A light and fluffy, made from scratch ย funfetti cake (sometimes also called confetti cake)! ย 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. ย 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 originallyย bought the name, Sugar Spun Run,ย inย 2012 and published a few postsย super casually, photographed viaย iPhone-only, and focused on… whatever caught my attention that particular day. ย It was maintainedย sporadically, sloppily, and definitely without intention.
So in April of 2015 when I got the bill to renew my website, I almost canceled everything. ย 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,ย nearly 250 recipes later with a bright cheerful funfetti cake to show for it.
It’s now been twoย years of late, powdered-sugar filled nights, of re-making recipes over and over again (often only to decide that they really were just rightย the first time), of website code-induced headaches, and ofย desperately attempting to solve the Rubik’s cube that is my camera.ย 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, whileย today can’t rightly be called my blog’s “birthday”, I wanted to commemorate this twoย year anniversary anyway. ย Today I’m celebrating Sugar Spun Run’s Unbirthday, and slicing up this confetti-colored, sprinkle stuffed, 3-layer, from-scratchย Funfetti cake just for the occasion. ย 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). ย Developing this recipe took weeks, andย 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). ย 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 spatulaย into the cake batter. ย This is easy to do– it takes only about 5 minutes– and isย critical for a light and fluffyย 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. ย 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 cakeย into thickย 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 postsย (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 withoutย you coming back day after day, and I know I wouldn’tย 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 Runย is here to stay.
Never give up on a dreamย just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. ย The time will pass anyway. –Earl Nightingale
Funfetti Cake from Scratch (and an UnBirthday)
Ingredients
- 9 Tablespoons (127 g) unsalted butter softened
- 3 cups (600 g) granulated sugar
- 1 cup (236 ml) neutral cooking oil Use canola, vegetable, or avocado oil
- 4 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 4 cups+ 2 Tbsp (516 g) all-purpose flour (all of the flour goes into the cake batter, you will also need additional flour for preparing the cake pan)
- 4 ยฝ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 ยฝ teaspoons salt
- 1 ยฝ cup (355 ml) milk
- 9 egg whites room temperature preferred
- ยฝ cup (80 g) sprinkles*
Buttercream
- 1 lb (453 g) unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- ยผ teaspoon salt
- 6 cups (750 g) powdered sugar
- 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.9 Tablespoons (127 g) unsalted butter
- Add sugar and oil and beat until all ingredients are well-combined and creamy.3 cups (600 g) granulated sugar, 1 cup (236 ml) neutral cooking oil
- Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and then stir in your vanilla.4 teaspoons vanilla extract
- In separate bowl, whisk together your flour, baking powder, and salt.4 cups+ 2 Tbsp (516 g) all-purpose flour, 4 ยฝ teaspoons baking powder, 1 ยฝ teaspoons salt
- Measure out your milk.1 ยฝ cup (355 ml) 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.9 egg whites
- 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.ยฝ cup (80 g) sprinkles*
- 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.1 lb (453 g) unsalted butter
- Add salt and beat again for about 20 seconds.ยผ teaspoon salt
- Gradually, about 1 cup at a time, add powdered sugar, waiting until each cup is completely mixed before adding the next cup.6 cups (750 g) powdered sugar
- 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.6 Tbsp heavy cream
- Add flavoring (vanilla extract or emulsion). and stir on medium-high for 30 seconds.2 teaspoons LorAnn Princess emulsion or vanilla extract
- 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
Bonnie
what kind of sprinkles do you use?
Sam
Colorful jimmies are what I used. โบ๏ธ
Jenn
Hello,
I made this cake yesterday for my sister-in-lawโs birthday and it turned out fantastic. I increased the recipe by 1/3 and made 4 9-inch layers and turned it into a piรฑata cake. I found your site and recipe by searching for โmoist funfetti cakeโ as I often find vanilla cakes dense and dry. Your cake did not disappoint! It was really moist and had a great flavour. I also loved your buttercream. It was light and not overly sweet like most American butter creams. Itโs my new go-to icing recipe! I look forward to trying more of your recipes, thanks for posting.
Sam
Thank you so much Jenn!! I am so glad you enjoyed the cake and I hope you enjoy every recipe you try! ๐๐
Kelly
Hi Sam,
This looks amazing! Just one question – Are the sprinkles inside the cake crunchy? Or do they effectively melt away? Thanks in advance!
