Pink Lemonade Sheet Cake Recipe

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

One treat we always associate with warmer weather is lemonade, and pink lemonade — a treat that owes its origins to the circus – is even more fun than the yellow kind. While we love it as a beverage, it may be even better in the form of a cake. As recipe developer Jessica Morone says of her pink lemonade sheet cake, "It's a fun twist on a classic flavor, and it's perfect for the spring and summer season." She calls the cake's flavor bright and citrusy, and says of the appearance, "The pink color makes it eye-catching and festive."

This is the kind of cake that would be great to bring to a picnic or barbecue, while it would also be perfect for a birthday party (especially if the guest of honor's favorite color is pink). It would be well-suited for Mother's Day, too, and its pastel hue would also work for Easter. In fact, you could even make this pink lemonade cake for Valentine's Day, since the color scheme fits right in, and who wouldn't want a little taste of summer in the middle of February?

The cake batter is made from all-purpose flour, salt, baking powder, butter, sugar, eggs, and milk, and flavored with vanilla extract, lemon juice, and pink lemonade concentrate. For the frosting, cream cheese and powdered sugar are also required. And, if you want to make your cake and frosting pink, you'll need some red or pink gel food coloring.

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Grease a 13x9x2-inch baking pan with butter or nonstick spray, then set aside.

Make the cake: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Add in the eggs, pink lemonade concentrate, lemon juice, and vanilla extract until well combined.

Mix in about half of the flour mixture and half of the milk until combined, then add the remaining flour and milk until the batter is smooth. If desired, add 2 drops of pink or red food coloring to the batter.

Spread the batter evenly into the prepared baking pan.

Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool completely.

While the cake cools, make the frosting. Add the butter, cream cheese, salt, pink lemonade concentrate, lemon juice, and powdered sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat until smooth.

Add in the pink or red food coloring, if desired, and beat until the color is incorporated.

Spread the frosting evenly over the cooled cake, decorate as desired.

Cut into squares and serve.

• No-Churn Pomegranate Ice Cream Recipe
• Simple and Classic Lemonade Recipe
• Springtime Lavender Lemonade Recipe
• Spicy Pineapple Lemonade Summer Cocktail Recipe
• (Naturally!) Pink Lemonade Recipe

Just as lemonade itself goes well with fruity flavors, so does this lemonade-flavored cake. If you wish, you could add fresh or frozen blueberries, raspberries, or strawberries to the batter (the latter cut up into smaller pieces). You could also use any or all of these berries to decorate the top of the cake. Another flavor that goes perfectly with lemonade is mint, so you could add fresh or dried mint or mint extract to the cake batter or frosting. For a more contemporary twist, you could also opt to use basil.

You can also change up the frosting on this cake, opting for whipped cream flavored with a little pink lemonade concentrate or going for a standard buttercream instead of one made with cream cheese. Instead of a sheet cake, you could bake the cake in the form of cupcakes or a layer or bundt cake. With this last one, a glaze made from powdered sugar and lemonade would work in place of frosting, or you could go minimal with a dusting of powdered sugar.

One thing you need to know about this cake is that even though the food coloring is listed as optional, if you skip it, neither your cake nor your frosting will be pink. Pink lemonade concentrate alone doesn't contain sufficient dye to change the color, which means you can actually make the cake with the regular kind of lemonade concentrate because there really isn't a flavor difference between the two types of lemonade.

If you want to retain the cake's pretty pastel hue but don't care for food coloring, it's possible to go with a more natural type of dye. One popular red food coloring substitute is beet powder, but try to keep it minimal so it doesn't impart any beet flavor to your cake. You can be more generous with pulverized freeze-dried strawberries or raspberries, however, since those flavors will only enhance the cake. A few other options you might consider for giving your cake a pinkish hue are strawberry or raspberry puree, pomegranate or cherry juice, or hibiscus syrup. In each case, however, you'll also have to watch the amounts because you won't want the batter or frosting too liquidy or, in the case of the syrup, excessively sweet.

• Lemon-Glazed Pound Cake Recipe
• Zingy Lemon Buttermilk Pound Cake Recipe
• Summery Strawberry Lemonade Pound Cake Recipe
• Strawberry Lemon Cupcakes Recipe