Funfetti Cake from Scratch
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My light and fluffy, completely from scratch Funfetti cake recipe has over 600 five-star reviews and has even been featured on TV! ⭐️ It’s a soft white cake speckled with sprinkles and iced with buttercream frosting, perfect for beginners and advanced bakers alike. Makes the perfect homemade birthday cake! Recipe includes a how-to video!
Homemade Funfetti Cake Recipe
My fluffy Funfetti cake (also known as confetti cake) has been one of my most popular recipes for years (right up there with my “worst” chocolate chip cookies). Flecked with sprinkles, a plush, super soft texture, and a buttery, caramelized vanilla flavor–what’s not to love?
Developing this cake took me weeks and is still one of my proudest accomplishments (right there with my French macaron recipe). When I finally nailed it, I found that there were a few key ingredients that really made a difference, namely, whipped egg whites.
For maximum, fluffy softness (and snow-white color), this recipe calls for plenty of egg whites (and no egg yolks–save those for your tiramisu!). You’ll whip these separately with an electric mixer until they reach stiff peaks and then fold them (gently!) into the cake batter. This is easy and quick to do, and it’s critical for a light and fluffy white cake (don’t get me started on yellow Funfetti cakes–there should be no such thing!).
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Perfect taste, perfect texture. Largely thanks to the afore-mentioned whipped egg whites and a combo of butter and oil in the cake batter. Oil adds moisture, while butter adds flavor, so by mixing the two you achieve perfect balance. This is how I’ve designed so many of my cake recipes, and once you try it you’ll see why.
- Bright white color. This serves as the perfect backdrop to colorful sprinkles. This Funfetti cake gets its pristine color from using egg whites only, clear vanilla (instead of regular vanilla), and a neutral oil.
- So soft and fluffy. This gorgeous texture comes from a critical ingredient: whipped egg whites. I’ve repeated this technique in several recipes since, including my lemon cake, strawberry cake, and Oreo cake. All have a plush, light-as-air texture!
- Frosted with an easy peasy classic buttercream, though you could technically use any frosting you like. Fruity pebbles frosting, strawberry frosting, and cream cheese frosting are all nice alternatives!
What You Need
For the Cake Layers
- Flour. Back when I was first developing this recipe, cake flour was difficult for me to find and when I could, it was pricey. I developed this recipe specifically with the intention of achieving a light fluffy texture with regular ol’ all-purpose flour (and it worked *perfectly* if I do say so).
- Egg whites. It’s important that you separate your own eggs (do not use eggs from a carton) and make sure not to get even a drop of yolk in the whites. Room temperature eggs work best, so try to remember to set yours out ahead of time if you can. If you forget, use my trick to quickly bring eggs to room temperature (just make sure to thoroughly dry the eggs before cracking them).
- Milk. Whole milk is my preference, but I suspect a milk substitute (like almond milk) would work just fine. Whatever you use, ideally let it come to room temperature before adding it.
- Butter & oil. As mentioned above and used in my white cake and vanilla cake, a blend of the two balances flavor and texture of this Funfetti cake perfectly. For the oil, opt for a neutral cooking oil like canola, vegetable, or avocado oil (I like avocado oil, but it’s a bit more yellow and so colors the cake slightly). Using a particularly yellow butter or oil can affect the color of your cake.
- Baking powder. Not baking soda! It will seem like a lot, but it’s not (we’re making a big cake!). There is no baking soda in my Funfetti cake recipe, and that’s intentional. While this isn’t the main reason I don’t use baking soda, baking soda encourages browning and adding it would actually make the cake more golden inside.
- Vanilla. To maintain that pristine white color, I use clear vanilla in the cake layers. If you would rather opt for natural vanilla flavoring it will work perfectly well, just know your cake may be tinted a bit more golden.
- Sprinkles. Your sprinkle choice matters! Nonpareils can bleed into your batter and ruin that pristine white color. Stick with jimmies or quins–they add color without any bleeding.
SAM’S TIP: If you want to use cake flour instead of all-purpose flour, you must substitute properly. If you are using weights, the weight is the same; if you are using cups, you will need 4 1/2 cups of cake flour.
Frosting
This is a big three-layer cake, so you will need quite a bit of frosting to cover and decorate it. Just giving you a fair warning before anyone is alarmed by the amount of butter you’re about to see 😉.
