Homemade Butter Vanilla Sheet Cake with the perfect crumb & topped with a delightful blend of spring colored buttercream frosting! Showstopping cake that is EASY to make, step-by-step instructions & photos included!
I’m not the most skilled cake decorator. I tend to lean towards bundt cakes simply because they’re so easy! But this cake! Isn’t it awesome?! It’s SO simple to make. And everyone just went crazy over the cute Spring colors. I give step-by-step instructions with photos and lots of detail to help you through it. Have fun!
Ingredients for Homemade Butter Vanilla Cake
–All Purpose Flour: You’ll need 3 cups of all-purpose flour or cake flour. You can even use bread flour if that’s all you have on hand!
–Granulated Sugar: You use 1 1/3 cups sugar to add sweetness to the cake
–Milk: Add 3/4 cup milk to the cake batter. I’ve had good results baking with Almond milk, but I’d avoid Soy milk in baked goods.
–Oil: You can use canola or any other vegetable oil. You’ll need 1/3 cup.
— Butter: You’ll need 2 Sticks of butter, room temp (1 Cup)
–4 Eggs: I usually set mine in a bowl of warm water to bring them to room temp
–Vanilla Extract & Lemon Juice: You’ll use 1 Tablespoon of each. Trust me, the combination yields a lovely flavor!
–Baking Powder & Salt: You’ll need 2 Teaspoons of each
Ingredients for Buttercream Frosting
Here’s what you’ll need:
- 5 Cups Powdered Sugar
- 6 Stick Unsalted Butter, room temp (3 Cups)
- 3 Tablespoons Vanilla Extract
- 2 Teaspoons Salt
Food Coloring for the Frosting
You can use any combination of colors you prefer! I would just at least use 4 or more colors to really give it that colorful look though. I recommend using 1 tsp Teal Gel Food Dye, 1 teaspoon Yellow Gel Food Dye, ½ Teaspoon Bright Pink Gel Food Dye & ½ Teaspoon Purple Gel Food Dye.
Frosting Tips
I suggest using several different frosting tips along with the different colors for this cake. Luckily, most come in a set! You’re welcome to use whatever variety of tips you have on hand. Here are the 6 that I used:
- Ateco Tip #869 (yellow)
- Ateco Tip #863 (yellow)
- Ateco Tip #861 (purple)
- Ateco Tip #849 (purple)
- Ateco Tip #860 (pink)
- Ateco Tip #862 (teal)
How to Make the Butter Vanilla Cake
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray the 9×13 cake pan with nonstick spray.
Cream together the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Add the vanilla, eggs, oil, and milk to the bowl with the butter mixture. Use a hand mixer and beat on medium speed until fully combined.
In a separate mixing bowl, combine the flour, salt, and baking powder. Mix well.
Combine the butter and flour mixture and beat on medium until no lumps remain and all ingredients are fully combined.
Pour into the prepared cake pan, spread evenly, and bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick placed in the center comes out clean.
Remove from the oven and let fully cool. This can take about an hour.
Making Buttercream Frosting
While the cake is cooling, place half the butter for the frosting in a large mixing bowl and use the hand mixer to beat it until smooth.
Add the rest of the butter, vanilla, and salt. Mix again until smooth and combined.
One cup at a time, add the powdered sugar to the butter mixture and beat until fully incorporated.
Once finished, place the frosting in the fridge while your cake cools.
Decorating a Sheet Cake
Once the cake is ready, separate the frosting into four equal parts, each in their own bowl.
Place a different color in each bowl and mix until no white streaks appear. If you need to add a little more color to get the right hue, do so now.
Once I had all my frosting bags ready, I did each color, then bounced back and forth between the various sizes and colors, filling in holes to finish up. As long as you keep a good spread, you can’t mess it up. It’s just a random coloring process, which is what makes it so easy. Just don’t clump a lot of one color together in big groups, and you’ll do just fine.
Place ¾ of the purple frosting in a frosting bag with tip #849 and make around 6-7 medium rosettes randomly across the surface of the cake. I do this by starting from the outside and working my way in with a circular motion.
Place half of the yellow in a frosting bag with tip #869, however, don’t do rosettes like the purple, do dollops. Do this in around 6-7 spots randomly across the cake. Make the dollops by holding the tip straight up and down, squeezing the frosting into a small pile, lightly pressing down, and then squeezing out more frosting into a small pile on top of the first, ending with a light press down and release of the pressure on the frosting.
Place the teal frosting in a frosting bag with tip #862 and place small dollops randomly across the cake. A lot of them. Have fun with it. Do this by releasing a bit of frosting and ending with a light press down and release of pressure (stop squeezing the frosting out).
If your frosting bags during the decorating process start to get super squishy and the frosting starts acting super soft, go ahead and let it go in the fridge for a few minutes to firm back up. It makes for nicer decorating. However, note that if the frosting is too cold, it won’t come out of the tips.
Repeat the same exact process as the teal, with the pink frosting, except use its own frosting bag and tip #860. Do even more of the pink than the teal.
