A From-Scratch Funfetti Cake Built for Celebrations
This is the Funfetti cake people picture when they think birthday cake. Soft vanilla layers dotted with bright rainbow sprinkles, stacked high with fluffy vanilla buttercream and sliced cleanly for a crowd.
It’s designed to avoid the usual Funfetti problems like heavy layers, muddy colors, and cakes that dry out once they are cut. A simple mixing approach keeps the cake soft and light, while the sprinkles stay bright so every slice looks just as festive as the first.
The frosting feels generous without being too sweet, and the cake holds up well after it has been sliced. It’s just as good later in the day as it is when it’s first sliced, which matters when you’re serving it for a celebration.
From-Scratch vs Box Mix
Box mix Funfetti cakes are familiar and convenient. This from-scratch version gives you the same celebratory feel, with a cake that bakes up softer, stacks more cleanly, and stays moist after it’s sliced. If you’re looking for a simpler option, this easy vanilla cake is a good everyday alternative.
Why This Funfetti Cake Works
- This cake stays soft and moist because of a few simple choices, from mixing the butter into the dry ingredients first to using both butter and oil.
- Cake flour gives the cake a lighter, bakery-style feel instead of a dense vanilla cake.
- Rainbow jimmies soften as they bake and hold their color, so the sprinkles stay bright instead of streaking through the batter.
Ingredients That Matter
For The Funfetti Cake:
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 2 ½ cups cake flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 4 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 cup whole milk
- ½ cup sour cream
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup rainbow jimmies sprinkles (plus additional for garnish)
For The Vanilla Buttercream Frosting:
- 3 cups salted butter, room temperature
- 10 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- 1 ½ tablespoons vanilla extract
- ½ cup heavy cream
The Mixing Method, Made Simple
This cake uses a reversed creaming method, but it is straightforward. Mixing the butter with the dry ingredients first should give you a texture that looks like coarse sand. That is exactly what you want to see.
Once the wet ingredients are added, the batter comes together quickly and smoothly. This method is forgiving and helps reduce the risk of overmixing. You are looking for a smooth, even batter that is slightly thick, not airy.
Fold the sprinkles in last, just until evenly mixed, and stop there.
Pan Size, Baking, and Doneness
Using three 8-inch round pans creates even layers and a balanced cake-to-frosting ratio. The cakes bake flat and stack neatly with minimal leveling.
Bake until the edges are lightly golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. The tops should spring back gently when pressed. Let the cakes cool briefly in the pans, then turn them out to cool completely on a wire rack so they do not tear during assembly.
The Buttercream (And Why There’s Plenty)
The frosting is intentionally generous so you can create thick layers, smooth sides, and optional piping without running short.
If you prefer thinner layers or a simpler finish, the frosting can be halved. Keep in mind that decorative piping will be more limited. Think of the quantity as flexibility, not a requirement.
Assembly Without Stress
Lightly level the cake layers if needed so they stack evenly. Spread an even amount of frosting between each layer, focusing on consistency rather than perfection.
Even layers make for clean slices, which matters more than sharp edges or elaborate decoration.
For a smaller celebration, these pretty truffles or birthday cake cookies work well.
Storage, Make-Ahead, and Sprinkle Bleed
Store the assembled cake at room temperature in an airtight container for up to two days, or refrigerate for up to four days.
Refrigeration can cause sprinkles to bleed slightly because of moisture. For the best appearance, add garnish sprinkles closer to serving time.
Cake layers can also be baked ahead, wrapped well, and assembled the next day without losing their softness.
Quick Troubleshooting
- Dry cake – Most often caused by overbaking. Remove the cakes as soon as the centers test clean.
- Heavy texture – Usually from substituting all-purpose flour for cake flour or packing flour too tightly.
- Bleeding sprinkles – Use rainbow jimmies, avoid refrigerating uncovered, and add garnish sprinkles last.
- Frosting too thick or too loose – Adjust with heavy cream one tablespoon at a time to loosen, or powdered sugar in small amounts to firm it up.
Funfetti Cake
Ingredients
Funfetti Cake
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 2 ½ cups cake flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 4 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 cup whole milk
- ½ cup sour cream
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup rainbow jimmies sprinkles, plus additional for garnish
Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
- 3 cups salted butter, room temperature
- 10 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- 1 ½ tablespoons vanilla extract
- ½ cup heavy cream
Instructions
Funfetti Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray three 8-inch round cake pans with non-stick baker’s spray and line with parchment rounds.
