Name: Eggnog Sheet Cake
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 55 min
Total time: 1 h 25 min
Cuisine: cake
Ingredients: 1 cup unsalted butter (- at room temperature, plus more for pan); 3¼ cups all-purpose flour (- plus more for pan); 2 cups granulated sugar; 1 tablespoons baking powder; 1 teaspoon fine sea salt; ½ teaspoon baking soda; 2 large eggs plus 5 large egg yolks; 1¼ cups eggnog (- at room temperature); 2 tablespoons coconut or vegetable oil; 1 tablespoon vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste; 6 ounces cream cheese (- softened); 4 tablespoons unsalted butter (- at room temperature); 1/4 cup eggnog (- at room temperature); 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste; 4 cups powdered sugar (- sifted); freshly grated nutmeg (to taste)

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Eggnog Sheet Cake by Baking The Goods.

My mother in law used to make a birthday cake for Jesus Christ every Christmas. At first I was confused by this, I’d never heard of anyone doing it before. But it actually makes perfect sense. We have an entire season dedicated to the guy and go all out to plan these elaborate gatherings. There are even gifts for Christ’s sake, literally. So why shouldn’t there be an Eggnog Birthday Sheet Cake at the party?

For as many years as I can remember I’ve been making different iterations of a HBD JHC cake. One year I went a little over the top and made a towering, multi-layered, sprinkle encrusted situation. This thing was godawful. It, and my entire kitchen, were completely covered in red, white and green sprinkles for months. I still found Christmas confections lurking in corners of my kitchen that 4th of July. The weight of the sprinkles nearly toppled the whole thing over before we could even slice into it. I redeemed myself another year with an Eggnog Layer Cake with an angelic Meringue Frosting. It was a sight to behold and tasted like heaven. But honestly, who has time for that during the busy crush of the holiday season?

So this year, I settled on something more attainable and realistic, this easy Eggnog Sheet Cake. It is similar in flavor to the layer cake I made a few years ago but without all of the pomp and circumstance. I didn’t have much time this year to develop a whole new recipe so I adapted the tried and true, crowd pleasing recipe for Easy Sheet Cake with Chocolate-Cream Cheese Frosting by Bon Appetit. I’ve made this cake a few times in the past and it always a solid party move. So I shook it up a bit by subbing in eggnog for buttermilk and topped it with the eggnog cream cheese frosting from my Cardamom Spiced Cookie Bars with Eggnog Cream Cheese Frosting recipe. The simple changes really make this cake shine. I know I’m not turning water in to wine here, but Christ on a cracker this Eggnog Sheet Cake turned out devilishly delicious!

The simple Eggnog Sheet Cake batter mixes up in a single bowl and is honestly as easy as a boxed cake mix, I swear to God. This recipe uses the reverse creaming method, and as a purist, I was skeptical of the change. But it works like a Christmas miracle and the cake bakes up tender and moist. Which basically just means this cake is hella easy to make. Once that cake cools down, it gets slathered in a rich and creamy eggnog cream cheese frosting with swirling swoops of spice. The frosting mixes up quick and easy in minutes and then you just schmear it on with a the back of an offset spatula. No fancy piping or cake decorating stands required. Just like a frothy mug of eggnog, I finish the Eggnog Sheet Cake with a fresh grate of fragrant nutmeg. And because we are celebrating the birth of our homeboy, JC, sprinkles are very necessary.

We all know that Jesus was a humble dude and I think he’d appreciate the low-key, yet holy golden goodness that is this Eggnog Sheet Cake. Like JC, this cake is symbolic of all that is good about the holidays. This Eggnog Sheet Cake brings people together for the greater good, a moment of solace and peace among family and friends. And holy sheet, this Eggnog Sheet Cake is GD delicious!

Catch the spirit and celebrate the real reason for the season with this Eggnog Sheet Cake. I promise your whole fam damily will love this easy baking cake, hand to god. HDB JHC!

This Eggnog Sheet Cake by Baking The Goods uses the reverse creaming method, which essentially means it’s the easiest cake ever!

Reverse creaming Eggnog Sheet Cake batter

To keep it easy, you cream the butter in with the sugar and all of the other dry ingredients.

Then you just add the wet ingredients to the creamed mixture. So easy! FYI, this is where the eggnog comes in. 😉

The Eggnog Sheet Cake batter comes out smooth and angelically airy.

All of the smooth Eggnog Sheet Cake batter goes right into a big ol’ sheet cake pan to bake.

The best part about this Eggnog Sheet Cake is, if the top doesn’t bake up perfect, it doesn’t matter. You’re just going to swirl on a bunch of eggnog cream cheese frosting anyway!