This vanilla sheet cake recipe uses the reverse creaming method, an easy technique that promises a uniquely soft and springy crumb with the most delicious buttery vanilla flavor. Use this cake recipe as a birthday sheet cake or for anytime you crave a simple classic dessert. Top the cake with whipped vanilla buttercream, a frosting made from butter, confectioners’ sugar, and heavy cream and whipped until extra fluffy.
When it comes to classics like vanilla cake, the chapter never really ends. You see, there’s 3 layer vanilla cake, vanilla cupcakes, vanilla naked cake, one layer vanilla cake (aka strawberry shortcake cake!), vanilla 6 inch cake, confetti cake, and even a vanilla white cake hybrid. Each of these recipes use the same ingredients, only remixed and divided in different proportions.
But what about a simple vanilla sheet cake recipe?
That’s what we’re focusing on today. This is a pure and classic vanilla sheet cake with a soft, springy crumb and unbelievable sweet vanilla flavor. It’s the simple birthday cake you need and buttery taste you love. And let’s add a giant fluff ball on top—otherwise known as whipped buttercream. This is dessert nostalgia at its finest!
Behind the Vanilla Sheet Cake Recipe
My vanilla cake recipe (the best I’ve ever had!) yields too much batter for a 9×13 inch quarter sheet cake, while the strawberry shortcake cake batter isn’t quite enough. My 2 layer vanilla/white cake hybrid is super light and fluffy and while it’s the perfect amount for a 9×13 inch quarter sheet pan, it doesn’t have the same buttery tight crumb as traditional vanilla cake. For today’s recipe, I took what I love about these cakes and combined them into the appropriate amount of batter to fit this classic size pan.
First, let’s walk through an in-depth tutorial of the mixing method. (Reverse creaming! You’re going to love it.) Though this is a very straightforward recipe, I encourage you to read through my tips before getting started.
Reverse Creaming Method for Cake
Do you remember when I shared Tessa’s Blackberry Lavender Cake? I just love her recipes! Prior to that cake, I had only used the reverse creaming method a handful of times. I loved her cake’s texture, so I replicated it with my strawberry shortcake cake not long after. We’re going to use the same method with today’s vanilla sheet cake recipe. Instead of starting with creaming butter and sugar together like traditional cake recipes, the reverse creaming method begins with the dry ingredients and ends with the eggs. This method produces a lighter and tighter crumb with more spring. The slices are tight like pound cake, but not dense in the slightest. It’s velvety soft and almost tastes creamy.
This method is so unique, but very easy.
Sift the dry ingredients, including the sugar, into a bowl. Sifting with a fine mesh strainer is imperative because it aerates the dry ingredients and leaves behind larger sugar crystals. Remember, we aren’t creaming sugar and butter together where large sugar crystals are usually broken down. Next, mix in cubed room temperature butter, a little milk, and vanilla extract. In this step, the butter coats the flour. The coating of fat minimizes the flour’s formation of gluten, which helps result in a finer cake crumb. You’ll taste the difference.
By the way, we coat flour with fat when we make biscuits and pie crust too. This practice helps produce an extra flaky (not dense) baked good.
Success Tip: Cube the butter when it’s cold. Smaller pieces of butter will warm to room temperature much quicker than a full stick of butter. Plus, it’s easy to cut cold butter into cubes as opposed to warmer room temperature butter.
After that, we’ll add the rest of the liquids including the remaining milk, the sour cream, and eggs. The photo on the left (below) is our sheet cake batter. I promise it’s the creamiest batter you’ll ever work with. Avoid over-mixing it.
Which Cake Pan?
Use whichever 9×13 inch pan you have on hand. I usually lean towards a glass 9×13 inch pan simply because the cake looks extra beautiful serving right out of the dish. It’s what I prefer when making cookies and cream cake and yellow sheet cake, too. If using a metal baking pan, keep a close eye on the cake. Metal pans usually mean a quicker bake time, though my test recipes (in all different pans) each finished baking around the same time.
Vanilla Sheet Cake Ingredients
Whether you’re a beginner baker or pro, you’ll be happy to see that this vanilla sheet cake requires only a handful of super basic baking ingredients. Each one serves a purpose and for best results, I don’t recommend making substitutions.
- Cake Flour: Cake flour produces the softest cake. There’s simply no competition, but you can certainly make this cake flour substitute if needed. Cake flour is sold in the baking aisle with the other flours. You can use leftovers in any recipes using cake flour.
