Quick, easy and oh, so delicious! Chrissy Teigen has become the ultimate food guru after releasing three cookbooks — and she has the perfect “lazy” recipe for anyone running low on time.
“You throw batter in a sheet pan and boom: cake,” the Cravings: All Together author, 36, tells Us Weekly of her tasty vanilla sheet cake with salted milk chocolate frosting, which is also featured in her latest cookbook.
The Utah native, who shares 5-year-old daughter Luna and 3-year-old son Miles with husband John Legend, is a fan of making things simple in the kitchen.
Her pro tip for making her delicious frosting for this cake is to use milk chocolate and cream cheese, telling Us it helps avoid “bitterness” and adds a “tang” to the confection. The combination results in “chocolatey chilliness,” Teigen says. “It’s weird, but it speaks to me.”
The former Chrissy’s Court star has been working in the kitchen since she was young. In fact, her mom, Pepper Teigen, has been teaching the model some of her own cooking tricks along the way.
“We’ve been cooking together since [Chrissy] was little,” Pepper, 59, who has her own cookbook, Pepper Thai, exclusively told Us in October 2021. “She loved cooking. She made up her own recipes. … And I cook a lot with her sister, of course. That’s how we bond.”
The Getting Spicy With Pepper Teigen star exclusively told Us in September 2019 that she and Chrissy lean on each other in all areas of their lives.
“She needs me and I need her,” the Thailand native explained at the time. “We are always here for each other.”
Pepper noted that “always” means that she doesn’t say no to getting up early and serving whatever Chrissy has in mind for the day. “[Chrissy] will wake me up and say, ‘Mom, make me noodles!’ At, like, 2 o’clock in the morning,” she told Us. “I’m still with her. I don’t mind! I do it.”
Chrissy, for her part, teased her third cookbook — and its new type of recipes — in August 2020 after releasing Cravings and Cravings: Hungry for More in 2016 and 2018, respectively.
“I am in such a different life phase and enjoying making clean, delicious food but still with explosive flavor!” the Bring the Funny judge tweeted at the time, joking, “I now understand bacon and cheese don’t have to be in EVERYTHING. Just a lot of things.”
Scroll below to get the details on Chrissy’s sweet and simple cake — and get more recipes from Cravings: All Together by purchasing your own copy now!
Chrissy Teigen’s Vanilla Sheet Cake with Salted Milk Chocolate Frosting
Makes 16 servings
INGREDIENTS:
FOR THE CAKE:
- 2 sticks (½ lb) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for the baking pan
- 2 cups flour
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- 1½ tsp fine sea salt
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 3 eggs, plus 1 egg yolk
- ¾ cup sour cream
- 1½ tbsp vanilla extract
FOR THE FROSTING:
- 1¼ cups milk chocolate chips
- ½ (8-oz) package cream cheese, cold
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp fine sea salt, or more if you’re a salt hound
- 2¾ cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
- Sprinkles of your choice
INSTRUCTIONS:
TO MAKE THE CAKE:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Generously butter a 9×13-inch baking pan.
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Beat the 2 sticks of butter and the sugar in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment over medium-high speed until the color lightens and the mix is fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the eggs and egg yolk and beat, scraping down the sides of the bowl if necessary, until just combined. Reduce the speed to medium-low and add half the flour mixture, then half the sour cream, then the remaining flour and then the remaining sour cream. Add the vanilla at the end, mixing only until all is just combined.
- Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Spread into an even layer and bake until the top is lightly browned, the cake is just completely set and a toothpick inserted comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool completely on a wire rack, about 1 hour.
TO MAKE THE FROSTING:
- Place the chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl and heat on high until just fully melted, stopping every 30 seconds to stir, 60 to 90 seconds total (the more you melt the chocolate, the longer you’re going to have to let it cool). Let the chocolate cool to room temperature, about 20 minutes (the outside of the bowl should feel just slightly warm or not warm at all).
- Scrape the melted chocolate into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, then add the cream cheese, butter, vanilla and salt and beat at high speed until incorporated and slightly fluffy, stopping and scraping down the sides of the bowl if necessary, 1 minute. Reduce the speed to low, then slowly add the confectioners’ sugar. Beat until it’s no longer dusty and powdery. Raise the speed to high and beat until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes.
- Spread the frosting across the cooled cake, top with the sprinkles and cut into squares to serve.
Learn more about Cravings: All Together on Chrissy’s website.