.
As for the milk, I liked both but didn’t see enough difference using buttermilk to use that as the final ingredient. While I always have buttermilk powder handy and ready to use, most people don’t and for the purpose of keeping this sheet cake simple and approachable, I stuck with trusty, classic milk.
The frosting is a lovely, light vanilla buttercream. I added a little corn syrup to it, but you could substitute that with a little honey. The corn syrup helps keep it soft and smooth and perfect for topping a light cake! I finished it off with some fun sprinkles, because what birthday cake doesn’t have sprinkles?
This vanilla sheet cake was a BIG hit! It is so soft and moist with a tender crumb. The flavor is rich and buttery with great vanilla flavor. Everything just melts in your mouth. I shared a good bit of this cake with a friend and I dare say we took forks to it and left few crumbs behind. It’s totally addicting and so delicious!
Watch How To Make It
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Vanilla Sheet Cake
- Prep Time: 45 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour, plus cooling time
- Yield: 25-30 slices
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
This Vanilla Sheet Cake is a wonderfully moist and fluffy vanilla cake recipe that is easy to make! It’s covered in a creamy vanilla buttercream and made in a 12×18 inch pan, so it’s perfect for a crowd!
Ingredients
Vanilla Sheet Cake
- 2 1/4 cups (293g) all purpose flour
- 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup (168g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 cups (310g) sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup (240ml) milk
Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup shortening*
- 6 cups (690g) powdered sugar
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp corn syrup (or honey)
- 4–6 tbsp water or milk
- Pink, Peach and Ivory gel icing color
- Sprinkles
Instructions
1. Prepare a 12×18 inch sheet pan/jelly roll pan with non-stick baking spray. Preheat oven to 350°F (176°C).
2. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium sized bowl and set aside.
3. Add the butter, sugar, and oil to and large mixer bowl and beat together until light in color and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes. Do not skimp on the creaming time.
4. Add the eggs two at a time, mixing until mostly combined after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to be sure all ingredients are well incorporated.
5. Add half of the dry ingredients to the batter and mix until mostly combined.
6. Slowly add the milk and vanilla extract and mix until well combined.
7. Add the remaining dry ingredients and mix until well combined and smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to be sure all ingredients are well incorporated. Do not over mix the batter.
8. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan and bake for 12-15 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
9. Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool.
10. To make the frosting, beat the butter and shortening together until smooth.
11. Slowly add half of the powdered sugar and the salt and mix until smooth.
12. Add the vanilla extract, corn syrup and 4 tablespoons of water or milk and mix until smooth.
13. Slowly add the remaining powdered sugar and mix until smooth. Add additional water or milk, as needed to get the right consistency of frosting.
14. Color the frosting to your desired shade. I used a little bit of pink, peach and ivory gel icing colors.
15. Spread the frosting evenly onto the cooled cake and then top with sprinkles. Cover the cake well and store at room temperature. Cake is best when eaten within 3-4 days.
Notes
* I like to use some shortening with the butter for reasons you can read about in this vanilla buttercream post. Feel free to substitute it with additional butter, but keep in mind that you might want to refrigerate the cake and frosting.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Slice
- Calories: 315
- Sugar: 30.7 g
- Sodium: 64.8 mg
- Fat: 17.2 g
- Carbohydrates: 38.7 g
- Protein: 2.8 g
- Cholesterol: 54.5 mg
Enjoy!
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Okay I’ll try and let you know what happens!
If I want to substitute the eggs for mashed bananas what other adjustments would I need
P.s. I need to make this today for an event pls let me know soon🥺
I’ve honestly never made that substitution before, so I can’t advise. I’m sorry!
Okay is there any other eggless cake recipes??
Pls help me out!!🥺
I’m sorry, but I don’t work with substitutes like that and haven’t ever tried any from others. Any recommendation I’d make wouldn’t be based on actually trying anything and knowing if it’s good.
