The only thing better than cake is more cake. And it's a mindset that pastry chefs and home bakers across the country are embracing with slab cake.
Essentially a sheet cake, slab cakes have been popping up everywhere: on weddingdinner, birthday, and even family reunions.
In Brooklyn, baker Clio Goodman of ByClio Bakery makes psychedelic cakes with bold colors and dramatic flair, like this one chocolate berry tahini cake she did for a recent client's birthday. Philadelphia-based Noelle Blizzard serves up retro-inspired sheet cakes in her micro oven New June, adorning them with elaborate and subtle piping, ranging from pretty pastels to eye-catching neon. Meanwhile, at Quarter Sheets Pizza in Los Angeles, star pastry chef (and creator of this spectacular Princess Cake recipe) Hannah Ziskin is serving a weekly rotating slab cake often inspired by fruits and botanicals; Past options have included geranium-vanilla strawberry-rose, passion fruit olive oil-bay leaf, and yuzu-lime-ginger.
Los Angeles Associate Sasha Pilligan is creating her own brightly colored, flower-covered cakes, just like the last one matcha, milk chocolate and cream cheese cake for Easter, which she topped with squiggles and lilac flowers. “Something I love about the slab cake is that it's infinitely adaptable and can be just as much of a spectacle as a traditional round cake,” says Sasha. “I really like a rectangular canvas to decorate – I can go max or use all the negative space and decorate minimally.”
“They're incredibly strong, durable and easy to transport, which is why I want to make them,” says the baker and tile cake enthusiast. Julia Gallay of Gallz Provisions. “Not to mention, they're not as intimidating to cut in a big party setting.” Julia notes that there is also a nostalgic element to these desserts. “Growing up, I would always have a sheet cake on my birthdays. So I wanted to enhance that sense of nostalgia that I had growing up, but definitely in my own way.”
For all these reasons – durability, decorating potential, nostalgia and, well, because we can't get enough cake – we were inspired to develop our new recipe for Raspberry and honey layer cake, basically a super-sized 13″ x 18″ two-layer cake that you can treat as both a centerpiece and a canvas. Make it when you need to feed a crowd – serves four to five dozen people!
Photography by Rick Holbrook; food styling by Sheila Jarnes
Here's what you need to know to make your own sheet cake
The basic building blocks of a pan layer cake are the same as any other: cake, filling, and frosting. And technically the process is also the same: stacking, filling and freezing. But senior recipe developer Molly Marzalek-Kelly, who developed this recipe, knows this giant cake can seem daunting, and she points out that if you've made a round layer cake before, you can do it. (In fact, you can do this without some of the special tools needed to decorate round layer cakes, such as a turntable or cake rings.) Molly developed this recipe to be as accessible as possible. , and here are her top tips to ensure slab cake success.
Prepare ahead
Like most layer cakes, it's easier to prepare the cake, frosting and filling on one day, then assemble and decorate the next day. It reduces stress, ensures the cakes are properly cooled (making them easier to move, especially important with such large layers and to freeze), and gives you time to prepare a large surface clean work and collect the necessary tools to decorate. If you want to make ahead, the cakes can be made and frozen up to a month ahead, while the frosting can be stored, covered, in the refrigerator for up to a week or frozen for up to two months.
Photography by Rick Holbrook; food styling by Sheila Jarnes
Bake your cakes in batches
Since you need so much batter for this large cake, this recipe calls for two batches Hot milk cake. Instead of doubling the batch, Molly recommends making two batches of dough and baking the cakes one at a time for the most consistent results.
The cakes are baked in a half sheet pan
We're all for more cake, remember? Baked in a half sheet pan (which makes them easy to line up sheet of parchment paper, so removing the cakes from the pan is a breeze), each of these cake layers is 13″ x 18″. The layers will also be thin and flat enough that you won't need to worry about leveling them before laying them down.
That said, it's okay if the treats are a little spoiled
Desserts will be PRINCIPALLY level, but may not be cooked exactly. And when you flip the cake out of the half sheet pan, a corner may come off or the cake may split in half. But seriously, don't worry. After assembling and freezing, the cake will be even. And just glue the broken pieces together when you assemble the cake; no one will be able to tell, we promise.
Photography by Rick Holbrook; food styling by Sheila Jarnes
For easy assembly, cut (or freeze) your cakes
The downside of such large layers? They are hard to argue with. To make building your cake easier, cut the second layer in half so it can be easily stacked and centered while building the cake. (I told you it was okay if the layers broke in half.) Or, instead of cutting the cake layers, you can freeze them. Once frozen, they will be firm and firm enough to stack without having to cut them. Just make sure you give them enough time to thaw before serving!
Photography by Rick Holbrook; food styling by Sheila Jarnes
Customize your sheet cake with (almost) any recipe
Molly's recipe makes a yellow cake that is filled with a raspberry fruit filling and covered in honey-flavored buttercream; it is perfect for spring and summer celebrations. But you don't have to stick to just these flavors. You can apply this basic formula to any cake, filling and frosting recipe to customize your creation. Here's the equation, plus some recipe suggestions to get you started:
2 half sheet cake pans + 4 to 4 1/2 cups filling + 7 to 9 cups frosting = the cake of your dreams
Cake:
Note: The cakes can be baked faster than the time indicated in the recipe because they are thinner in a half sheet pan; start checking for doneness 5 to 10 minutes early.
Filling:
Frost:
Discover your cake skills with our guide to everything How to bake a cake.
Cover photo by Rick Holbrook; food styling by Sheila Jarnes.
