A sheet cake or slab cake is a

cake Cake is a flour confection made from flour, sugar, and other ingredients, and is usually baked. In their oldest forms, cakes were modifications of bread, but cakes now cover a wide range of preparations that can be simple or elaborate, ...

baked Baking is a method of preparing food that uses dry heat, typically in an oven, but can also be done in hot ashes, or on hot stones. The most common baked item is bread but many other types of foods can be baked. Heat is gradually transferre ...

in a large, flat, rectangular cake pan. Sheet cakes are usually 2 inches deep, although they are sometimes 3 inches deep. These single-layer cakes are frequently

frosted Frosted (stylised as FroSTed) was an American pop punk band, founded by ex-Go-Go's guitarist and singer Jane Wiedlin in 1995. The band was so-named because ''"it sounds sweet"''.''The Daily Aztec''link) The letters S and T were capitalised in tr ...

, with decorations and ornamental frosting along the borders and the flat top surface. Sheet cakes may be made in any flavor, with

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form since at least the Olmec civ ...

and

vanilla Vanilla is a spice derived from orchids of the genus ''Vanilla (genus), Vanilla'', primarily obtained from pods of the Mexican species, flat-leaved vanilla (''Vanilla planifolia, V. planifolia''). Pollination is required to make the p ...

being the two most common. Commonly made in the home with boxed cake mixes, they can come in a variety of additional flavors, with

batter Batter or batters may refer to: Common meanings * Batter (cooking), thin dough that can be easily poured into a pan * Batter (baseball), person whose turn it is to face the pitcher * Batter (cricket), a player who is currently batting * Batter ...

mix-ins such as

sprinkles Sprinkles are very small pieces of confectionery used as an often colourful decoration or to add texture to desserts such as brownies, cupcakes, doughnuts or ice cream. The tiny candies are produced in a variety of colors and are generally used ...

and chocolate chips. By definition, they are made from a single continuous piece of cake. Ingredients such as nuts,

chocolate chips Chocolate chips or chocolate morsels are small chunks of sweetened chocolate, used as an ingredient in a number of desserts (notably chocolate chip cookies and muffins), in trail mix and less commonly in some breakfast foods such as pancakes. ...

, or

coconut The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family ( Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, the seed, or the ...

may be sprinkled over the top. A

layer cake A layer cake (US English) or sandwich cake (UK English) is a cake consisting of multiple stacked sheets of cake, held together by frosting or another type of filling, such as jam or other preserves. Most cake recipes can be adapted for lay ...

may be made from a sheet cake that has been split, filled with jam or icing, and frosted.

Purchasing

In the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, these cakes are commonly available in

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earli ...

s and

bakeries A bakery is an establishment that produces and sells flour-based food baked in an oven such as bread, cookies, cakes, donuts, pastries, and pies. Some retail bakeries are also categorized as cafés, serving coffee and tea to customers who wish ...

and tend to be inexpensive due to their simple manufacturing process.

Size

Cake sizes are named after the size of pan that the cake is baked in. A full-size commercial sheet cake pan is 18x24 or 18x26 inches in size. A half-sheet is half that size, and a quarter-sheet or 9x13-inch pan, which usually results in 16 to 24 servings of cake, is one-quarter the size. Sheet cakes, in general, are usually two or three inches deep.

Gallery

File:Richard cuts cake MET athon 2017-05 jeh.jpg, A man cuts into a slab cake. File:Inaugural cake (15308061113).jpg, A large sheet cake, served at an inauguration ceremony. File:STS-133 crew cake event.jpg, NASA space shuttle astronauts enjoy a cake-cutting event in the Space Station Training Facility at JSC File:Space Station slab cake.jpg, An International Space Station-themed NASA slab cake for students at Kennedy Space Center, featuring

edible ink printing Edible ink printing is the process of creating preprinted images with edible food colors onto various confectionery products such as cookies, cakes and pastries. Designs made with edible ink can be either preprinted or created with an edible ink ...

References

{{dessert-stub American cakes British cakes Canadian desserts Australian desserts

Purchasing

Size

Gallery

See also

References