Vanilla Sheet Cake

We are in unprecedented times people. What am I doing to take my mind off of all the scary things going on in the world, you ask?

I am cooking and baking! I have been lucky enough to keep a stock of flour, sugar, butter, and other baking items on hand. I know some grocery stores are not able to stock these items, so if you have them consider yourself lucky! Cooking and baking (and photographing food) is something that I have always loved, but these past couple of weeks it has kept me sane and moving. I’ve absolutely loved spending time in the kitchen.

My hope is to continue posting recipes I have made in quarantine and talk about what my family is experiencing and the things we have been doing to keep ourselves busy. 🙂

Let’s Talk Vanilla Sheet Cake!

Ok, I’ll admit that I am not a huge fan of icing round layer cakes. The Instagram videos make it look really easy, however in my experience, it can be frustrating. We have all seen the Pinterest and Instagram fails and I have been there.

It takes a level of skill and understanding to make a layer cake look perfect. For most home bakers, we haven’t spent the time perfecting those skills because we aren’t making dozens of cakes a day.

Here is where the sheet cake comes in! You can practically put icing on a sheet cake with your eyes closed and it looks wonderful. Add some sprinkles and perhaps a few rosettes, and you have a semi-professional looking cake without all the hassle and tools it takes to put together a layer cake.

This particular recipe is a home run! I adapted this recipe using my favorite chocolate cake recipe (coming soon) and I had no idea how it was going to turn out. The results were one of the best cakes I have ever made. This vanilla cake tastes VERY similar to something that comes out of a box, I would argue way better. It is moist and not lacking flavor. That is exactly what I am looking for with any cake recipe.

Vanilla Sheet Cake Tips and Tricks

• Ingredients. I know I just explained that some grocery store shelves in the baking isle are empty but I would NOT use old ingredients. Have you ever tasted a baked good and thought you could taste “something else” in it too? It was probably because ingredients were sitting next to spices and were OLD. If you don’t remember when it was purchased, then toss it and get some fresh ingredients.
• Using Pastry Flour (cake flour) will give you a delicate, moist cake. I used Wegman’s brand pastry flour because King Arthur was not stocked. My top pick is always King Arthur though.
• Good quality Vanilla extract is also very important. I have a brand, Watkins, that I 100% recommend over any other brand for taste alone.
• I always use butter over oil in baking recipes. Oil is lacking flavor and although it can make the texture of some baked goods better, it does not add flavor so I avoid it all together. The original recipe I adapted from suggested 1/2 cup oil so I replaced it with 1 stick of unsalted butter.
• When you line your sheet cake pan with parchment paper, don’t worry if it isn’t perfect. When your cake is cooled and you remove it from the pan, you can always trim the edges. Simply place your cake on a large cutting board and use a large chef knife to trim any edges that are uneven.
• POURING IN THE HOT WATER: What sets this cake apart from most all other vanilla cake recipes is the use of boiling water at the very end. This yields an extremely moist cake. The first time I made a cake like this I kept imagining the boiling water cooking the eggs in the batter, however that did not happen.
• ICING THE CAKE: Do not try to ice a cake that is still warm. I have been tempted many times myself, but don’t do it! Your icing will melt all over the place creating a huge mess. I plopped all of my icing right in the middle of the cake and used an offset spatula to move the icing around. When getting close to the edges, don’t worry if you aren’t right at the edge with your icing. Nobody will notice and it can become a hassle trying to get it perfect.
• CUTTING THE CAKE: One thing that will also make your sheet cake look beautiful is cutting it properly. Put away the butter knives! You will get a nice and precise cut from a large chef knife. I also avoid “running my knife though” the cake. You want to insert the knife and press down instead of running it sideways. When you run it sideways you will grab cake crumbs and tear up your cake, making it look ugly. We eat with our eyes first so cutting it nicely is important. After each cut wipe off your knife. This also ensures with your next cut you will not tear up your cake.
• DECORATING THE CAKE: I used a mix of rainbow sprinkles and flat round Wilton Sprinkles. I could not find a link to the flat sprinkles I used. I also used a piping bag with a large star tip to make the rosettes.

Vanilla Icing Recipe

I will start by saying, I love using cream cheese in icing. It will set apart your cake from all others and create a deeper flavor. By mixing butter and cream cheese, you develop a beautiful American style buttercream with a hint of cream cheese to make it really pop. It doesn’t stand out as cream cheese icing, however it doesn’t taste like sickeningly sweet American style buttercream using powdered sugar to sweeten it. It is the perfect balance and will not disappoint.

Recipe:

• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter
• 8 ounces cream cheese (I prefer Philadelphia brand)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar (more to taste)

Directions: Soften cream cheese and butter ahead of time. Temperature of these items matters as you do not want lumps in your icing. Once the lumps are there, they are hard to get out.

Cream butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add vanilla extract, and powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time. As I mentioned, I am not a fan of sickeningly sweet American style buttercream, so you may want to add an additional cup or two of powered sugar depending on your taste.

 

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