- Butter. Yes, we are using a full pound (or four sticks) of butter here. Remember, this is a big Funfetti cake! I use unsalted butter and add salt separately, but if you use salted butter you likely won’t need to add any salt (taste-test the frosting and add a inch if needed — salt helps cut the sweetness and deepen the flavor).
- Powdered sugar. I highly recommend measuring your ingredients with a kitchen scale for the most accurate results (I link to the one I use in the recipe card, it’s inexpensive). It can be very easy to over-measure powdered sugar, much like measuring flour!
- Heavy cream. We’ll whip this into the frosting for a light and fluffy texture. Whipping cream or double cream would also work.
- Flavoring. For the frosting, I sometimes like to use Princess emulsion instead of vanilla (I also use this in my frosted animal cookies–another fun recipe). It accents the buttercream with notes of citrus and almond and keeps it from being overbearingly sweet. If you don’t have any or can’t find it, regular vanilla extract works perfectly.
SAM’S TIP: For that popular Milk Bar birthday cake look, frost your funfetti cake scantly on the outside and top with my confetti crumbs!
This is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Funfetti Cake
Make the batter
When making the batter, you’ll want to start with an electric mixer or a stand mixer (fitted with the paddle attachment) to combine all of your ingredients thoroughly and properly. Creaming the butter in the beginning is actually important for the best texture.
You want to make sure everything is well-combined, but also be careful not to over-mix (this comes into play when adding the milk and then again adding the egg-whites). Over-mixing the batter can cause dense, dry, or sunken results.
Whip the egg whites
Before you begin, make sure your bowl and beaters are completely clean, dry, and grease-free. Even a tiny bit of grease can prevent your egg whites from whipping properly!
Stiff peaks are our aim here! This means your egg whites will have greatly increased in volume, they’ll be bright white in color, and they’ll be fluffy. To test that you’ve reached stiff peaks, lift your beaters straight out of the whites. The peaks should hold firm without folding over or falling back in on themselves.
Fold in the egg whites and sprinkles
Gently is the way to go! Gently stir in all of the egg whites at once along with your sprinkles.
Use a spatula for this step and not your mixer. Your aim is to NOT over-mix. Instead, the goal is to combine everything without deflating those egg whites we just spent all that time whipping. Make sure to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl to ensure everything is well combined.
You will lose some of the volume as you fold the batter, but try your hardest to incorporate the egg whites gently without totally deflating them.
Bake
Use the toothpick to test your cakes for doneness; a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake should come out clean or have a few crumbs when inserted in the center of each cake.
It’s important to keep a close eye on your Funfetti cakes as they near the end of the bake time; underbaking your cake can cause it to sink, while over-baking can dry it out (even just a minute or two too long can do this).
The outsides of the cake bake into a pretty golden color, but don’t panic! The insides will still be snow white.
Decorate
Let the cake layers cool completely before you decorate the cakes. I recommend using my buttercream frosting (in the recipe card below) as it’s a classic Funfetti cake pairing, but I have a whole catalog of frosting recipes that would work well here. Just note that most of those recipes are for 2 layer cakes so you will have to scale up by at least 50%.
I also recommend doing a crumb coating on the cake before decorating. This mean applying a thin layer to the outside of the cake then freezing it for 15 minutes before continuing to decorate. This will catch any crumbs and help your frosting apply more smoothly.
SAM’S TIP: New to cake decorating? I have a guide on how to decorate a cake that’s perfect for for beginner cake decorators! You’ll learn everything from what equipment you need to how to do crumb coat.
Frequently Asked Questions
This recipe makes about 12 cups of batter.
For a two layer Funfetti cake: I recommend you make my white cake recipe and add ⅓ cup of sprinkles. That recipe is actually the same as this one, but scaled down to fit two pans (and doesn’t have sprinkles, obviously!).
For a 9×13″ pan: you would technically need to reduce the recipe by ⅓. This can get tricky, so I usually recommend making the recipe as-is and using the excess batter for cupcakes (though they won’t have nice rounded tops–see below).
If you are looking for a good Funfetti cupcake recipe, I recommend making my confetti cupcakes or white cupcakes (add sprinkles) instead, as those form nice round tops. This recipe makes tasty cupcakes, but they bake up flat.
I do not recommend it, as they provide inconsistent results (and most say they are not meant for whipping). Instead, separate your own eggs and repurpose the yolks in another recipe like my pastry cream, crème brûlée, lemon crumb bars, lemon curd, key lime pie, or chocolate pie.