Awesome .. so soft .. just like bakery. Thank you for detailed illustration of the process
Yes the baking time is not accurate.
But over all amazing cake!
The cake is fantastic! I ended up making half with the frosting and the other half with strawberries and whipped cream which was an amazing summer treat!! Thanks for the recipe!
Can I freeze this in pan for 2 weeks and frost when I take it out
I’ve never tried it, but I think that would be fine.
It turned out really well and I have frozen it will let you know how it turns out thank you
I had on in the freezer for about 2weeks and took it out the other day coz hubby’s birthday came up, so i took it out and it was still light and fluffy like it just came out the over
Can this recipe be made into cupcakes? Thank you
Probably, but I’d recommend these. https://www.lifeloveandsugar.com/easy-homemade-vanilla-cupcakes-recipe/
I made this cake and trimmed off an edge, cut it into four pieces, and made a rectangular layer cake with vanilla frosting and apricot jam. People loved it! I found the baking time not accurate- I think I had to bake it for 20 minutes. But that’s okay. I’ll make this again!
Made this using metric measurements and substituted buttermilk for the milk. Wow! Light super fluffy batter like meringue. Baked up beautifully smelled and tasted fantastic. My new favorite recipe!!
Thank you!!
Hi ! Is it okay if i melt the butter and the sugar together?
I would recommend following the recipe.
U haven’t mentioned what sugar to use inside the cake ??
And also can I substitue vegetable oil with sunflower oil?
Thanks x
I use granulated white sugar unless otherwise specified. I’ve never tried sunflower to be able to say for sure.
I’m not sure if I did something wrong, but this came out so thin/flat. Earlier this week I made your vanilla layer cake and it turned great, so I wanted to try the sheet cake for another baking project I’m working on today. I followed the directions and didn’t make any substitutions, but the cake turned out very thin, like less than an inch tall! Could i have over-mixed the batter? Would love any suggestions as I think I might need to make a second cake to supplement the thin layer I have (I’m stacking to make a fire truck) and don’t want to make the same mistake again! Thanks in advance for any help!
It’s hard to say. This is a thin cake and meant to be that way. I can’t remember exactly how thick it was, but probably not much more than an inch. I’m not sure if you did anything wrong. How thick are you looking for it to be? This is pretty similar to the layered vanilla cake, just a few adjustments. I would think either should work similarly and be fine for stacking.
Lindsay, thank you so much for taking the time to reply. I realized after posting that my baking powder was a little old… I think that might have been at least part of the problem. I couldn’t get to the store to get more for the second bake so I made a substitute with baking soda and vinegar. And I baked it in a 9×13 instead of the sheet pan just to make sure I got enough height. It worked well, and the cake was delicious. I think the baking powder was the issue, because in addition to height, there was a big difference in texture between the two bakes. The first one was very flat and dense (I like a dense cake but this was different) and the second one was perfect. I need to remember to double check the date on my baking powder next time! I bake enough that it really shouldn’t be a problem, but I must have been overzealous in “stocking up” a couple years ago, because even my backup cab was past its date! Haha! Thank you for taking the time to help me figure it out. The cake turned out great.
I’m sp glad to hear you figured out and that it turned out well!
Needs more time baking
Hay, I want to add strawberry extract to the frosting do you think it would make it tasty bad?
No, it wouldn’t make it taste bad.
Spectacular! This was my FIRST sheet cake, wanting to layer a neapolitan style if I was successful with this recipe. YES I’ve 1/2 the recipe and used a smaller pan and lined it with parchment and spray (paranoia) haha anyway now that this turned out awesome I’ve just got to figure out the chocolate and strawberry sheet cake recipes to complete the project! Thank you very much it smells fantastic. 8300 ft baked for 14 minutes at 350
So glad you were happy with it!
This recipe sounds so delicious !
I’ll be making it into cupcakes for my gender reveal at work! I’m so excited!