Vanilla Sheet Cake is the recipe that Teresa makes every potluck and every most beloved casual birthday celebration and every gathering when she wants to create the most completely extraordinary and the most genuinely crowd-feeding individual celebration cake in the most effortlessly convenient and the most beautifully practical 9 by 13-inch sheet cake format — because the most brilliantly simple combination of the most properly softened butter creamed with sugar to the most pale and the most beautifully aerated individual mixture, the most essential room-temperature eggs and egg yolks for the most additional richness and the most beautifully golden color.
And the most critical buttermilk alternated with flour for the most beautifully tender and the most properly moist individual crumb produces the most completely extraordinary and the most genuinely perfect individual vanilla sheet cake that feeds the most crowd most effortlessly and presents the most beautifully with the most gloriously fluffy and the most properly whipped individual vanilla frosting spread in the most gorgeous swoops and the most beautifully dramatic individual peaks over the most completely cooled individual cake surface. She creams the most perfectly softened butter, adds the most generously measured vanilla and egg yolks, alternates flour and buttermilk, pours into the most conveniently single pan, and frosts with the most perfectly whipped vanilla cloud.
Vanilla Sheet Cake is the most easy and deeply extraordinary 55-minute crowd-feeding birthday celebration cake made by creaming butter and sugar adding eggs yolks vanilla and alternating flour baking powder salt and buttermilk pouring into 9×13 pan baking at 350°F for 30 to 35 minutes and frosting with butter powdered sugar cream and vanilla whipped frosting. Come follow us on Pinterest where we share beautiful cake recipes and easy celebration favorites from our kitchen every single week.
Table of Contents
Why You Will Love This Vanilla Sheet Cake Recipe
This Vanilla Sheet Cake recipe is the most completely extraordinary and the most genuinely perfect individual 9 by 13-inch celebration cake that delivers the most beautifully moist and the most properly tender individual vanilla crumb in the most conveniently single-pan format that feeds 20 generous individual servings without any layer assembly, any crumb coating technique, or any complicated individual frosting application.
The most essential individual technique for the most beautifully moist and the most properly tender individual sheet cake crumb is the alternating addition of the flour mixture and the buttermilk — adding all flour at once develops the most excessive individual gluten that produces a tough and the most improperly dense crumb, while the most carefully alternated individual additions produce the most beautifully light and the most properly tender individual texture. Our Homemade Vanilla Cake makes a beautifully equally moist vanilla and equally birthday-celebration companion for a complete and wonderful vanilla cake collection.
Ingredients Needed for This Vanilla Sheet Cake Recipe
For the Vanilla Sheet Cake:
- 3 cups All-Purpose Flour
- 2 tsp Baking Powder
- ½ tsp Baking Soda
- ½ tsp Salt
- 1 cup Unsalted Butter, softened
- 2 cups Granulated Sugar
- 3 large Eggs, room temperature
- 2 large Egg Yolks, room temperature
- 1 tbsp Pure Vanilla Extract
- 1 cup Buttermilk, room temperature
For the Whipped Vanilla Frosting:
- 1½ cups Unsalted Butter, room temperature
- 5 cups Powdered Sugar, sifted
- 3 to 4 tbsp Heavy Cream
- 2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
- Pinch of Salt
- Sprinkles for decorating (optional)
How to Make This Vanilla Sheet Cake Recipe
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease a 9 by 13-inch baking dish and line with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl using a hand or stand mixer, beat the softened butter on medium-high for 1 minute until the most creamy. Add the sugar and beat for a full 2 minutes until the most light and the most beautifully fluffy. Add the eggs and extra yolks one at a time, beating the most thoroughly after each addition. Add the vanilla extract and mix until the most well incorporated, cara mia.
With the mixer on low speed, add one-third of the flour mixture, then half the buttermilk, then one-third flour, then the remaining buttermilk, then the final one-third of flour — mixing just until combined between each addition. Do not overmix.
Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish and smooth the top with an offset spatula to the most even and the most level surface.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the edges have just begun to pull slightly from the sides. Cool completely in the pan before frosting — at least one full hour.
