Name: Vanilla Traybake Cake (Sheet Cake)
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 30 min
Ingredients: 300 grams flour (plain, all-purpose, standard grade); 4 teaspoons baking powder; ½ teaspoon salt; 125 grams butter; 3 eggs (large - number 7); 300 grams white sugar; 2 teaspoons vanilla extract; 250 grams milk; 230 grams butter; 540 grams icing sugar; 2 teaspoons vanilla extract; 4-8 tablespoons milk; ½ teaspoons salt

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This easy, soft, homemade, moist vanilla tray bake or vanilla sheet cake comes together with a few pantry ingredients. This is my ultimate classic from-scratch vanilla cake recipe that not only works great as a sheet cake or traybake but makes delicious cupcakes and a superb two-layer cake.

This is the cake recipe that I go to for a simple vanilla tray bake, vanilla cupcakes as well as a simple 2 layer vanilla cake. It's versatile, it's easy, and ever since I converted to baking by weight exclusively, it comes out the same every single time I bake it!

This vanilla tray bake is topped with vanilla buttercream and sprinkles to give that old school sprinkle cake feel.

Sliced vanilla traybake showing vanilla buttercream frosting and sprinkles.

This particular vanilla cake tray bake or sheet cake recipe is sort of a mash-up of my vanilla and my work bestie's recipe. In the year 2016, after the purchase of my secondhand Heavy Duty KitchenAid, we (me and my work bestie) decided that it would be the year we baked a birthday cake for everyone on our team.

It was then that we compared our recipes and noted they were by and large very similar, with slightly different methods and ingredients. Over the years I have further tweaked the recipe, mostly because room temperature butter can be difficult to achieve in the cooler months in Christchurch.

Jump to:

Ingredients
Making the Vanilla Tray Bake Cake
Making Vanilla Cupcakes
Making a 2-layer Vanilla Cake
Pro Tips for this Recipe
How to Bake an Even Cake/Layer Cake
📖 Recipe

Ingredients

Here are some notes on the ingredients used in this recipe. Please see the recipe card for quantities.

Eggs
Sugar
Butter
Milk - whole or full-fat milk is recommended, however, I have made this cake successfully with both 2% (light or low fat) and skim milk (trim milk).
Vanilla Extract
Flour - plain, standard grade, all-purpose or cake flour (South Africa).
Salt
Baking powder for lift.
Icing sugar/confectioner's sugar or powdered sugar

Plain/all-purpose/standard grade flour can be substituted on a 1 to 1 basis for recipes that have ½ to 1 teaspoon of baking powder per 125 grams/1 cup of flour. If the recipe requires more than 1 teaspoon per cup, simply add the extra baking powder to the recipe to make up the difference. Self-raising/rising flours may already contain salt so this may need to be omitted from the recipe as well.

Test the freshness of your baking powder or baking soda (bicarbonate of soda or bread soda) by placing a small amount in some boiling water. If it bubbles and fizzes, it's good to use!

Salt is a crucial ingredient in all baked goods. I use table salt in all my recipes. One teaspoon of table salt equals 1.5 teaspoons of Morton Kosher Salt equals 2 teaspoons of Diamond Crystal.

Room Temperature Ingredients

Use room temperature ingredients! Using room temperature ingredients ensures that ingredients in the batter or dough will incorporate easier. Take note that room temperature refers to around 20°C/68F.

To bring eggs to room temperature quickly, place them into warm water for about 10 to 15 minutes.
To bring butter to room temperature quickly, cut the butter into cubes and zap in the microwave at 20% power in 10-second intervals. Or place the cubes in a bowl over warm water (such as with a double boiler) over low heat for 1 minute!
Milk, buttermilk, and cream can be brought to room temperature by zapping in the microwave at 20% power in 10-second intervals. Or on a low heat for a minute or two swirling every 10-15 seconds.

Weighing Ingredients

Weighing ingredients is more accurate than measuring cups overall, and this is my recommendation for my recipes as they are all developed and tested using grams only.

However, I have activated the grams-to-cup conversions on the recipe card. Simply click on "cups" underneath the ingredient list. For these conversions, cups are equal to 236mL/8 fluid ounces, tablespoons are 15mL and teaspoons are 5mL.

Measuring cups and spoons are an essential addition to every kitchen! Especially if you don't use a kitchen scale. Invest in a set to ensure you add the correct ingredients for accurate measuring. When in doubt - always use a level spoon or cup measure.

