Food & Cooking Recipes Dessert & Treats Recipes Cake Recipes 21 Easy, Crowd-Pleasing Sheet Cakes for Any Occasion Birthdays, graduations, and other big-time celebrations call for extra-large cakes. These single-layer stunners require minimal effort and deliver major wow. By Tamara Rahoumi Tamara Rahoumi Tamara is a freelance writer for MarthaStewart.com. Editorial Guidelines and Lynn Andriani Lynn Andriani Lynn Andriani is a New York City-based writer with 24 years of experience working in professional publishing and communication roles in addition to being a freelance food writer for six years with MarthaStewart.com. Editorial Guidelines Updated on December 12, 2023 Close Photo: Con Poulos When you need something sweet to feed a crowd, sheet cakes are the way to go. You can cut them into squares, skinny slices, or chunky rectangles, depending on how many people you’re serving. And you’d be hard-pressed to find one that isn’t even more delicious with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. Plus, they travel well; in fact, you can often transport them in the pan you bake them in, with some foil wrapped over the top. Although their format is the same no matter what (because every sheet cake is baked in a large, flat, rectangular pan), flavor-wise, they run the gamut from chocolate and vanilla to peanut butter to fruit. Generally speaking, though, these all-American cakes are unfussy, customizable, and perfect for all kinds of gatherings, from backyard barbecues to kids' birthday parties. 30 Easy Cake Recipes Every Home Baker Will Love 01 of 21 Chocolate Sprinkle Sheet Cake Con Poulos Lest you think all chocolate cakes are heavy, in sweeps this light number that doubles as a dessert or an after-school snack. You replace some of the usual flour for cocoa powder, which gives it a more chocolate-y flavor. And definitely do not skip the sprinkles! View Recipe 02 of 21 Traditional Tres Leches Cake Yossy Arefi Incorporating a trifecta of evaporated milk, condensed milk, and whole milk, this super-moist cake is light and tasty. It's popular throughout Latin America and for very good reason. Serve it on its own or with some fruit spooned over the top. View Recipe 03 of 21 Lemon-Meringue Sheet Cake Con Poulos This beauty gets its flavor from fresh lemon zest and its stature from not-too-sweet meringue. Dollop tons on top for a dramatic look. If you don't have a blowtorch, you can brown the peaks with a quick blast under the broiler. View Recipe 04 of 21 Maple Cake Con Poulos "Easy as maple cake" isn't a phrase we've ever heard, but this recipe makes us think it should be. This cake comes together in a snap and gets a beautifully warm and toasty maple flavor from grade-A syrup. View Recipe 05 of 21 Cookies-and-Cream Sheet Cake Con Poulos This combination is definitely kid-friendly, but you'll find that grown-ups will clamor for slices, too. Scrape the yellow cake mixture into a buttered baking pan and smooth it with a spatula, then simply scatter broken Oreo cookies over the top for instant appeal—no frosting necessary. View Recipe 06 of 21 Banana Sheet Cake With Passion-Fruit Frosting Con Poulos Adding passion fruit juice, made by pressing the pulp through a sieve, to cream-cheese frosting gives the topping for this gorgeous creation a fresh and naturally intense taste and a pastel tint. There's about a cup of mashed ripe banana in the batter, resulting in more moisture and a slightly denser cake than you'll get with some of our other recipes. View Recipe 07 of 21 Strawberry Biscuit Sheet Cake Alpha Smoot In this sprawling strawberry shortcake, a tender biscuit cushions a cloud of lightly sweetened cream and a tumble of juiced-up berries. If you fancy something radical, swap the strawberries for sliced peaches, plums, or nectarines—all make equally delicious toppings for this large-format dessert. View Recipe 08 of 21 Texas Sheet Cake Con Poulos Why is this the most popular sheet cake ever? Well, what goes better with chocolate than more chocolate? This easy-to-make, easy-to-love chocolate sheet cake has a touch of cinnamon in the batter and is drizzled with a rich, smooth chocolate glaze. A sprinkle of pecans seals the deal. View Recipe 09 of 21 Striped Ice Cream Sheet Cake Ditte Isager Get ready to earn your (master sheet