Hoping to make it for the weekend ๐
Sam
Hi Kelly! They are not crunchy. They effectively just melt and leave little spots of color in the cake. Enjoy! ๐
Zelma Indans
Hi. I would like to use this recipe, as a white cake for base tier in a friend’s wedding cake. She gets married on Oct 13th. She wants 3 layers of 10inch diameter. Do you think 1.5 times will be enough. How would you adjust the baking time? The white cake is super gorgeous and I’m so excited to use this recipe for her big day. Plus how much frosting?
Sam
Hi Zelma! I think 1.5 half times would be enough. I do not know the cook time on a 10 inch cake as I haven’t tried it. I think if you make 1.5 times the frosting that should work. I hope you love it! ๐๐
Adriana
I was thinking of making this cake and save it for the weekend. Can I freeze the cake when cooled, after baked? Thanks
Sam
Hi Adriana! That will work just fine, just make sure you wrap it well. ๐
Adriana
Thank you. You are awesome!!! I’ll make this cake today and will let you know how my experience was ๐
Sarah
I used this recipe to make a wonder woman birthday cake for a friends daughters birthday cake and is was a hit with all kids and adults! I was a little wary it would be super sweet with the amount of sugar but it wasn’t overpoweringly sweet at all and was perfectly soft, moist and tender. Thanks for a great recipe!
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed it Sarah! ๐
Cierra
Do you bake each layer of the cake individually? I find that when I bake more than one pan at a time, the baking time takes significantly longer. Am I missing something?
Sam
Hi Cierra. I do bake mine at the same time, but you can certainly bake them one at a time. There are so many variables when baking, just test them to make sure they are done. ๐
Melinda
I hope to make this for my daughterโs birthday! How many cupcakes do you think this would make? 45? I saw your white cake for 2 layer makes 30, if I remember correctly.
Sam
Hi Melinda! It should make about 45 cupcakes ๐
Erin
Iโd love to know how this cake freezes. I want to make it for a party but am not excited about destroying my kitchen the day of. Any experience freezing it?
Sam
You can freeze the cake. It just needs to be wrapped very well. You could also make it the day before and keep it in an air tight container. ๐
Cora
So i tried it for cupcakes and they shank so much after the cooled. What could have gone wrong?
Sam
There are few things I would check. They could have been over-mixed, under-mixed, maybe your leaveners are bad, or possibly the cupcakes were filled too high? These shouldn’t get much of a rise on them. I’m sorry they didn’t turn out for you. ๐
Kristie
Hey! First time making this cake, realizing I only have one cake pan and its a little bigger and kind of deep i’d say like 9 inches, 4 inches deep? What would be an accurate cook time?
Sam
I would start checking the 9 inch cake at 25 minutes to see if it is done. ๐
Rachel
Hi, I’d like to make this for a friend’s birthday but I only have two 9-inch pans. Could I put the extra batter in the fridge while I bake the first two, or should I just make two layers and some cupcakes?
Sam
Hi Rachel! Either way would work, just make sure the pan is completely cooled before adding any more batter. ๐
Barb
Hi Sam – have you tried the recipe with cake flour? Or, did you find that the egg whites created enough of a fluffy texture with all purpose flour? I’ve never baked with cake flour and tempted to try it to get a moist crumb. Do you have a suggestion for how to substitute cake flour for all purpose flour? Thanks!
Sam
Hi Barb! I have not used cake flour so I couldn’t give recommendations for a substitution, but this cake has a very nice moist crumb as it is. ๐
Mariah
Should you use buttermilk? Or what kind gets the best results?
Sam
Hi Mariah! Just regular whole milk provides the best results. ๐
Bethany
Just made this for my husbands birthday! Tasted amazing and he loved it.
But…. it seemed too dense to me. Not as fluffy as I had hoped. Very moist though.
Would this just be from over mixing the egg whites? How do you know when to stop?
Would the recipe work on if I halved it? Want to keep experimenting.. but it’s a big batch!
Thanks!
Sam
Hi Bethany! The recipe would work if you halved it. When beating the egg whites, only beat until stiff peaks form, then take care to not over-mix when folding the ingredients together. Hope that helps! ๐