Revisit the purple and start doing dollops with the same tip instead of rosettes. Do this all over, where you see fit.
Add the rest of the yellow frosting to a frosting bag and use tip #863 and fill in small holes with small dollops.
Add the rest of the purple frosting to a frosting bag and use tip #861 and fill in smaller holes with tiny dollops.
Butter Vanilla Sheet Cake
Ingredients
Butter Vanilla Cake Ingredients
- 3 Cups All Purpose Flour
- 1 ⅓ Cups Granulated Sugar
- ¾ Cup Milk
- ⅓ Cup Oil
- 1 Cup Butter room temp, 2 sticks
- 4 Eggs
- 1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
- 1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
- 2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
- 2 Teaspoons Salt
Buttercream Frosting Ingredients
- 5 Cups Powdered Sugar
- 3 Cups Unsalted Butter room temp, 6 sticks
- 3 Tablespoons Vanilla Extract
- 2 Teaspoons Salt
- 1 Teaspoon Teal Gel Food Dye
- 1 Teaspoon Yellow Gel Food Dye
- ½ Teaspoon Bright Pink Gel Food Dye
- ½ Teaspoon Purple Gel Food Dye
Instructions
Making the Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray the 9×13 cake pan with nonstick spray.
- Cream together the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Add the vanilla, eggs, oil, and milk to the bowl with the butter mixture. Use a hand mixer and beat on medium speed until fully combined.
- In a separate mixing bowl, combine the flour, salt, and baking powder. Mix well.
- Combine the butter and flour mixture and beat on medium until no lumps remain and all ingredients are fully combined.
- Pour into the prepared cake pan, spread evenly, and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick placed in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let fully cool. This can take about an hour.
- While the cake is cooling, place half the butter for the frosting in a large mixing bowl and use the hand mixture to beat it until smooth. Add the rest of the butter, vanilla, and salt. Mix again until smooth and combined.
- One cup at a time, add the powdered sugar to the butter mixture and beat until fully incorporated. Once finished, place the frosting in the fridge while your cake cools.
- Once the cake is ready, separate the frosting into four equal parts, each in their own bowl. Place a different color in each bowl and mix until no white streaks appear. If you need to add a little more color to get the right hue, do so now.
Decorating the Cake
- Place ¾ of the purple frosting in a frosting bag with tip #849 and make around 6-7 medium rosettes randomly across the surface of the cake. I do this by starting from the outside and working my way in with a circular motion.
- Place half of the yellow in a frosting bag with tip #869, however, don’t do rosettes like the purple, do dollops. Do this in around 6-7 spots randomly across the cake. Make the dollops by holding the tip straight up and down, squeezing the frosting into a small pile, lightly pressing down, and then squeezing out more frosting into a small pile on top of the first, ending with a light press down and release of the pressure on the frosting.
- Place the teal frosting in a frosting bag with tip #862 and place small dollops randomly across the cake. A lot of them. Have fun with it. Do this by releasing a bit of frosting and ending with a light press down and release of pressure (stop squeezing the frosting out).
- Repeat the same exact process as the teal, with the pink frosting, except use its own frosting bag and tip #860. Do even more of the pink than the teal. Revisit the purple and start doing dollops with the same tip instead of rosettes. Do this all over, where you see fit.
- Add the rest of the yellow frosting to a frosting bag and use tip #863 and fill in small holes with small dollops. Add the rest of the purple frosting to a frosting bag and use tip #861 and fill in smaller holes with tiny dollops.
- Slice, serve, and enjoy!
Notes
It’s super humid where I live, so I paused about halfway through decorating and placed the cake in the fridge to let the frosting firm back up before continuing. If need be, this is a great way to keep the cake looking perfect at serving time instead of partially melted. If your frosting bags during the decorating process start to get super squishy and the frosting starts acting super soft, go ahead and let it go in the fridge for a few minutes to firm back up. It makes for nicer decorating. However, note that if the frosting is too cold, it won’t come out of the tips.
You can use any combination of colors you prefer. I would just at least use 4 or more colors to really give it that colorful look.
Nutrition
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Can I made the cake ahead of time?
Yes! You can make the cake and bake it a day before, keeping it stored in an airtight container on the counter. Another idea is to bake the cake, let it cool and freeze it. This would mean you could bake the cake up to a month ahead and just store it well covered in the freezer.
More Easy Cake recipes:
- OREO POKE CAKE
- EASY BUTTER CAKE RECIPE
- LEMON PUDDING BUNDT CAKE
- STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE CAKE RECIPE
- EASY PINEAPPLE BUNDT CAKE
- FROSTED APPLESAUCE CAKE
Homemade Butter Vanilla Sheet Cake with fantastic flavor & topped with a delightful blend of spring colored buttercream frosting! Showstopping cake that is EASY to make. Everyone asks for the recipe!
Cheryl Newton says
Hello! While making the cake, does the lemon juice go in with the wet ingredients? Thanks, Cheryl