Funfetti Cake from Scratch

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 ½ 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

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

This light and fluffy, completely from scratch Funfetti cake recipe has over 600 five-star reviews! It's a soft white cake speckled with colorful sprinkles and iced with buttercream frosting. Makes the perfect homemade birthday cake!

Recipe includes a how-to video!

4.92 from 737 votes

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Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 50 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Servings: 14 slices

Calories: 1136kcal

Author: Sam Merritt

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

Recommended Equipment

• ▢
  Kitchen Scale (recommended)
• ▢
  Mixing bowls
• ▢
  Electric mixer
• ▢
  3 8" round cake pans

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

Serving: 1slice | Calories: 1136kcal | Carbohydrates: 155g | Protein: 11g | Fat: 54g | Saturated Fat: 25g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 100mg | Sodium: 345mg | Potassium: 290mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 100g | Vitamin A: 1171IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 112mg | Iron: 3mg

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.

Tried this recipe? Show me on Instagram!Mention @SugarSpun_Sam or tag #sugarspunrun!

Recipe originally published 4/13/16 — text and photos updated Feb 2025

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