The ultimate homemade confetti birthday cake. Every year my youngest wants a Funfetti Birthday Cake, and while I’m not averse to box mixes, it definitely means more to make it from scratch. This one’s worth the slightly extra effort.
Truth told, I have made this cake for her out of a box almost every year. Sometimes because we are not at home (it’s been baked on boats, taken in a dinghy from a borrowed kitchen on Martha’s Vineyard) but also because Annie always said she likes the box mix cake best. Who can argue with an easy request? This year we were home for her big day, and I ventured to out-do Pilsbury.
I read a bunch of recipes, and ultimately landed on a “mostly” version of this one from Butternut Bakery, https://butternutbakeryblog.com/funfetti-cake/#tasty-recipes-3157-jump-target.
I did swap out her buttercream for my all time favorite and always-my-go-to for vanilla Buttercream, the ubiquitous Magnolia Bakery recipe. Reminiscent of fun times in NYC, when we used to grab those beauties to go for late night snacking, this is the ultimate buttercream.
This is a recipe that pulls from many of the best ideas, including Magnolia Bakery, the Barefoot Contessa’s “pink birthday cake” and Broma Bakery, but it landed at this one that had most of the best components all together. The end result is a legit delish vanilla cake studded with loads of confetti sprinkles!
Funfetti Birthday Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter, room temp
- 2 cups sugar
- 1/2 cup canola oil
- 4 xl eggs room temp
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
- 3 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup full fat sour cream, room temp
- 1 cup buttermilk, room temp
- 3/4 cup rainbow sprinkles
Buttercream Frosting
- 1 cup butter, room temp
- 8 cups 600g powdered sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 cup 90g sprinkles for decorating
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F and grease and line the bottoms 3 – 9″ cake pans with parchment paper. You can also use 2 –9″ cake pans but you will need to leave out about 1 cup of batter so that it bakes evenly.
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside.
- Using a hand or stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy mixing on medium high speed for 3-5 minutes.
- With the mixer running on low, pour in the oil. Scrape down the bowl and give it another mix.
- Mix in the eggs one at a time followed by the vanilla. Scrape down the bowl after every 2 eggs.
- Mix in the sour cream.
- With the buttermilk and dry ingredients, mix into the batter alternating between the two, starting and ending with the dry ingredients (dry, wet, dry, wet, dry).
- Take the bowl off the stand once the batter is combined. Take a rubber spatula and give it a good mix, scraping down the bottom and sides of the bowl. Then, fold in the sprinkles.
- Pour into your cake pans and spread it even. For 9″ cakes, bake for 30-35 minutes. For 9″ cakes, bake for 35-40 minutes. They’re ready when a toothpick in the center comes out clean.
- Allow the cakes to cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then run a knife around the edges and turn them out on to a cooling rack and peel the paper off. If you’re frosting the cake that day, transfer the cakes to the fridge to completely chill before assembling. If baking the cakes a day ahead, allow the cakes to cool to room temp on the rack for 1 hour, then wrap in plastic wrap and place in the fridge overnight.
- Frost the cakes according to the instructions below...
Buttercream Frosting
- Combine the butter and four cups of powdered sugar in the stand mixer, then add the 1/2 cup of milk, and vanilla. Slowly add the remaining four cups of sugar, allowing for a stiff but spreadable consistency.
- Frost the cake by adding layers of frosting between the cakes, and finish with a crumb coat* on the outside - I like this look of a somewhat naked cake - it uses less frosting so that you can pile it higher in between the layers and on top! When finished, top with remaining sprinkles. This cake keeps for days in the fridge, and tastes great cold or at room temperature!
Notes
