A light and fluffy, made from scratch funfetti cake (sometimes also called confetti cake)! This soft, snow-white cake is speckled with brightly colored sprinkles and iced with a sweet buttercream frosting — it’s the perfect homemade birthday cake!
If this funfetti cake looks familiar, you caught me, I shared it exactly one year ago in celebration of the first unofficial birthday of Sugar Spun Run.
Well, it’s been two years now since I almost completely deleted this whole website. Instead, I dug in full-force and have spent almost every spare second of my time developing and photographing (and now videoing) recipes to share with you.
As a brief review before we get to this favorite layered funfetti cake of mine, I originally bought the name, Sugar Spun Run, in 2012 and published a few posts super casually, photographed via iPhone-only, and focused on… whatever caught my attention that particular day. It was maintained sporadically, sloppily, and definitely without intention.
So in April of 2015 when I got the bill to renew my website, I almost canceled everything. I was literally one button-click away from doing so… and then decided maybe I’d give it one more shot.
Well, here we are, nearly 250 recipes later with a bright cheerful funfetti cake to show for it.
It’s now been two years of late, powdered-sugar filled nights, of re-making recipes over and over again (often only to decide that they really were just right the first time), of website code-induced headaches, and of desperately attempting to solve the Rubik’s cube that is my camera. Well over 200 lbs of butter have made their way through my kitchen, and my KitchenAid has become my near-constant companion.
And I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
So, while today can’t rightly be called my blog’s “birthday”, I wanted to commemorate this two year anniversary anyway. Today I’m celebrating Sugar Spun Run’s Unbirthday, and slicing up this confetti-colored, sprinkle stuffed, 3-layer, from-scratch Funfetti cake just for the occasion. So let’s get down to it.
How do you make Funfetti cake?
Funfetti cake is typically a fluffy white cake with sprinkles mixed into the batter.
Light and fluffy, this cake is made with a combination of butter (for flavor) and oil (for texture and moisture). Developing this recipe took weeks, and the ingredients and their ratios were calculated very precisely and carefully.
For maximum fluffy softness, this recipe calls for plenty of egg whites (no egg yolks). You’ll whip these separately with an electric hand mixer until they reach stiff peaks (that just means that when you lift a whisk straight out of the whites, the peaks stay and don’t recede back into themselves) and then fold them with a spatula into the cake batter. This is easy to do– it takes only about 5 minutes– and is critical for a light and fluffy white cake (don’t get me started on yellow funfetti cakes — there should be no such thing).
I used a buttercream that I flavored with a new emulsion that I found at my local cake shop (see notes in recipe), which accented the frosting with notes of citrus and almond. This kept the buttercream from being overbearingly sweet, but didn’t go over as well with Zach, who loathes lemon.
Vanilla extract (or any other that you prefer) can also be used, of course, and I included notes in the recipe.
Today, I’m cutting up this carefully-crafted funfetti cake into thick slices in an Unbirthday celebration, and I’m so glad that you are here to join me.
Thank you so much for following along, for taking the time to read my posts (or just look at the pictures, that’s OK too), comment, e-mail, and follow me on social media (your support as I tackle video on Facebook has been so helpful).
This space would be nothing without you coming back day after day, and I know I wouldn’t have made it this far without so many kind, encouraging comments (when I get a comment telling me that you tried a recipe and loved it, it makes my whole day).
Sugar Spun Run is here to stay.
Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway. –Earl Nightingale
Funfetti Cake from Scratch (and an UnBirthday)
Ingredients
- 9 Tablespoons unsalted butter softened (127g)
- 3 cups granulated sugar (600g)
- 1 cup canola oil vegetable oil would also work (236ml)
- 4 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 4 cups+ 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour (all of the flour goes into the cake batter, you will also need additional flour for preparing the cake pan) (516g)
- 4 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 1 ½ cup milk (355ml)
- 9 egg whites room temperature preferred
- ½ cup sprinkles* (80g)
Buttercream
- 1 lb unsalted butter softened to room temperature (453g)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 6 cups powdered sugar (750g)
- 6 Tbsp heavy cream
- 2 teaspoons LorAnn Princess emulsion or vanilla extract
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F (175C) and prepare 3 8-inch round cake pans by generously greasing and flouring. Be sure to shake out excess flour.
- In stand mixer, beat butter on medium-low speed until creamy.
- Add sugar and oil and beat until all ingredients are well-combined and creamy.
- Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and then stir in your vanilla.
- In separate bowl, whisk together your flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Measure out your milk.
- With mixer on medium speed, gradually alternate between adding the flour mixture and the milk to the butter mixture, starting and ending with the flour mixture. Stir until each one is almost completely combined before adding the next.
- Pause occasionally to scrape down sides and bottom of bowl.
