Published: by Blair Braz · This post may contain affiliate links · 6 Comments
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Light, fluffy, perfectly moist with rich vanilla flavor, this vanilla tray bake is so easy to make and equally as delicious! It's covered in vanilla buttercream frosting and is the perfect cake to serve a crowd.
Vanilla tray bake is popular year round, but I particularly like making it in the summer for BBQs, parties since it's such an easy cake to make and feeds a large crowd!.
This was inspired by my vanilla cake recipe on this site.
Jump to:
- Ingredients Needed for Your Vanilla Tray Bake
- Instructions
- Substitutions for This Vanilla Tray Bake
- Variations
- Equipment Needed for a Vanilla Tray Bake
- Storage
- Top tip
- FAQ's About Vanilla Tray Bake
- Related
- Vanilla Tray Bake
Ingredients Needed for Your Vanilla Tray Bake
Here are the main ingredients required to make this vanilla tray bake. Find more information about them and quantities below in the recipe card.
- Unsalted Butter - gives the buttery taste and helps with creaming process.
- Vegetable Oil - adds extra moisture.
- Granulated Sugar
- Eggs - make sure these are room temperature to allow them to incorporate fully. Take them out of the fridge 1 hour before using.
- All Purpose Flour
- Baking Powder - helps with rise.
- Salt
- Whole Milk - adds moisture and richness.
- Pure Vanilla Extract - use pure, not artificial if you can!
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
These are step-by-step instructions how to make a vanilla sheet cake.
Mix together oil and butter until completely combined. There should be no clumps. This can take up to 10 minutes.
Next, add sugar and cream until light and fluffy.
Add in your eggs and vanilla and mix until combined.
Add ⅓rd of your dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
Pour in ½ your wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Continue by adding ⅓rd your dry ingredients, next the rest of your wet ingredients and finish with your dry.
Place into oven at 325 Fahrenheit and bake.
Hint: spray the bottom of the baking tray with baking spray that contains flour in it. This prevent it from sticking. Place parchment paper on top of the greased pan.
Substitutions for This Vanilla Tray Bake
These are some common substitutions you may like to try with this vanilla sheet cake.
- Flour - use gluten free flour instead of all purpose flour to make this gluten free. I recommend using Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free 1:1 Flour.
- Vegan - to make this vanilla sheet cake vegan, use this vegan vanilla cake recipe.
Variations
You might like some of these fun variations.
- Chocolate Frosting - instead of vanilla frosting, you can frost the cake with my rich and creamy chocolate frosting.
- Deluxe - add chocolate chips to the batter for a chocolate chip sheet cake.
See this chocolate chip sheet cake on my website!
Equipment Needed for a Vanilla Tray Bake
For this vanilla sheet cake, you'll need an electric stand or electric hand mixer.
Storage
Store your vanilla tray bake covered at room temperature for up to 3 days. Once your cut into the cake it's important to place a piece of plastic wrap on the exposed cake insides to prevent it from drying out.
You can freeze the cake unfrosted wrapped tightly in two layers of plastic wrap for up to 3 months. When you're ready to frost your vanilla cake, simply remove the layer from the freezer and thaw on the counter for 2-3 hours. Frost and enjoy.
Top tip
Don’t over mix your batter! Mixing your vanilla cake batter to much can cause it to become very dense because more gluten forms with mixing. Gluten makes things more dense. Mix until completely combined and no more.
FAQ's About Vanilla Tray Bake
Can I make this gluten free?
Yes, see the substitution section above for instructions.
Can I make this into round pans?
Yes, this will make three 6'' cake layers or two 8'' cake layers.
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
- Chocolate Chip Sheet Cake
- 8 Vegan Christmas Cakes Recipes
- Pecan Desserts
- 8 Ideas for an Easy Marshmallow Fluff Dessert
Vanilla Tray Bake
Blair Braz
Light, fluffy, perfectly moist with rich vanilla flavor, this vanilla tray bake is so easy to make and equally as delicious! It's covered in vanilla buttercream frosting and is the perfect cake to serve a crowd.
5 from 4 votes
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes mins
Cook Time 30 minutes mins
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- ½ cup vegetable oil or any neutral tasting oil
- 4 large eggs at room temperature
- 1½ cups granulated sugar
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1½ cups whole milk at room temperature
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
Frosting
- 1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- 3 cups powdered sugar sifted
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F.
Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl. Set aside.
Spray 9x13 cake pan with non-stick spray and place parchment paper on the bottom. Set aside.
Into the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, beat butter and oil together for 6-7 minutes or until they are completely unified.
Slowly add sugar into the mixture and beat on medium to high speed until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes) Scrape down the sides of the bowl.With the mixer on low speed add eggs in one at a time followed by the vanilla. Beat on high until mixture is smooth and light in colour.
With the mixer on low speed, add one third of the flour mixture into the bowl and mix until just combined. Scrape down the bowl and add one half of the milk and again mix until just combined. Repeat this process. Begin and end with the flour mixture. Do not over mix or your cake will become quite dense.Distribute cake batter into pan.
Bake for 28-33 minutes, or until knife comes out clean. Each oven is slightly different, so I suggest setting your timer to 30 minutes and watching carefully from there!
Cool on cooling rack for 10 minutes before inverting and removing cake from pan to cool completely.
Vanilla Frosting
In the bowl of a stand mixer or using a medium bowl and an electric hand mixer, beat butter on high speed until smooth and light in colour (3-5 minutes). Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
With the mixer on low speed, add powered sugar one cup at a time. Mix until combined. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl.
Add in salt. Next add in the vanilla. Mix until combined. Scrape down the sides. Mix on medium to high for 4-5 more minutes until buttercream is light and fluffy.
Keyword fluffy vanilla cake, vanilla sheet cake, vanilla tray bake
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Reader Interactions
Comments
Andra says
I love this recipe! It's super easy to make and perfect for BBQs ❤Reply
Blair Braz says
Isn't it so perfect? I know, it's the best for parties and BBQ's because it's so easy to cut up and serve 🙂 Thanks for trying it.
Reply
Heather says
I was lucky enough to try this when Blair made it for her blog and holy moly --definitely one of the best cakes I've tried.Reply
Diane says
This is easy and comes out good! I
The cake is light and the frosting is so good.Reply
Jess says
The perfect treat!Reply
Blair Braz says
Yay!
Reply