Yes! To do this, stir the food coloring into the batter before adding the egg whites. Gel food coloring is best for most vibrant color.
A big thank you to every one of you who has already tried my Funfetti cake recipe and reviewed it 💕 I appreciate you!
Enjoy!
Let’s bake together! Subscribe to my newsletter to be notified of all the newest recipes, and find my free recipe tutorials on YouTube 💜
Funfetti Cake from Scratch
Equipment
- Kitchen Scale (recommended)
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 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons table salt
- 1 ½ cup (355 ml) milk
- 9 (315 ml) large egg whites, room temperature preferred
- ½ cup (80 g) sprinkles, see note
Buttercream
- 1 lb (453 g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 6 cups (750 g) powdered sugar
- 6 Tbsp (89 ml) heavy cream
- 2 teaspoons LorAnn Princess emulsion or vanilla extract
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) and lining the bottoms of each pan with a round of parchment paper.
- In stand mixer (or using an electric hand 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 extract.4 teaspoons vanilla extract
- In a separate, medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together your flour, baking powder, and salt.4 cups+ 2 Tbsp (516 g) all-purpose flour, 4 ½ teaspoons baking powder, 1 ½ teaspoons table 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.1 ½ cup (355 ml) milk
- In separate mixing bowl (use a clean, dry, and grease-free bowl, use glass or metal), combine your egg whites and stir with an electric mixer, gradually increasing speed from low to high and continuing to beat on high-speed until stiff peaks form.9 (315 ml) large egg whites
- Add egg whites and sprinkles to the batter. 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.½ 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 butter knife around the inside rim of each pan and carefully invert each onto a cooling rack.
- Allow to cool completely before frosting.
Frosting
- Place butter in the bowl of a stand mixer in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Use the paddle attachment or an electric mixer to beat butter on medium-speed until smooth and creamy.1 lb (453 g) unsalted butter
- Add salt and beat again for about 20 seconds.¼ 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
- One Tablespoon 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 (89 ml) heavy cream
- Add flavoring (vanilla extract or emulsion). and stir on medium-high for 30 seconds. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl with a spatula to ensure all ingredients are well-combined.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. For more detailed decorating instructions, see my post on how to decorate a cake.
Notes
Sprinkles
Use sprinkles/jimmies or round sequin “quin” sprinkles, do NOT use nonpareils or they may bleed through your batter and ruin the coloring of your cake.Using 9″ pans
This cake may also be made in three 9″ pans, just decrease the baking time. Start checking the cakes for doneness at 25 minutes.Storing
Store this cake tightly covered at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. This cake may also be frozen, tightly wrapped in plastic wrap then foil, for up to 3 months.Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this? Leave a comment below!
Recipe originally published 4/13/16 — text and photos updated Feb 2025
This recipe looks delicious! I can’t wait to try it! For some reason when I attempt to make a homemade cake recipe it always turns out more like a bread? What do I do wrong??
Hi Amanda! I’m not sure what would cause that, this recipe definitely doesn’t come out like bread and I hope you love it!
Hi, I just came across your Funfetti Cake recipe through Pinterest and am planning on baking this today or tomorrow for my little girl’s birthday 🙂
Do you have any post or video on how to apply the base frosting? Also, for the cake, do you think I could use liquid egg whites (that come ready to use) or should I use fresh eggs and separate the whites and yolks? Thanks and congratulations on your blog!
Hi Carmen! Sorry this response is a bit late, I would recommend using fresh eggs separated just because I’m not familiar with using liquid egg whites.
I don’t have a video for the base frosting, I’m sorry! There is a link on how to apply the decorative frosting on top, though.
I used liquid egg whites for the cake and it came out great!
Hi Pau,
What brand of liquid egg whites did you use? I’m in California(USA). Did they whip-up stiff? I’m trying to find egg whites to use in recipe, so I don’t end up with so many yolks. Thank you
Hello, is it okay to use cake flour as opposed to regular flour?
I haven’t tried it that way so I can’t be certain, sorry!
Wow! What a yummy looking cake. And, since it’s MY unbirthday too, I deserve it.🐝💜
YEAH you do!!! 😉
Happy Anniversary, and love your recipes!
Thank you so much, Joanne. I appreciate you reading and following along so much! <3
Never mind, I found it 😉 Thanks!
🙂
hi! I did not see when you add the sprinkles to the batter? The ingredient list includes the sprinkles but the description then never mentions adding them… Can you advise? Thank you!