- Sugar & Salt: Sugar sweetens the cake and salt adds flavor.
- Baking Powder & Baking Soda: Remember the differences in baking powder vs baking soda and why it’s important to use both in some recipes?
- Butter: Room temperature butter is the workhorse behind this whole recipe, especially the reverse creaming method. It also adds flavor. I recommend using unsalted butter in this sheet cake recipe. If you’re interested, here’s a post I wrote on salted butter vs unsalted butter.
- Vanilla Extract: Vanilla extract adds flavor. Use an entire Tablespoon… trust me! And if you use homemade vanilla extract, even better. 🙂
- Whole Milk: The cake’s crumb is extra rich and we have the whole milk to thank for it. Avoid lower fat or nonfat milks. Moist cakes need fat.
- Sour Cream: The moist maker! Thanks to sour cream, this cake melts in your mouth.
- Eggs: To obtain a fluffier cake, I usually add extra egg whites. However, this sheet cake didn’t need it. Maybe my ratios were off, but my few test recipes proved that this combination of ingredients brought together with the reverse creaming method doesn’t need extra whites. Simply use 3 full eggs. Actually, in one test recipe, I used 4 eggs with no sour cream. The cake tasted heavy, so I ultimately swapped 1 egg with sour cream. The cake is much lighter and moister.
Whipped Buttercream
Elevating this vanilla sheet cake is a lovely blanket of whipped buttercream. Use the same ingredients as my regular vanilla buttercream recipe, but add extra heavy cream and whip it for a few extra minutes. A little extra cream and a little extra whip turn this frosting into a buttercream/whipped cream duo. This is the same frosting we use to fill our cream-filled chocolate cupcakes. It’s mega creamy and fluffy, as if you borrowed a puffy cloud from the sky and slathered it on a cake. Talk about dreamy!
Couldn’t you get lost in these swirls?
If you want to go the extra mile, top this beauty with thick and fluffy Swiss meringue buttercream instead. For a less sweet option, try my whipped frosting. It’s a personal favorite! And for a pretty pink spin, strawberry buttercream frosting pairs wonderfully with vanilla cake.
Make an American Flag Cake!
Before we finish up, let’s chat about turning this vanilla sheet cake into a flag cake. Spread 2/3 of the frosting all over the cake, saving the remaining 1/3 for piping detail. Grab some fresh blueberries and halved strawberries and line them up to mimic the stars and stripes on an American flag. I used Ateco 32 piping tip for the piping between the “stars” and Ateco 844 piping tip for the piping between the “stripes.”
This would be an excellent choice for Memorial Day Weekend or the Fourth of July. See more Memorial Day Weekend recipes.
Would love to know if you try this sheet cake!!
More Quarter Sheet Cake Recipes
- Banana Cake
- Pumpkin Cake
- Cookies & Cream Cake
- Yellow Sheet Cake
- Pineapple Carrot Cake
- Spice Cake & Apple Cake
- Zucchini Cake
Vanilla Sheet Cake with Whipped Buttercream Frosting
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 4 hours
- Yield: serves 12
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This vanilla sheet cake recipe uses the reverse creaming method, an easy technique that promises a uniquely soft and springy crumb with the most delicious buttery vanilla flavor. Each ingredient serves a purpose and for best results, I don’t recommend making substitutions.
Ingredients
- 3 cups (354g) cake flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 and 1/2 cups (300g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (226g) unsalted butter, cubed and softened to room temperature
- 1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup (240ml) whole milk, at room temperature and divided
- 1/3 cup (80g) sour cream, at room temperature
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
Whipped Vanilla Buttercream
- 1 cup (226g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 4 and 1/2 cups (540g) confectioners’ sugar
- 1/3 cup (80ml) heavy cream
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- salt, to taste
- optional: sprinkles for garnish
Instructions
- Make the cake: Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Generously grease a 9×13 inch cake pan.
- Sift the cake flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. (Or if using a handheld mixer, any large mixing bowl.) With the paddle attachment, beat the ingredients together on low speed for a few seconds to gently combine. Add the butter, vanilla, and 1/2 cup of milk. Mix on medium speed until the dry ingredients are moistened, about 1 minute. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl. The mixture will resemble a thick dough.
- Whisk the remaining milk, the sour cream, and eggs together in a medium bowl. With the mixer running on medium speed, add the egg mixture in 3 additions, mixing for about 15 seconds after each addition. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl, then mix for about 15 more seconds until batter is completely combined. Avoid over-mixing. Some small lumps are OK.