cake baker) stripes! Colorful layers of sorbet, ice cream, and jam are sandwiched between two light and fluffy layers of angel food sheet cake, creating a dessert that's as pretty to look at as it is tasty to eat. View Recipe 10 of 21 Chocolate-Peanut Butter Sheet Cake Con Poulos Rich and tender chocolate cake meets creamy peanut-butter frosting in this must-make recipe. The frosting is made with creamy peanut butter, so go ahead and scatter chopped peanuts along the edges for any crunchy fans in the house. View Recipe 11 of 21 Red Velvet Sheet Cake Con Poulos The balance of cocoa powder, butter, sugar, eggs, and sour cream gives this red velvet an almost fudgy flavor. And we use less food coloring than traditional recipes call for, so the cake is more of an elegant mauve velvet. Swoops of tangy cream-cheese frosting offset the cake's richness, as well as its striking hue. View Recipe 12 of 21 Vanilla Sheet Cake With Malted-Chocolate Frosting Jonathan Lovekin A frosting made of cocoa powder, malted milk powder, and milk chocolate takes a simple vanilla sheet cake to new heights. Decorate with chopped malted milk balls, then watch the crowd go wild! View Recipe 13 of 21 No-Bake Ricotta-Blueberry Cheesecake Alpha Smoot Whipped cream folded into this no-bake beauty's lemony ricotta-and-cream-cheese filling gives it an airy texture and ethereal taste. The crust of crushed vanilla wafers provides a solid foundation, and the topping is a mixture of fresh and lightly cooked blueberries that bursts in every bite. View Recipe 14 of 21 Chocolate Sheet Cake With Vanilla-Buttercream Alpha Smoot Inspired by devil's food cake, this looker is made with both cocoa powder and melted chocolate and contains a cup of sour cream; once baked, it's swathed in Swiss meringue buttercream and dark chocolate shavings. View Recipe 15 of 21 Cornmeal-Berry Sheet Cake Marcus Nilsson Yellow sheet cake gets an instant upgrade with the addition of cornmeal, which changes up the flavor and texture and complements the blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries. Serve each portion with a dollop of whipped cream for an indulgent kick. View Recipe 16 of 21 Banana-Split Ice Cream Cake Alpha Smoot Caramel, whipped cream, bananas, and nuts are all part of this tasty dessert, but you'll find no ice cream here. Instead, this hero features vanilla semifreddo, an Italian frozen custard made from cream, sugar, egg yolks, and gelatin. It's easy to slide and slow to melt and is layered on top of a foundation of store-bought chocolate wafers for a cool take on a sheet cake. View Recipe 17 of 21 Chocolate-Coconut Sheet Cake Chris Court Each is fantastic on its own, but when chocolate and coconut get together, something really special happens. This super rich, gooey chocolate sheet cake has a coconut and coffee topping and is served with whipped cream and a generous sprinkling of coconut flakes. View Recipe 18 of 21 Lemon-Glazed Sheet Cake Alpha Smoot Fine-crumbed and delicate, this dessert offers a double dose of tangy brightness thanks to a zest-filled batter and a citrus glaze so silky you'll need a high-sided pan to contain it. A Cy Twombly-esque tangle of candied lemon-rind ribbons is an optional—and delightfully over-the-top—extra. View Recipe 19 of 21 Vanilla Sheet Cake With Chocolate Ganache Buttercream Alpha Smoot Egg yolks—five of them!—are the MVPs in this ultra-moist version of the quintessential birthday treat. The frosting is state-of-the-art, too. Rather than the usual cocoa powder and confectioners' sugar combo, it's chocolate ganache that gets whipped—along with plenty of butter—into glossy swoops. Quick, grab the candles. View Recipe 20 of 21 Orange-and-Poppy-Seed Sheet Cake Con Poulos Especially springy and boldly citrusy, this sheet cake recipe includes orange zest, sour cream, poppy seeds, and vanilla in the batter and a splash of OJ in the luscious icing. View Recipe 21 of 21 Cherry Sheet Cake No frosting needed! A dusting of confectioners' sugar is all it takes to finish this cherry-studded sheet cake. Once it's sliced into easy-to-nibble triangles, it works equally well as an afternoon snack as it does a tasty party treat. View Recipe Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! 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