Homemade Funfetti + Cake Tips

Raise your hand if you love funfetti cake! Who doesn’t? Fluffy white cake with rainbow sprinkles folded into the cake AND the frosting- a child’s (and adult’s) dream. But here’s the deal- you can make it yourself, from scratch. DON’T YOU DARE EVER BUY THAT BETTY CROCKER BOX AGAIN, OKAY?!

Before I show you how to make the cake of your childhood dreams, let’s talk about some general cake-baking tips:

You’ll need to start with softened butter for creaming. Look here for tips on how to soften butter in a pinch. 

Why buttermilk? Because it’s delicious! But also because it makes cakes tender and flavorful, and also helps with the leavening. If you don’t have buttermilk, you can top 1 tablespoon of white vinegar or fresh lemon juice with whole milk up to the one-cup line on your measuring cup, letting it sit and get funky for 5 or so minutes. Scale up or down according to your recipe. 

What’s the difference between cake flour and all-purpose flour? Many cake recipes call for cake flour, especially for white cake (along with egg whites rather than yolks). Cake flour is flour that has been sifted lots of times with cornstarch, which provides a light, airy texture in cakes. To make things easier, today’s recipe simply calls for a combination of cornstarch and all-purpose flour to achieve that airy texture. Likewise, if you don’t have cake flour on hand and your recipe specifically calls for it, you can measure 1 cup of all-purpose flour, then replace 2 tablespoons of it with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch. Sift those together at least twice before measuring and baking. 

Beat flour into your cake batter JUST until you don’t see flour anymore, or even before that point. Cake is delicate. When you add dry ingredients to the wet, beat it on low speed until the flour is almost fully absorbed, and then finish by gently folding in anymore dry bits with a rubber spatula. Scraping the bottom of the bowl also catches any stray chunks of butter that may not have been mixed in. Overbeating cake batter can make for a dense, tight cake which I’ve come up with too many times. For our funfetti cake (and most layer cakes) you want light, airy, fluffy textures, which will work as long as you don’t get crazy with your beaters. Self-control, people!

Be generous with your nonstick applications. Line your pans with parchment paper and grease them with butter or nonstick spray. Together, these will ensure your cake will come out of the pan in one piece. Even if your plan is to serve a sheet cake directly from the pan, parchment and butter will make serving it that much easier. I like to line round cake pans with a parchment circle, which I’ll show you how to do here, butter the bottom and sides, and then dust with flour. I get pretty edges and no sticking every time. 

Using heavy cream in your frosting is a game-changer. I’ve used the same vanilla frosting recipe now for several years, and you should, too. High ratios of butter to powdered sugar plus heavy cream make for a super creamy, not cloyingly-sweet vanilla frosting that turns out every time. Whip the heck out of it for best results.

We’re ready to bake some cake!

Make the cake: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and check to see that you have an oven rack situated in the center of the oven. Spray or grease with butter an 8” x 2” (or 8 “ x 3”) aluminum baking pan (I use Wilton aluminum cake pans which are wonderful), and line it with a parchment circle, like I did below:

In a stand mixer or in a large bowl with a handheld mixer, cream the butter and sugar together for a solid 3 minutes. Scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula and add the egg whites, one at a time, beating well between each addition. Add the vanilla and beat to combine. The mixture should look pale and fluffy. 

Add the buttermilk and beat to combine, which will make your cake batter look terrifying and curdled and ruined. It’s not, I promise. 

Scrape down the bowl, sprinkle in the baking powder and cornstarch, and beat well to combine. Add the flour (I sifted mine because it was super lumpy, but this is totally optional) and beat on low JUST until the flour is mostly absorbed. Pour in the rainbow sprinkles and beat on low just for a second to mix them in. Gently fold the batter by hand with a rubber spatula to get any loose bits of flour and scrape the bottom of the bowl for stray chunks of butter.

Bake the cake: Scrape the rainbow-studded cake batter into your prepared pan and smooth it out with your rubber spatula to get the surface as flat and even as you can. Slide into the preheated oven and bake for 15 minutes to start. Walk away. Do not open your oven until 15 minutes have passed.

Did you know that opening your oven too early can lead to deflation of your pretty cake? It lets out all of the heat and steam and doesn’t have the structural integrity to withstand it that early in the baking process. Science.

After the first 15 minutes, turn your pan 180 degrees to ensure even baking, and bake for another 10 minutes. At this point, you want to check your cake at 3 minute intervals with a toothpick. Cakes can overbake in a matter of minutes, so be tedious about it. Your toothpick will come out batter-free when the cake is done, and will be slightly springy when gently touched (meaning the cake doesn’t compress or sink when you touch it). Let it cool in the pan on a wire rack until you can manage to flip it out, peel the parchment off of the bottom, and put it back on the rack to cool the rest of the way. 

Frost the cake: Beat together the butter, salt, powdered sugar, and vanilla until smooth and combined. Add the heavy cream and beat on medium-high speed for 30-45 seconds, until light and fluffy. Taste and adjust your salt and/or vanilla to taste. This makes enough for a generous pile atop the single 8-inch cake. Scoop or scrape it on top of the completely cooled cake and swirl it around with a small offset spatula or butterknife for a cute, rustic look. Top with any and all sprinkles- the pastel confetti sprinkles that I used here are my personal favorite. 

The cake will keep in a covered container at room temperature or in the fridge for about 5 days. 

Note: Double the cake and frosting recipe for a 9” x 13” sheet cake. 

Enjoy, you masterful baker, you!

-Jess