- Pour and spread batter evenly into prepared pan. Bake for around 32-35 minutes or until the cake is baked through. To test for doneness, insert a toothpick into the center of the cake. If it comes out clean, it’s done. Allow cake to cool completely in the pan set on a wire rack. The cake must be completely cool before frosting.
- Make the buttercream: With a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add confectioners’ sugar, heavy cream, and vanilla extract. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds, then increase to medium-high speed and beat for 4 full minutes. Add up to 1/4 cup more confectioners’ sugar if frosting is too thin or another Tablespoon of cream if frosting is too thick. Add a pinch of salt if frosting is too sweet. (I add 1/8 teaspoon salt.) Frosting should be extra fluffy.
- Spread frosting in a thick layer on cooled cake. I use and recommend an offset spatula. If desired, use a piping tip to pipe some frosting and/or garnish with sprinkles. Slice and serve.
- Cover leftover cake tightly and store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: The cake can be baked, cooled, and covered tightly at room temperature overnight. Likewise, the frosting can be prepared then covered and refrigerated overnight. Let the refrigerated frosting sit at room temperature for 10 minutes, then beat with a mixer for 1 minute to bring it back to a spreadable consistency. Frosted cake or unfrosted cake can be frozen up to 2-3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature before decorating/serving.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 9×13-inch Cake Pan | Fine Mesh Sieve | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Glass Mixing Bowl | Whisk | Cooling Rack | Offset Spatula
- Cupcakes: Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full. Bake at 350°F (177°C) for 19-21 minutes. Yields about 2 dozen. Or try my vanilla cupcakes recipe.
- 2 Layer Cake: If desired, you can use this batter to make a 2 layer cake instead. Grease two 9 inch cake pans, line with parchment paper rounds, then grease the parchment paper. Parchment paper helps the cakes seamlessly release from the pans. Divide the batter evenly between the pans. Bake time will be a few minutes shorter—keep a close eye on the cakes at 20 minutes and check for doneness with a toothpick.
- Cake Flour: For the best results, I strongly recommend cake flour. You can find it in the baking aisle and I have many more recipes using it. If you cannot get your hands on cake flour, you can make a DIY cake flour substitute.
- Why is everything at room temperature? All refrigerated items should be at room temperature so the batter mixes together easily and evenly. Read here for more information.
- Sprinkle Cake: To make a sprinkle cake, fold about 2/3 cup (105g) of sprinkles into the cake batter. Avoid nonpareils (the little balls), which tend to bleed their color.
- Chocolate Frosting: If desired, swap the whipped vanilla buttercream with chocolate buttercream. The chocolate buttercream calls for beating for 1 minute, but for a fluffy whipped texture, whip for 3 full minutes.
Hi Sally, would this recipe work for cake pops? Sometimes a “pound-like” cake consistency allows you to form cake pops with less icing…your cake pop recipe looks delicious and I’mj going to try that one anyway, but thought I would ask…
Hi Jessie! Yes, you can use this cake for cake pops. Use just enough frosting to create a moist crumb for shaping into balls/pops.
Hi! I’m thinking of making this cake for my sons birthday. Can I take it out of the glass dish after cooling? I know you had mentioned you could use a larger sheet pan (in above comments ) and do it that way, but I’d like to stick to the 9×13 an make 2.
Thanks
Hi Katie! It would be easiest to line the pan with parchment paper so you can easily (and slowly!) invert the cooled cake to remove it from the pan.
Hi Sally! I’m deciding between this cake, your favorite white cake, or your all time favorite vanilla cake for my daughter’s birthday party. To feed the large crew, I’ll be making two 9×13 cakes (which seems possible for any of these cakes, based on your responses to previous comments, by following each recipe twice and taking into account your notes). Any tips on the difference in taste and texture among these three cakes to help me decide? They all sound wonderful! Thank you!
Hi Alisa! Happy to help. Best bet would be to make 2 of these cakes or my white cake recipe 2x. Follow the 9×13 inch pan instructions in that recipe. The white cake isn’t as buttery as this vanilla sheet cake. It’s a little fluffier, though!
Can I serve this out of the pan like a traditional sheet cake you would buy? Will it hold up as long as I grease, flour and use parchment paper? Thank you – it sounds delicious!
Yes. This cake will fit into a 12×17 inch half sheet pan. It will be on the thinner side and the bake time will be shorter.