For the whipped vanilla frosting, beat the room-temperature butter on medium-high for 3 minutes until the most pale and the most beautifully fluffy. Add the sifted powdered sugar one cup at a time on low speed, mixing between each addition. Add the heavy cream, vanilla extract, and pinch of salt. Beat on medium-high for 3 minutes until the most incredibly light and the most properly whipped. Spread over the completely cooled cake in the most dramatic individual swoops and peaks.
How to Serve This Vanilla Sheet Cake Recipe
Serve directly from the baking pan in the most generous individual rectangle servings for the most completely casual and the most genuinely charming sheet-cake-direct-from-pan potluck or birthday experience. For the most beautifully colorful individual celebration, scatter rainbow sprinkles most generously over the freshly frosted surface for the most completely joyful and the most classically birthday-party individual presentation.
For the most beautifully formal individual presentation, lift the parchment-lined cooled cake from the pan and frost on a serving board for the most completely charming and the most properly displayed individual sheet cake centerpiece. Our Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting makes a beautifully equally moist and equally birthday-celebration companion for a complete and wonderful classic birthday cake collection.
How to Store This Vanilla Sheet Cake Recipe
Store in an airtight container or covered tightly with plastic wrap at room temperature for up to 3 days. Refrigerate for up to one week — allow the individual cake to come to full room temperature before serving for the most properly softened individual frosting. Freeze individual portions wrapped in plastic for up to 3 months.
Tips to Make This Vanilla Sheet Cake Recipe
Use the most high-quality individual pure vanilla extract — or even better, pure vanilla bean paste — for the most dramatically pronounced and the most genuinely extraordinary individual vanilla flavor in both the cake and the frosting. The vanilla is the most single most prominent individual flavor in this recipe and deserves the most premium individual ingredient investment.
Beat the butter for the frosting the full 3 minutes before adding any powdered sugar — this most dedicated individual beating time produces the most pale and the most properly aerated individual butter base that creates the most beautifully light and the most properly whipped individual frosting rather than a the most heavy and the most overly dense individual result.
Helpful Notes for This Vanilla Sheet Cake Recipe
For the most beautifully even individual bake across the entire 9 by 13-inch surface, use metal rather than glass baking dishes — glass heats and the most unevenly and the most slowly, often producing overdone edges and the most underbaked center in larger individual sheet cake formats. Metal conducts heat the most evenly and the most efficiently for the most perfectly baked individual sheet cake.
The extra two egg yolks beyond the three whole eggs provide the most essential additional fat and individual emulsifiers that produce the most beautifully golden color and the most properly rich and the most tender individual crumb that makes this sheet cake so genuinely extraordinary compared to simpler individual three-whole-egg versions.
Variation of This Vanilla Sheet Cake Recipe
Maria made a version adding the zest of two lemons and swapping the vanilla in the frosting for fresh lemon juice for the most completely extraordinary and the most vibrantly bright lemon vanilla individual sheet cake. Teresa tried a chocolate frosting version — using the same most beautifully whipped individual frosting technique but replacing one cup of powdered sugar with one cup of sifted cocoa powder — for the most completely extraordinary and the most classically beloved individual vanilla sheet cake with chocolate frosting.
For a strawberry frosting version, blend two tablespoons of freeze-dried strawberry powder into the frosting alongside the vanilla for the most completely extraordinary and the most naturally vibrant individual pink strawberry vanilla sheet cake. Our Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting makes a beautifully equally crowd-feeding and equally birthday-perfect companion for a complete and wonderful classic birthday cake collection.
FAQs About This Vanilla Sheet Cake Recipe
How do I keep a sheet cake from doming in the center?
Three most effective individual techniques for the most flat and the most evenly baked individual sheet cake are: using room-temperature ingredients that produce the most evenly combined and the most uniformly mixed individual batter; using strips of damp baking fabric wrapped around the outside of the pan during baking to slow exterior edge setting; and not overmixing the batter once flour is added. Most home bakers find the most simple trim of any dome with a long serrated knife before frosting the most most effective solution.
Can I make this a day ahead?
Yes — and it is the most strongly recommended individual approach. Bake the vanilla sheet cake one day ahead and store most tightly covered at room temperature. Make the individual frosting on the day of serving and frost immediately before presenting for the most properly fresh and the most beautifully whipped individual frosting appearance.
