This fabulous Vanilla Bean Sheet Cake with Fresh Strawberry Icing comes together super quickly with just one bowl, a whisk, no mixer needed. The beautiful pink-hued icing is bursting with fresh strawberry flavor!
Preheat the oven to 375˚F. Spray a 10x15 jelly roll pan or an 18x13 sheet pan generously with baking spray and rub with a paper towel to coat all surfaces. Set aside.
In a medium-large microwave-safe bowl, combine the cubed butter and water. Microwave on high for 2 minutes. Most of the butter should be melted. Remove from the microwave and stir until butter is completely melted.
Add the sugar and buttermilk and whisk until well combined then add the eggs and whisk again. Add the baking powder, baking soda, salt, vanilla and almond extracts. Whisk until well combined and no baking powder lumps remain.
Add the flour and whisk until smooth. It will seem lumpy at first but keep stirring. It will get nice and smooth. A whisk works great for this.
Transfer to the prepared pan. Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 18-25 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for at least 15 minutes while you make the icing.
While the cake is baking, make the strawberry syrup by combining the strawberries and granulated sugar in a large microwave-safe bowl (at least 8 cup capacity as the strawberry mixture will bubble up a lot and you will use this same bowl for the icing).
Place the bowl with the strawberries in the microwave and cook on high power for two minutes. Remove, stir and repeat two times. You will be cooking the strawberries for a total of 6 minutes, stirring every 2 minutes.
Removed the strawberry mixture from the microwave and pour it into a fine-mesh strainer with a bowl set underneath. Push on the solids in the strainer with a spatula or the back of a large spoon until all of the juice has been strained out. Discard the solids and transfer the syrup back to the original large microwave-safe bowl.
Return the syrup to the microwave and cook on high power for another 2 minutes. At this point, you should have about a ¼ cup of syrup. If you have more than this, microwave for another minute or two until reduced to ¼ cup.
While the cake is cooling, make the icing by adding the powdered sugar and vanilla to the strawberry syrup in the bowl. Stir with a whisk until smooth and well-combined.
Whisk in the soft butter until smooth and fluffy. The icing should be a nice spreadable consistency. If it seems too thin, add a little more powdered sugar. If it’s too thick, add some half and half or milk, 1 teaspoon at a time until desired consistency is reached.
Spread icing on the slightly warm or room temperature cake. The icing will swirl nicer if you allow the cake to come to room temperature. I use the back of a soup spoon to swirl the icing.
See Café Tips above in the post for more detailed instructions and tips to ensure success.
If you prefer to use Metric measurements there is a button in each of our recipes, right above the word “Instructions”. Just click that button to toggle to grams, milliliters, etc. If you ever come across one of our recipes that doesn’t have the Metric conversion (some of the older recipes may not), feel free to leave a comment and I will add it.
Every microwave is a little different and there are different wattages. This means that the times for cooking the icing in the microwave are approximate. Your microwave may be a little quicker or a little slower. The desired end result is a quarter cup of strawberry syrup.