Sally, this cake was fantastic. I made this for the fourth of July, and I had few people tell me it was “the best cake they ever had”. I’ve made a lot of your recipes, and so many of them are fantastic (the chocolate sheet cake with peanut butter icing is another one that people DIE over), but I have to say the reverse creaming really does something special here. Thanks so much for this lovely recipe. It is moist but not crumbly, which is a hard combination to get.
I’m sorry if I missed it but how much frosting does this yield?
Hi Shell! About 3.5-4 cups.
Can I use half and half instead of heavy cream for the frosting?
You can, it just won’t be *quite* as thick but it totally works.
I ended up using all-purpose flour and half and half for the frosting and even with those substitutions the cake was amazing! So moist and tender. Thank you for such a delicious recipe!
Made this cake for a birthday party and it tasted great! Love the frosting and the cake is so fluffy!
Sally, can I use four egg whites instead of three whole eggs?
I don’t recommend it for this recipe – you need the fat from the yolks for the correct texture here. If you want to make a vanilla cake that only uses whites I recommend this recipe: https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/new-favorite-white-layer-cake/
Can I make a two layer 9×13 cake with this recipe? If I make two cakes and stack them with icing in the middle? There will be 20 kids plus some adults at the party and I’m worried one layer won’t be enough. Thanks!
Yes, you can make two and then stack them! I do however recommend that you make the recipe twice, instead of just doubling it. When you work with too much batter at once you risk over or under mixing and ending up with a dense cake.
I am wanting to make this cake for my dad’s retirement party and we are using a 12*18 pan should I double the recipe? Thank you
Hi Amber! You can use this recipe as a written for a thinner half sheet cake or 1.5x the recipe for the half sheet pan. Doubling the recipe would be too much.
Thanks so much. Ok I’ll check to see what they would like me to do and just to make sure I’m understanding correctly I would make it as is or add an extra 1/2 of all the ingredients to make more.
Thanks for your help.
Amber
Hello Sally,
Am I able to use buttermilk instead of whole milk?
Hi Shawn! Buttermilk will be fine. For best results, though, I would actually use 1 and 1/3 cups of buttermilk and omit the whole milk and sour cream.
I really like this recipe and reverse creaming method. It produces a tight crumb but light cake with a nice vanilla flavor. The cake even tastes better the second day. I will be using this recipe again and again. Thank you, Sally!
Hi Sally…. do you think this recipe would work to make a rainbow cake? And what would you recommend to frost a rainbow cake? The regular vanilla buttercream or the whipped one. My child is turning 8 and he wants a rainbow cake with a soccer theme I dont know how am I going do it but I’ll try .
Thank you!!
Kareen
Hi Kareen! How about you use my vanilla cake recipe. You can divide the batter between 6 cake pans. The bake time will be shorter since the cakes will be thinner. You can use the frosting listed with that cake or this whipped one. 🙂
Sally a friend asked for a marble cake for his birthday. I wanted to do a vanilla cake instead of a yellow cake for the mix. Do you think this will be a good base & I can add the chocolate from there?
Best,
Alex
Hi Alex! Use my zebra cake recipe/batter for a marble cake. 🙂 One of my favorite cakes ever!
Thank you so much Sally for the cake! It was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO good! I would like to make this cake taller. What do you suggest? What changes when you bake in 13×15 or 13×9? It would be really cool if you would post a blog post on that, that we be great!
Hi Lana! This cake is for a 9×13 inch pan, but you could stretch it for a 13×15 inch cake pan. The cake will be thinner. So glad you tried and loved it!
Hi Heather! See my recipe note 🙂 If desired, you can divide the batter between two 9 inch cake pans. Bake time will be a few minutes shorter– keep a close eye on the cakes at 20 minutes and check for doneness with a toothpick. Happy baking!
Oh I saw that in an earlier note but I was wanting to know which of the two cake recipes would be more moist? Thanks!
Both super super moist! Honestly, I wouldn’t call one more moist over the other.
Hi Sally,
I made this cake & followed the recipe to a “T”. I timed the mixing too. The cake came out dense. I spooned & leveled the cake flour, was I supposed to sift it as well? It tasted great, and the frosting got rave reviews. Unfortunately I can’t figure out where I went wrong. I also recently made your strawberry cake that ended up dense as well, though it tasted good. Both my baking powder & soda were fresh & all ingredients were room temp. Someone suggested I beat it another minute longer than suggested. I have an Oster stand mixer that doesn’t have a paddle attachment, could that be it? I used King Arthur cake flour; does the brand make a difference? Help please
Hi Chris! For some reason, I completely missed this comment/question. So sorry about that! The dry ingredients should be sifted into the mixing bowl together, but you don’t have to sift the cake flour before adding to the bowl. The attachment shouldn’t be the issue and I don’t recommend beating the batter longer. Make sure you’re beating the cubed room temperature butter, vanilla, and milk for 1 full minute before adding the remaining milk, sour cream, and eggs. Cakes taste dense when there is too much sugar, too much liquid, or not enough leavener. I recommend increasing the baking powder to 1 and 1/2 teaspoons if you decide to try the recipe again.