- To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment add the unsalted butter, granulated sugar, cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix on medium speed for 1-2 minutes or until the mixture resembles coarse sand.
- In a large spouted measuring glass, whisk together the eggs, whole milk, sour cream, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract until well combined.
- With the mixer on low, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Stop the mixer and scrape the bowl and paddle then resume mixing just until the batter is smooth and well combined.
- Fold in the sprinkles just until evenly distributed.
- Divide the batter evenly between the prepared cake pans. Bake on the center rack for 23-25 minutes or just until lightly golden around the edges and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Allow the cakes to cool in the pans for 5 minutes before turning them out onto a wire rack, remove the parchment from each of the cakes and allow them to cool completely before assembling and frosting.
Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
- To the bowl of a large (7-8 quart capacity) stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium-high speed for 2-3 minutes or until light and fluffy. This is a large amount of butter, so you may need to stop and scrape the bowl and paddle half way through to ensure even mixing.
- Reduce the speed to low, slowly add the powdered sugar until all the powdered sugar has been incorporated into the butter. Scrape the bowl and paddle as needed to ensure all the ingredients are well incorporated.
- Increase the speed back to medium-high and beat for 1-2 minutes until smooth and fluffy.
- Add the heavy cream and vanilla extract, start on low speed until all the heavy cream has been incorporated, then increase the speed to high and beat for another 3-4 minutes or until the frosting is very light and fluffy. You will need to stop and scrape the bowl and paddle as needed to ensure that the frosting is evenly, and well, beaten.
- To a large piping bag fitted with a large piping tip, add 1 ½ -2 cups of the frosting to pipe decorative dollops onto the cake if desired for decorating your assembled cake. The remainder of the frosting will be used to frost the cake.
Assembly
- Place one cake layer onto a serving plate. Using a long serrated knife, level the top if there is a slight dome in the center. This will ensure even layers and a leveled cake when frosting.
- Add approximately 1-1 ¼ cups of frosting to the cake and spread to an even layer. Place the second cake layer onto the first, add another 1-1 ¼ cups frosting and spread to an even layer.
- Place the final cake layer onto the cake, frost the sides and top of the cake with the remaining frosting.
- If piping on decorative dollops onto the top of the cake, do so before garnishing the top of the cake with additional sprinkles, slicing and serving.
Notes
- If you plan to pipe on decorative dollops of additional frosting around the outer edges of the frosted cake, you will want to make 1.5x the recipe for vanilla buttercream frosting. This will ensure you have plenty of additional frosting to add to a piping bag, fitted with a large piping tip, to decorate the top of your cake before adding additional sprinkles.
- A good quality brand of rainbow jimmies sprinkles, such as Betty Crocker, are best to use in this recipe to ensure the least amount of color bleed when mixed with the wet cake batter and baked.
- Non-peril sprinkles (the little round rainbow colored ball sprinkles) will often bleed their color coating a lot when added to a wet batter and they do not soften well when baked. For these reasons I highly recommend sticking with the use of the rainbow jimmies sprinkles for this cake.
- A reversed creaming process was used for this moist tender cake batter. When the butter and dry ingredients are mixed together first, the butter coats the flour so that when the wet ingredients are added, the gluten will not develop as much. Overdeveloped gluten can yield a dry, tough cake when baked.
- Using full-fat (whole) milk and sour cream will yield the best results for this cake.
- The use of salted butter balances the sweetness level of the vanilla buttercream frosting. If using unsalted butter, be sure to add 1 ½ teaspoons fine sea salt to the frosting when adding the heavy cream and vanilla extract.
- This recipe yields a bakery-style quantity of frosting, which allows for the thick layers and decorative piping. You can easily halve the recipe and still have enough to frost the cake. However, you will need to be mindful that your layers of frosting will not be as thick and you will not have enough to add the decorative piping. If making a smaller batch, a standard sized stand mixer will work just fine for this amount of frosting.
- If you do not have a large (7-8 quart capacity) stand mixer, you will want to halve the recipe and make two batches of frosting so that you do not overwork your mixer and so that all the frosting can easily be mixed well in a smaller mixer bowl.
Nutrition
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