Making the Vanilla Tray Bake Cake

Step 1 - Preheat the oven the 170°C/340F. Grease and line a 9"x13" (23cm x 33cm) rectangular cake tin.

Step 2 - Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. Melt the butter and allow it to cool while moving on to the next step.

Flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.

Step 3- In a large mixing bowl beat the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy and has doubled in volume. About 3-5 minutes using an electric hand mixer/stand mixer.

Step 4 - Add in the vanilla and mix through. Then pour the butter slowly down the side of the bowl with the mixer running. Mix until well combined. Similarly, add in the milk and mix through.

Step 5 - Add in half the flour mixture and mix through on a low speed. Then add in the other half and mix until combined.

Vanilla cake batter in a rectangular cake tin.

Step 6 - Pour the sponge batter into the prepared baking tin. Smooth to the edges. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean from the centre of the cake. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack to completely cool.

A note on the icing/frosting - the icing or frosting can easily be halved if you prefer less icing or frosting on the cake. If you make the full batch and decide it's a bit too much frosting for your liking, you can freeze buttercream frosting for up to 3 months in an airtight container/freezer bag.

Step 7 - To make the icing/frosting, beat the butter until the butter has lightened in colour. Add in the vanilla and salt, and beat together. (If using the stand mixer, use the whisk attachment).

Step 8 - Add in the icing sugar one-third at a time, and mix thoroughly. Add in 4 to 8 tablespoons of milk (start with 4 and work your way up.) and mix until you have a soft spreading consistency. Then beat the frosting for 3 to 5 minutes until soft, fluffy and ready for spreading.

Step 9 - Plop the frosting/icing over the top of the completely cooled cake, smooth until mostly even using an offset spatula or the back of a dessert spoon. Then create swirly patterns on the top if desired.

Frosted vanilla tray bake (sheet cake) with sprinkles.

Making Vanilla Cupcakes

This cake recipe also makes great cupcakes! This particular recipe makes about 18 cupcakes. Now I say about it because in my experience cupcake liners and a 12-cup muffin tin can vary slightly in volume from country to country. And also depends on how far you fill the liners.

To make regular-sized cupcakes, follow the instructions to make the cake batter. Then divide the batter equally among the cupcake liners, filling each cupcake liner about ⅔ full. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean from the centre of the cupcakes. Allow cooling completely on a wired rack before frosting/icing the cupcakes.

Making a 2-layer Vanilla Cake

This vanilla cake recipe can also be used to bake a two-layer cake. I like to use two 8" or 20cm cake tins. Follow the instructions to make the cake batter then divide the batter equally between the two cake tins.

Smooth out the cake batter and bake on the centre rack for 25-35 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean from the centre of both cakes.

Note - you can use a kitchen scale to get equal amounts of batter in the cake tins.

Close up of vanilla buttercream frosting swirled on top of tray bake with sprinkles. — Old school sprinkle cake? That's the feeling I get from this shot.

Pro Tips for this Recipe

Allow the cake to cool completely before frosting. If the cake is warm at all the icing will melt.

Ovens

The temperatures stated are for conventional ovens. For convection, fan-forced, fan-assisted, or air-fryers, the temperature must be reduced by 20°C/25°F, or the gas mark by 1.

For best baking results invest in an oven thermometer, as the temperature dials on the oven may not be accurate.

Bakeware

Metal bakeware is superior when it comes to baking biscuits, cookies, brownies, muffins and quick bread, scones, cakes. These heat up and cool down faster than glassware. Glassware is heavier, heats up and cools down slower than metal and is more suited for bread puddings, pies, crisps, crumbles and cobblers.

How to Bake an Even Cake/Layer Cake

To ensure you get layers or a sheet cake as flat as possible, check the following:

The oven temperature. An oven that is too hot will result in domed cakes. Use an oven thermometer to make sure your oven is at the right temperature.
Grease the sides of the cake tin. This allows the batter to rise up the sides without gripping the sides.
Use baking strips! Use damp cake pan baking strips to keep the sides of the cake tin cooler during the baking. This allows the side to rise at a similar rate to the centre of the cake. Alternatively (the method I use) is to fold a piece of foil 4-to 5 times to create a strip (shiny side out) and wrap it around the outside of the tin. This is especially important for darker cake tins.
Trimming the cakes is the last step in making flat layers. This can be done with a large serrated knife or wired cake leveller.

NOTE - the rectangular cake tin I used to bake this cake is rather dark, so I did wrap the tin in foil so that I would have a fairly even cake.

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Easy Vanilla Tray Bake