Happy Un-Birthday! This is one of my favourite blogs, it’s weird to think you were that close to pulling the plug. I think we’re all glad you didn’t 😀
I adore this cake! I’m looking to make it for Easter. Any way I can know the decorating tips you used here?
Hi Stephanie! I hope you love the cake! I actually mention in the recipe that I followed these instructions here: http://iambaker.net/mothers-day-cake-open-star-tip-cake/ to decorate the cake, she breaks it down really well and the video is helpful. Hope it helps! 🙂
Hi, I love that you use oil and butter as it is a great combination to achieve a flavorful and moist cake.
Do you know if this cake is suitable for fondant and stacking a two tier cake?
Also, is there any benefit to using buttermilk instead of regular milk?
Hi Taylor! It would be fine to use fondant on this cake so long as it is applied properly. I’m not sure what you mean by stacking a two tier cake, though. Do you mean to make it just two tiers, one larger than the other? Do you mean using dowels? That should be fine if done properly, but I am not certain of what the baking time should be for each layer if it is changed from what is written.
Buttermilk is great for making cakes especially moist, but I have not tried using buttermilk in this recipe. If I did, I suspect I may have to play with the leavening agents a bit to make sure everything comes out OK, though sometimes no change is made — it’s honestly too hard to say without having tried it this way. If you try the cake with buttermilk I would love to know how it turns out!
Hello! What a gorgeous cake. Can you please share what kind of sprinkles you used inside the batter? Is it the longer ‘rod’ sprinkles, the tiny balls (that end up all over the kitchen), or the confetti sprinkles? I’m not sure which would be best to use! Thank you 🙂
Thank you, Sarah! I used the longer “rod” sprinkles inside the cake. I hope you love it! 🙂
Beautiful cake! What brand of the “rod” sprinkles did you use? I’ve made funfetti cakes a few different times and every brand I’ve tried so far leaves the bleeding-rainbow-tie-die-effect inside. I’m still on the hunt for sprinkles that don’t do that and judging by your pictures, you’ve found them!
Hi Rebecca! I actually buy my sprinkles in bulk, I’ve bought them from several different places online so I’m not even sure if all of the sprinkles in this cake are from the same place/brand, I’m sorry! I will check and see if I can find any old receipts, one place I bought a lot of sprinkles from was an online cake supplier and I’m sure the name will come to me eventually!
If you don’t want the sprinkles to leave a rainbow effect in the bater you add them at the very end and only stir it a few times. that avoids the streaking/ rainbow effect then immediately put in pan and bake. if you let it sit for a while before transferring to the pan for baking it will moisten the sprinkles to much and cause streaking during the transfer.
I haven’t made this recipe yet but made a different one a few years ago and didn’t like ho dense the cake was. looking forward to trying this for my daughters birthday in a few weeks. I am thinking of trying a berry center instead of just icing.
The sprinkles won’t streak if you put them in last second only stir a few times to keep them from getting to moist. you transfer it immediately to the pan and bake. just made it a few days ago a worked out well. I used the sprinkles that are technically called Jimmies. hope this helps ya.
I know this is a very late comment but this cale is just perfect for my little ones second bday ! I just have a question though… for the flour it calls for an extra 2 tablespoons… it that to flour the cake pans or do they acting go in the cake? Hope you see this on time and awesome blog btw!!
Hi Penny! The 2 Tablespoons go into the cake, mixed in right with the 4 cups. The flour needed for greasing and flouring the pans isn’t accounted for in the ingredients list.
I hope this helps, and I hope you and your little one both love the cake!! 🙂
Hi, I was wondering if you would be opposed to also putting weights for the needed ingredients. If the required ingredients need to be precise, this would offer better results when duplicating.
Thanks!
I am excited to try the recipe!
Hi Madison, I agree completely, I do currently weigh everything but I haven’t gone back yet to update all of my old recipes. Hoping to get back to this one with weighted measurements this year 🙂
Congrats on your dedication to your blog and thanks for the notes on the funfetti cake!
Just saw this Armena, thanks for your kind comment and I hope you love the cake! 🙂
Would this recipe work for two 12″ cake pans as well? What do you think the temp and cooking time would be?
Thanks!
Hi Kelly! Yes, think that would work, I would keep the temperature the same, but I’m not positive about the time. Here is a guide that I think will help you: http://www.wilton.com/cake-serving-guide/cms-baking-serving-guide.html, but I would keep a close eye on the cake as it bakes. I hope you love the cake! 🙂