Yellow Sheet Cake {With Chocolate Frosting}
Easy yellow sheet cake with chocolate frosting recipe, homemade with simple ingredients. This delicious birthday cake starts off with yellow cake mix.
A trusty sheet cake recipe is a necessity to have in your baking toolbox, and this one is as easy and fool-proof as they come. Made with a yellow box cake as the base, and then doctored with a few more ingredients, your guests will be wildly impressed by its delicious flavor and texture. Top it with a 2 ingredient ganache, and you have the best sheet cake in no time. These Yellow Cupcakes and this Texas Sheet Cake {From Scratch} are two more classic and simple dessert options to try your hand at next.
How To Make Yellow Sheet Cake Recipe With Chocolate Frosting And Cake Mix?
- Mix ingredients– Including whole milk, buttermilk, melted butter, vanilla extract, almond extract, vanilla pudding.
- Add cake mix– Mix until just combined.
- Pour and spread batter– Into rectangle cake pan and spread evenly.
- Bake– Until an inserted toothpick in the center comes out clean.
- Cool cake– Completely.
- Make chocolate frosting– While cake is baking and cooling.
- Decorate cake– Spread frosting on top of the cake and add sprinkles. Enjoy!
What’s The Difference Between Sheet Cake And Regular Cake?
The shape is the major difference. A sheet cake is made in a large shallow pan while regular cake is made in either circular pans or in baking dish of a smaller size.
What Is Yellow Cake Flavor? Is It The Same As Vanilla Cake?
The flavor of a yellow cake is the same as vanilla. The yellow color comes from egg yolks in the batter, but doesn’t alter the vanilla flavor.
Sheet Cake Sizes
18×26 classic sheet size– Double the recipe and pour batter in a greased and floured full size commercial sheet cake pan that’s typically 18×26.
18×13 half sheet size– 1 1/2 the recipe and pour batter in a greased and floured half sheet pan.
9×13 quarter sheet size– This recipe is for a quarter sheer cake.
Sheet Cake Frosting Ideas
- Brown Sugar Frosting {So Fluffy!}
- Homemade Stabilized Whipped Cream
- Easy Mint Frosting
- Caramel Frosting {3 Ingredients}
- Peanut Butter Frosting
- Easy Maple Frosting
- Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
- Lemon Frosting (Lemon Buttercream)
- American Buttercream Frosting
- Maraschino Cherry Frosting
- Marshmallow Frosting Recipe
Sheet Cake Decorating Ideas
Fondant flowers- Such as these Easy Fondant Daisies, Easy Flower Cupcakes {Fondant Pansy}, Fondant Flower Cake, How To Make Fondant Flowers, Fondant Roses.
Fondant sprinkles– These round Homemade Sprinkles make an adorable and whimsical addition.
Sugar flowers– Like these dainty Royal Icing {Sugar Flowers}.
Fondant bows– These simple Easy Fondant Bows add so much charm.
Colorful frosting– Use food coloring to create a frosting that matches your theme for the cake or event.
Pipe decorations– Try these Buttercream Flowers (Russian Piping Technique), or follow this easy tutorial for Russian Piping Tips.
Tie-Dye Frosting– Follow the frosting instructions in this Easy Tie Dye Cake recipe.
Chocolate leaves– Top the cake with these homemade How To Make Chocolate Leaves.
Wafer Paper Flowers– Add these thin and delicate Easy Wafer Paper Flowers in varying sizes on the sheet cake.
Variations For Yellow Cake
Color cake batter- This is called “yellow cake” and I don’t see the need to tint it because it already has a beautiful yellow color. However, it would be fun to color the batter for special events and birthday parties without affecting the flavor, using gel colors.
Add chocolate chips– Mix mini chocolate chips or white chocolate chips in the cupcake batter.
Try other extracts– Vanilla extract with almond extract is the classic choice. However, you can also try other extracts like maple, coconut, or mint.
Use zests– Mix in some lemon, lime or orange zest.
Vanilla bean vs. Vanilla extract- Instead of vanilla extract, you can use vanilla beans, which have a stronger flavor and aroma but that will add little black specks in your cake. You can also use a combination of both for a better flavor profile. Just watch the quantities closely.
Tips And Techniques For Vanilla Sheet Cake
Grease and flour pan– To prevent sticking. You can even use parchment paper on the bottom, if necessary.
Use prepared snack pack puddings for kids– Do not use the dry powder mix. Use the kind you would put in your kids lunchbox to eat with a spoon.
Why did my cake sink in the middle? This usually means the cake is under-baked and needs to cook longer in the oven. However if the edges look done, but the middle sank it could also be that the cake was baked at too high of a temperature so the edges cooked faster and the center is still under-baked.
Why is my cake dry? This is usually due to over-baking a cake, or improper measuring of ingredients. Cook only until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Also, make sure to measure as carefully as possible when baking.
Use full-fat ingredients– Because this produces the best and richest flavor.
Use room temperature ingredients– Because this makes the batter come together smoothly and reduces the chances of over-mixing.
Use unsalted butter– Because this prevents the cake from becoming too salty.
Do not over-mix cake– Because over-mixing can produce a gummy, dense, chewy cake texture instead of light and fluffy.
Cool cake completely before frosting– Because a warm cake will melt the frosting and it will all slide off the cake.
Storage
Refrigerate– In a sealed container for up to 3 days.
Freeze– Without the frosting in a sealed container for up to 1 month. Thaw at room temperature or in the fridge to eat.
More Classic Cake Recipes
- Funfetti Cake/Confetti Cake {From Scratch}
- German Chocolate Cake {With Cake Mix}
- Moist Carrot Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting
- Easy Black Forest Cake {With Cake Mix}
- Angel Food Cake Recipe
- Moist Red Velvet Cake Recipe
- Homemade Pineapple Upside Down Cake
- Moist Triple Chocolate Cake {From Scratch}
Yellow Sheet Cake With Chocolate Frosting
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup Whole milk, Room temperature
- 1/2 cup Buttermilk, Room temperature
- 1/2 cup Butter, Unsalted, Large, Melted
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp Almond extract
- 1 container Vanilla Snack Pack Pudding, 3.25 oz, Not the dry mix, Use the prepared pudding
- 1 box Yellow cake mix
- 2-3 cups Chocolate ganache frosting
- 2 tbsp Sprinkles
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, add whole milk, buttermilk, melted butter, vanilla extract, almond extract, vanilla pudding and mix until combined.
- Add cake mix and mix until just combined. There will be a few tiny lumps and that's completely fine. Do not over-mix!
- Pour batter in a greased and floured rectangle cake pan (Dimensions: 9×13).
- Spread batter evenly with a spatula.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 30-40 minutes or until an inserted toothpick in the center comes out clean.
- Remove from oven and allow the cake to cool completely.
- While the cake is baking and cooling, prepare the chocolate frosting.
- Spread frosting on top of the cake and use a spatula to create a swirly pattern.
- Toss sprinkles on top of the cake. Enjoy!
Notes
- Read all my tips above.
- Leftovers can be stored in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Nutrition