- In separate bowl, combine your egg whites and, with a hand-mixer on high-speed, beat until stiff peaks form.
- Using a spatula, gently fold your egg whites and sprinkles into your batter. Take care to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl so that ingredients are well-combined, and take care not to over-mix.
- Evenly divide cake batter into prepared pans.
- Bake on 350F (175C) for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of each cake layer comes out clean or with few crumbs (should not be wet). For best results, rotate your cake pans halfway through baking to ensure even baking.
- Cakes will be a light golden brown when done baking.
- Remove cakes from oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes. Run a butterknife around the inside rim of each pan and invert each onto a cooling rack.
- Allow to cool completely before frosting.
Frosting
- I used this technique from I Am Baker to frost my cake. If you intend to use this technique as well it requires a lot of icing for the top and I recommend increasing this recipe by 50%. If you are just doing a plain covering that will not be needed.
- In stand mixer, beat butter on medium-speed until creamy.
- Add salt and beat again for about 20 seconds.
- Gradually, about 1 cup at a time, add powdered sugar, waiting until each cup is completely mixed before adding the next cup.
- Tbsp at a time, add the heavy cream on medium-high speed, waiting until each addition is well-combined before adding the next 2 Tbsp.
- Add flavoring (vanilla extract or emulsion). and stir on medium-high for 30 seconds.
- Transfer one layer of your cooled cake to serving platter. Use frosting to ice the top. Add the next layer, ice the top of that. Add your third layer on top and ice the top, and then do a thin "crumb coating" around the entire cake.
- Transfer to freezer for 10-15 minutes, then remove and apply a clean, thick coat of frosting around the entire cake.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you purchase anything through these links I will get a small commission at no extra cost to you. Please view the disclosure policy for more information.
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Recipe originally published 4/13/16 — text updated 4/13/17
Lisa
What flavor of emulsion do you use in place of vanilla extract and where do you purchase it?
Sam
Hi Lisa! You could use this Princess emulsion which I buy on Amazon.
Penny
So good! I’m new to baking and made this just to try, thinking it would turn out terribly. This recipe is awesome, it turned out great!
Jodi
I need to make a dairy free Funfetti cake. Can I substitute the butter with oil and the milk with coconut milk? I’ll look at some other dairy free frosting options.
Sam
Hi Jodi! The oil should work, you will lose a little bit of flavor. The coconut milk should also work, but again will alter the flavor a little bit. 🙂
Darlene Gordon
Can you use liquid egg whites for this recipe.
Sam
Hi Darlene! I don’t recommend it as it can be difficult to whip them to stiff peaks.
B
I’m going to make this cake for a large party and I’m really excited. Do you have the ingredient amounts and cooking times if I were to do this in 3, 9 inch baking pans? I want to make sure it still turns out well!
Sam
This recipe will work in 3 9 inch pans made as is. You will want to start checking it for doneness at 25 minutes. 🙂
Diane
Absolutely delicious!! Made this for my daughters birthday and it came out perfect!
Taryn
Would you recommend I stick to the buttercream frosting suggested or does this pair well with your cream cheese frosting recipe? I’m not the biggest fan of buttercream but I want a well balanced cake! Thanks 🙂
Sam
Oh this is EXCELLENT with the cream cheese frosting, definitely give it a try 🙂 Enjoy, Taryn!
Jen
Can this be made in a 9×13 baking dish?
Sam
Hi Jen! You will likely have too much batter for a 9 x 13 so just make sure to not overfill the pan. 🙂
EA
Go to cake recipe and frosting!!
Tammy Jones
The icing quantity that you gave is that the extra amount or do we have to add 50% or more?
I love icing and don’t want a naked cake.
Sam
Hi Tammy! You will want to increase it by 50% if you’d like a lot of the decorations on top. This won’t be a naked layer but you won’t have enough for all of the fun decorations on top with just one batch. 🙂
Ilyse
Would these work as cupcakes?
Sam
Absolutely! They will need to bake for about 17 minutes. 🙂
Maleri
Just made this cake for my sons birthday. Everyone loved it! It was light and airy but still moist. The frosting was also delicious. Using the recommended princess emulsion instead of regular vanilla extract for the frosting was a game changer. Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Mary
This is the best cake recipe I have ever came across. It is delicious and moist every single time. Thank you for sharing your recipe!!
Jennifer
Hello there. Since I’m new to baking, I want to only make a 1 tier cake to ensure I know what I’m doing. Would it be wise of me to divide almost every part of the recipe by 3?
Sam
Hi Jennifer! You if you only want to make this in 1 8 inch round pan, yes you would want to divide all of the ingredients by 3. 🙂
Kayla
Hi! I will be making this cake for a birthday party! I was wondering if this recipe freezes well?
Sam
Hi Kayla! I haven’t personally frozen it, but several other readers have done so with success. 🙂