21 Easy, Crowd-Pleasing Sheet Cakes for Any Occasion
Birthdays, graduations, and other big-time celebrations call for extra-large cakes. These single-layer stunners require minimal effort and deliver major wow.
Con Poulos
When you need something sweet to feed a crowd, sheet cakes are the way to go. You can cut them into squares, skinny slices, or chunky rectangles, depending on how many people you’re serving. And you’d be hard-pressed to find one that isn’t even more delicious with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. Plus, they travel well; in fact, you can often transport them in the pan you bake them in, with some foil wrapped over the top.
Although their format is the same no matter what (because every sheet cake is baked in a large, flat, rectangular pan), flavor-wise, they run the gamut from chocolate and vanilla to peanut butter to fruit. Generally speaking, though, these all-American cakes are unfussy, customizable, and perfect for all kinds of gatherings, from backyard barbecues to kids' birthday parties.
Related: 30 Easy Cake Recipes That Every Home Baker Should Master
Chocolate Sprinkle Sheet Cake
Lest you think all chocolate cakes are heavy, in sweeps this light number that doubles as a dessert or an after-school snack. You replace some of the usual flour for cocoa powder, which gives it a more chocolate-y flavor. And definitely do not skip the sprinkles!
Traditional Tres Leches Cake
Incorporating a trifecta of evaporated milk, condensed milk, and whole milk, this super-moist cake is light and tasty. It's popular throughout Latin America and for very good reason. Serve it on its own or with some fruit spooned over the top.
Lemon-Meringue Sheet Cake
This beauty gets its flavor from fresh lemon zest and its stature from not-too-sweet meringue. Dollop tons on top for a dramatic look. If you don't have a blowtorch, you can brown the peaks with a quick blast under the broiler.
Maple Cake
"Easy as maple cake" isn't a phrase we've ever heard, but this recipe makes us think it should be. This cake comes together in a snap and gets a beautifully warm and toasty maple flavor from grade-A syrup.
Cookies-and-Cream Sheet Cake
This combination is definitely kid-friendly, but you'll find that grown-ups will clamor for slices, too. Scrape the yellow cake mixture into a buttered baking pan and smooth it with a spatula, then simply scatter broken Oreo cookies over the top for instant appeal—no frosting necessary.
Banana Sheet Cake With Passion-Fruit Frosting
Adding passion fruit juice, made by pressing the pulp through a sieve, to cream-cheese frosting gives the topping for this gorgeous creation a fresh and naturally intense taste and a pastel tint. There's about a cup of mashed ripe banana in the batter, resulting in more moisture and a slightly denser cake than you'll get with some of our other recipes.
Strawberry Biscuit Sheet Cake
In this sprawling strawberry shortcake, a tender biscuit cushions a cloud of lightly sweetened cream and a tumble of juiced-up berries. If you fancy something radical, swap the strawberries for sliced peaches, plums, or nectarines—all make equally delicious toppings for this large-format dessert.
Texas Sheet Cake
Why is this the most popular sheet cake ever? Well, what goes better with chocolate than more chocolate? This easy-to-make, easy-to-love chocolate sheet cake has a touch of cinnamon in the batter and is drizzled with a rich, smooth chocolate glaze. A sprinkle of pecans seals the deal.
Striped Ice Cream Sheet Cake
Get ready to earn your (master sheet cake baker) stripes! Colorful layers of sorbet, ice cream, and jam are sandwiched between two light and fluffy layers of angel food sheet cake, creating a dessert that's as pretty to look at as it is tasty to eat.
Chocolate-Peanut Butter Sheet Cake
Rich and tender chocolate cake meets creamy peanut-butter frosting in this must-make recipe. The frosting is made with creamy peanut butter, so go ahead and scatter chopped peanuts along the edges for any crunchy fans in the house.
Red Velvet Sheet Cake
The balance of cocoa powder, butter, sugar, eggs, and sour cream gives this red velvet an almost fudgy flavor. And we use less food coloring than traditional recipes call for, so the cake is more of an elegant mauve velvet. Swoops of tangy cream-cheese frosting offset the cake's richness, as well as its striking hue.
Vanilla Sheet Cake With Malted-Chocolate Frosting
A frosting made of cocoa powder, malted milk powder, and milk chocolate takes a simple vanilla sheet cake to new heights. Decorate with chopped malted milk balls, then watch the crowd go wild!
No-Bake Ricotta-Blueberry Cheesecake
Whipped cream folded into this no-bake beauty's lemony ricotta-and-cream-cheese filling gives it an airy texture and ethereal taste. The crust of crushed vanilla wafers provides a solid foundation, and the topping is a mixture of fresh and lightly cooked blueberries that bursts in every bite.
Chocolate Sheet Cake With Vanilla-Buttercream
Inspired by devil's food cake, this looker is made with both cocoa powder and melted chocolate and contains a cup of sour cream; once baked, it's swathed in Swiss meringue buttercream and dark chocolate shavings.
Cornmeal-Berry Sheet Cake
Yellow sheet cake gets an instant upgrade with the addition of cornmeal, which changes up the flavor and texture and complements the blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries. Serve each portion with a dollop of whipped cream for an indulgent kick.
Banana-Split Ice Cream Cake
Caramel, whipped cream, bananas, and nuts are all part of this tasty dessert, but you'll find no ice cream here. Instead, this hero features vanilla semifreddo, an Italian frozen custard made from cream, sugar, egg yolks, and gelatin. It's easy to slide and slow to melt and is layered on top of a foundation of store-bought chocolate wafers for a cool take on a sheet cake.
Chocolate-Coconut Sheet Cake
Each is fantastic on its own, but when chocolate and coconut get together, something really special happens. This super rich, gooey chocolate sheet cake has a coconut and coffee topping and is served with whipped cream and a generous sprinkling of coconut flakes.
Lemon-Glazed Sheet Cake
Fine-crumbed and delicate, this dessert offers a double dose of tangy brightness thanks to a zest-filled batter and a citrus glaze so silky you'll need a high-sided pan to contain it. A Cy Twombly-esque tangle of candied lemon-rind ribbons is an optional—and delightfully over-the-top—extra.
Vanilla Sheet Cake With Chocolate Ganache Buttercream
Egg yolks—five of them!—are the MVPs in this ultra-moist version of the quintessential birthday treat. The frosting is state-of-the-art, too. Rather than the usual cocoa powder and confectioners' sugar combo, it's chocolate ganache that gets whipped—along with plenty of butter—into glossy swoops. Quick, grab the candles.
Orange-and-Poppy-Seed Sheet Cake
Especially springy and boldly citrusy, this sheet cake recipe includes orange zest, sour cream, poppy seeds, and vanilla in the batter and a splash of OJ in the luscious icing.
Cherry Sheet Cake
No frosting needed! A dusting of confectioners' sugar is all it takes to finish this cherry-studded sheet cake. Once it's sliced into easy-to-nibble triangles, it works equally well as an afternoon snack as it does a tasty party treat.
Read the original article on Martha Stewart.