Can I use milk instead of buttermilk?
Buttermilk is the most strongly recommended for the most beautifully tender and the most properly moist individual crumb. Make a most quick substitute by adding one tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice to one cup of whole milk and allowing to sit for 5 minutes until the most properly curdled — this produces the most similarly effective individual acidic component for the most tender finished individual crumb.
Conclusion
This Vanilla Sheet Cake is the most completely extraordinary and the most genuinely crowd-pleasing moist buttermilk birthday celebration sheet cake that makes every gathering and every birthday feel genuinely and completely special through the most buttery vanilla crumb and the most perfectly whipped fluffy vanilla frosting in every single generously portioned and completely irresistible vanilla sheet cake rectangle. We hope it brings the same deeply joyful sheet cake birthday celebration warmth and the same completely delighted gathering to your kitchen that it has always brought to ours. Make it, share it, and come back to tell us all about it. With all our love, Maria, Lucia, and Teresa.
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Vanilla Sheet Cake The Most Easy Moist Buttery Buttermilk Vanilla 9×13 Whipped Vanilla Frosting Celebration Cake You Will Bake
- Total Time: 1 hour 55 minutes including cooling
- Yield: 20 servings 1x
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
The most extraordinary moist Vanilla Sheet Cake made by preheating oven to 350°F greasing and lining 9×13 pan whisking 3 cups flour 2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp baking soda and 1/2 tsp salt beating 1 cup softened butter medium-high 1 minute adding 2 cups sugar beating 2 minutes light and fluffy adding 3 room temperature eggs and 2 extra yolks one at a time beating thoroughly then 1 tbsp vanilla on low alternating flour in 3 additions with 1 cup buttermilk in 2 additions beginning and ending with flour mixing just combined pouring into pan smoothing top baking 30 to 35 minutes until toothpick clean and edges barely pulling cooling completely at least 1 hour then beating 1 1/2 cups room temperature butter 3 minutes pale and fluffy adding 5 cups sifted powdered sugar one cup at a time adding 3 to 4 tbsp cream 2 tsp vanilla and salt beating medium-high 3 minutes incredibly light spreading over cooled cake in dramatic swoops. A completely perfect moist buttermilk vanilla sheet cake recipe.
Ingredients
3 cups All-Purpose Flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
1 cup Unsalted Butter softened
2 cups Granulated Sugar
3 large Eggs room temperature
2 large Egg Yolks room temperature
1 tbsp Pure Vanilla Extract
1 cup Buttermilk room temperature
1 1/2 cups Unsalted Butter room temperature for frosting
5 cups Powdered Sugar sifted
3 to 4 tbsp Heavy Cream
2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract for frosting
Pinch of Salt for frosting
Sprinkles optional
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350°F 175°C. Grease and line 9×13 baking dish.
2. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
3. Beat softened butter medium-high 1 minute until creamy. Add sugar. Beat 2 minutes light and fluffy.
4. Add eggs and yolks one at a time. Beat thoroughly after each. Add vanilla. Mix incorporated.
5. On low alternate flour in 3 additions with buttermilk in 2 additions. Mix just combined between each. Do not overmix.
6. Pour into prepared dish. Smooth top.
7. Bake 30 to 35 minutes until toothpick clean and edges barely pulling.
8. Cool completely minimum 1 hour.
9. Beat room temperature butter 3 minutes pale and fluffy.
10. Add powdered sugar one cup at a time on low. Add cream, vanilla, and salt. Beat medium-high 3 minutes incredibly light.
11. Spread over cooled cake in dramatic swoops and peaks.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Category: Dessert, Cake, Sheet Cake, Birthday, Potluck
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 rectangle
- Calories: 430
- Sugar: 48g
- Sodium: 190mg
- Fat: 22g
- Saturated Fat: 14g
- Unsaturated Fat: 7g
- Trans Fat: 1g
- Carbohydrates: 57g
- Fiber: 1g
- Protein: 4g
- Cholesterol: 110mg
Keywords: vanilla sheet cake, easy moist vanilla sheet cake recipe buttermilk butter egg yolk whipped frosting, best classic birthday vanilla 9×13 sheet cake, moist buttery vanilla sheet cake whipped vanilla frosting celebration
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