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!
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 1x
- 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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Hi
If i wanna make size 12×12
Is the measurement still same?
Would that be a square pan? And how tall do you want it to be? How many layers?
Just 1 layer and yes its square tray
So how tall you want to be also matters, but when I make a 10 inch cake, I would double this recipe for a cake that is 3 layers and about 3.5-4 inches tall when frosted. For a 12 inch, I’d probably double it again, but that may be taller than you want. So maybe do 2 1/2 recipes worth? It’s just a guess.
Hello, how high does this cake rise. I have a 12 x 18 pan with 2 inch sides. I am tryig to find a sheet cake to feed a crowd, I tried another recipe and it did not rise very high in my regular 12 x 18 pan with lower sides.
I believe it was about an inch tall. You could double it, if you want it taller.
The most perfect recipe for a vanilla cake I’ve ever tried. It was a hit at my son’s birthday party. I lowered the butter to 1/2 cup and increased the oil to 1/2 cup to help keep it moist. Other recipes produced dry or super dense cakes. This one is fluffy and even looks store bought. I’m sticking with this one!
Awesome! I’m so glad it was a hit!
Can i just add cocoa powder to this to make it chocolate
Well, not really. For the most ideal chocolate version of this vanilla cake, I’d check out these chocolate cupcakes. The chocolate base is my chocolate version of this cake, but the recipe is cut in half for 12 cupcakes. So if you double that cupcake recipe, it’d be the chocolate version of this cake. I hope that makes sense. 🙂
I am using a 12x18x2 cake pan and would like to fill the pan more, so would I 2x this recipe or only 1.5 the recipe?
Doubling could be too much, but I’m not sure. You could try 1.5 times just to be safe.
I want to do this exact pan size.. did you use 1.5 recipe or double it?
Do you think I could substitute olive oil? Trying to stay away from vegetable oil. Thanks!
It would probably have a different flavor, since olive oil can be strong, but you could try it.
Hello, this looks like a good recipe. I’m excited to try it. My friend wanted less sugar. Could I make it with only one cup sugar?
I mean, yes, you could. But keep in mind that sugar also adds moisture and affects the texture of the cake, so removing some of it may not give you the ideal result. But that can be subjective. If less sugar is more important to your friend, then maybe it’s worth trying.
Can I use 10x15x2 pan?
Sure! Just bake it for a little more time.
I love your recipes & I always use the Moist Vanilla Layer cake which is a huge hit in my family. I want to use the Vanilla Sheet Recipe for a layered number 7 cake. My pan is 12 x 9 x 2 inch. Could you suggest any adjustments to ingredients/measurements or bake time please? Im wanting layers so the cake will have a height of about 4inches. Thanks so much x
I’m so glad you enjoy the recipes! I haven’t tried it in a 9×12 pan, so it’s hard to say. I’m thinking you’d want to leave the recipe as-is and increase the baking time a few minutes. I’d probably make 2 of them to get the 4 inch height.
My pan is 12 X 18 X 1. Is the pan too shallow for this recipt?
It should be fine.
This recipe did not work for me at all. Was not at all fluffy. And yes, my baking powder is just fine. Not sure why, but made two batches….I guess I’ll crumble and toast for ice cream and pudding topping.