Food & Cooking Recipes Dessert & Treats Recipes Cake Recipes Vanilla Sheet Cake With Lemon Cream-Cheese Frosting 5.0 (1) This citrusy treat is sweet, tangy, and fit for a crowd. Prep Time: 35 mins Cook Time: 25 mins Total Time: 1 hr Servings: 12 to 16 Jump to recipe This simple vanilla sheet cake recipe features a lemon cream-cheese frosting and a crunchy, unexpected citrus sugar. It’s perfect for bringing to parties and potlucks, providing an easy yet elevated way to feed a crowd. The tangy cream-cheese frosting offsets the sweetness of the cake, making for a balanced bite that’s sure to please. You’ll need an electric mixer to make both the batter and the rich, creamy frosting, plus a 9-by-13-inch baking pan to bake it in. We love serving this cake with juicy, in-season blueberries, but raspberries or blackberries would be an equally good topper. 23 Lemon Desserts That Will Brighten Your Day, From Cakes to Cookies Credit: Kelsey Hansen Tips for a Tender, Fluffy Cake Measure your flour accurately: Always spoon the flour into your measuring cup and level off the top, rather than scooping the cup into the flour bag or container. Scooping can cause the flour to pack too tightly in the cup, throwing off the amount that ends up in your bowl and making for an overly dry batter. Use room-temperature ingredients: When ingredients are at room temperature, they blend better and more easily with one another. Take the buttermilk and eggs out of the refrigerator 20 to 30 minutes before you begin mixing to give them a chance to warm up. Alternate adding flour and buttermilk: To avoid over-mixing—which can make the finished cake tough—add the flour mixture in two separate amounts, alternating it with the buttermilk. Rotate halfway through baking: It's common for ovens to distribute heat unevenly, which can mean that one side of your cake is browning more quickly than the other. Giving the baking pan a turn midway through the cook time will ensure both sides bake evenly. To help you remember to rotate it, set a timer for 12 minutes, then bake it for an additional 10 minutes or so after turning. Can you have too much frosting? The lemon cream-cheese frosting recipe makes five cups of frosting, which will create a thick, generous layer on top of your cake. If you prefer less frosting, we'd recommend cutting the recipe in half. What to Do If You Don't Have Buttermilk If you can't find buttermilk, you can still make this recipe using a quick fix: Add 1 tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice to a liquid measuring cup, then add enough milk to reach the 1-cup mark. Let it sit until slightly curdled, about 5 minutes, before using. How to Make Vanilla Sheet Cake Ahead You can bake this cake up to 2 days ahead if storing it at room temperature or up to 3 months ahead if freezing. Either way, it's crucial you let the baked cake cool completely before wrapping it—otherwise, you'll risk trapping excess moisture, which can make for a soggy dessert. Wrap the cooled, unfrosted cake in a double layer of plastic wrap, which will keep it from becoming stale. If you're freezing it, wrap the plastic-wrapped cake in a layer of foil to further prevent freezer burn before stashing it away. When it's time to thaw it, you'll get the best results by letting the cake gently defrost—still wrapped—in the refrigerator overnight. Directions Credit: Kelsey Hansen Preheat oven and prep baking pan; mix dry ingredients: Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly butter a 9-by-13-inch baking pan; dust with flour. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Credit: Kelsey Hansen Cream butter and sugar; add eggs, then vanilla: Beat butter with 1 cup sugar on medium speed in a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until light and fluffy, 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until combined after each addition and scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in vanilla. Credit: Kelsey Hansen Credit: Kelsey Hansen Add dry ingredients and buttermilk: Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture in two batches, alternating with buttermilk and beginning and ending with flour. Credit: Kelsey Hansen Credit: Kelsey Hansen Place batter in pan and bake: Transfer batter to prepared pan, smoothing top with an offset spatula. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until cake is golden and puffed and a tester inserted in center comes out clean, 22 to 25 minutes. Let cake cool completely in pan on a wire rack. Credit: Kelsey Hansen Credit: Kelsey Hansen Make lemon sugar; frost cake and sprinkle with lemon sugar: Make frosting or bring to room temperature if made earlier. Combine lemon zest and remaining 1 teaspoon sugar. Use an offset spatula to spread cake with frosting. Sprinkle with lemon sugar. Serve with blueberries. Credit: Kelsey Hansen How to Safely Store Leftover Vanilla Cake As the frosting contains cream cheese, which is prone to bacteria growth if not refrigerated, this cake should not be left out at room temperature for more than 2 hours. Store leftover frosted cake in an airtight container in the refrigerator, where it will stay good for up to 4 days. Other Ways to Decorate We love the contrast of crunchy citrus sugar against the tender cake and creamy frosting, but there are other ways to top this sweet-yet-tangy dessert. Instead of the citrus sugar, consider topping the frosted cake with candied lemon slices or candied citrus peel. If you have other fruit like raspberries or blackberries on hand, swap them in for the blueberries for a bright, juicy finishing touch. 5 More Sheet Cake Recipes to Try Chocolate-Coconut Sheet Cake Cornmeal-Berry Sheet Cake Vanilla Sheet Cake With Malted-Chocolate Frosting Cookies-and-Cream Sheet Cake Banana Sheet Cake With Passion-Fruit Frosting Updated by Esther Reynolds Esther Reynolds Esther Reynolds is an experienced recipe developer, recipe tester, food editor, and writer with over a decade of experience in the food and media industries.