Hi Sally! I am looking for the perfect vanilla cake to make for a friends birthday. It will be baked in a 9×13 pan. Do you suggest this cake or your white layer cake? It’s too hard for me to choose as they both look amazing! Thanks in advance!
Hi Taylor! This one is great– definitely a favorite and has an unbelievably soft, yet tight crumb. I think you’ll love it.
I brought this to a Fourth of July party yesterday and it got rave reviews. Definitely will be made again!
Made it today. Tasted good but was definitely dense..not sure what I did wrong. It sort of looked like undercooked pound cake. I’ve never used reverse creaming before so maybe I overmixed? It was easy so I want to try again. I have great success with all your other recipes(except pound cake which does not come out at all) so I’ll keep trying! Happy 4th!
Hi Dana! It shouldn’t be dense, but the crumb WILL be tight. If it tasted undercooked, it likely needed more time. And that could also be why it tasted dense too. Let me know if you try it again. Careful not to over-mix after you add the eggs.
Thanks for the help. It was like a brick! I’ll definitely try it again, being careful not to overmix or underbake! In the meantime I’ve got your peach cobbler in the oven. Smells amazing.
Hello. I’m wanting to make this into a marble cake. Do you know how much cocoa powder I would use? And also, I will be making a 1/2 sheet cake so would I double this recipe? I’m guessing double and not triple the recipe.
Hi Jennifer! I recommend using my zebra cake recipe and swirling those vanilla & chocolate batters for the sheet cake.
Hi Sally! Looking forward to making this cake. Do you think I could substitute the sour cream for greek yogurt? If so, would it be a one to one substitution? Thanks!
Hi Lulu! Yes, you can use a 1:1 replacement of Greek yogurt for the sour cream.
Could i add sprinkles to this batter?
Thanks!
Sure can! See recipe note.
Great recipe- this is a keeper!! The vanilla cake is perfectly moist, not too sweet so combined with the sweetness of the fluffy buttercream makes for such a yummy cake!!
How does this compare to the recipe for your One Layer Strawberry Shortcake Recipe that you posted? I have made that recipe twice now and it is absolutely perfect. Will be my go to from now on.
Hi Monica! This is a great question. In my recipe testing, I doubled the One Layer Strawberry Shortcake Cake recipe to yield enough for a quarter sheet pan. The cake was actually very dry. You simply need more moisture for a cake with a larger surface area. (two 9-inch smaller pans vs one 9×13 inch pan) That’s when I decided to use more eggs, butter, and add sour cream– which all definitely helped. The cakes are pretyt much identical in texture. Hope you try this one!
I just frosted this cake and WOW! How am I ever going to lose that proverbial last 5 pounds if I can’t stop myself from licking the frosting from the mixing bowl?
I was excited to give the recipe a try and am not disappointed. Fabulous!
This is perfect timing! Would I be able to put strawberries in the batter too??
Absolutely. I recommend chopping strawberries, then blotting a little dry before folding into the batter.
Made the cake today and it did not turn out at all. The taste is good but I didn’t get the rise yours did and it had some air holes in it that just collapsed. I tried to be careful not to overmix so maybe that was it. I have total success with all your other recipes so Im not sure about the reverse creaming method.
Sounds like it needed to cook longer. I cooked my cake for 10-15 minutes longer than written in the recipe. I was so worried it would be dry and overcooked, but it was just perfect with longer cooking time. Mine would have collapsed too, if I took it out as written. Could be due to weather conditions and oven temperature accuracy.
Hi Sally, I have been diligently reading all your recipes and tried some of them , everything except for butterscotch sauce came out very well. Reg, this recipe , what’s the substitute for Cake flour as I don’t get it here. I do want to post some of the stuff I made , pls tell me how and where to do the same.
Hi Gayathri! See my recipe note about the cake flour substitution for this recipe. A combination of all-purpose flour and cornstarch will work! Feel free to email me photos of the recipes anytime! I love to see them. sally@sallysbakingaddiction.com 🙂