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This Funfetti Cake Recipe from scratch is the perfect cake for any birthday or occasion! Fluffy yellow cake is full of sprinkles, topped with a heavenly sprinkle buttercream frosting! It is one of the best cakes for any celebration!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
My favorite cake in the world is a sprinkle cake, also known as a Funfetti Cake or Confetti Cake. This style cake is basically a yellow sheet cake with a lot of sprinkles. It is typically served with vanilla frosting that also has a ton of sprinkles mixed into it! This is a soft and fluffy cake recipe that has a moist crumb. It’s easy to make and takes zero cake decorating skill.
This cake is so easy to make from scratch – I love baking cakes in a sheet pan because frosting and decorating them are SO easy. But you can make a layer cake or even funfetti cupcakes with this same recipe. The texture is moist and fluffy and the cake is sweet and perfect – you’ll NEVER buy a box cake mix again once you taste this homemade version!
Important Ingredients
- All-Purpose Flour: Be sure to measure it correctly. Some recipes use cake flour, but I prefer all purpose flour.
- Butter: I use unsalted butter and I start with it melted. I find that melted butter creates a moister cake.
- Buttermilk: The acid in the buttermilk helps keep the cake nice and soft. Make your own buttermilk if you don’t have any.
- Sprinkles: The most important part! These are in the cake and the frosting. Use jimmies, which are the rod-like rainbow sprinkles. Nonpareils are the tiny balls and they’ll dissolve in your batter.
How to make Sprinkle Cake
- Mix together the melted butter and sugar with an electric mixer (I use the paddle attachment). Then mix in the eggs and vanilla on medium speed.
2. Add some of the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and gently incorporate.
3. Stir rainbow jimmies into the cake batter.
4. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.
5. Fold in sprinkles into the frosting and then frost the cake and top with more sprinkles. The base of the frosting is my vanilla buttercream recipe.
Expert Tips
- If you want to be able to remove the cake from the pan, be sure to line the pan with parchment paper or foil and spray with baking spray (the kind with flour).
- To substitute for buttermilk you can make your own by adding 1 teaspoon lemon juice or white vinegar to your measuring cup and filling it with milk to the 1 cup line. This recipe also works with regular milk and nondairy milk, I just like the extra fluffiness and moisture that the buttermilk lends.
- Pan Substitutions: I have made this cake in two 9-inch round cake pans, three 8-inch rounds, and 24 cupcakes. Then stack the cake layers with a thin layer of buttercream between them.
- For extra flavor, sometimes I’ll add a few drops of almond extract to the cake batter.
FAQs
Store loosely covered with plastic wrap on the counter. You do not need to refrigerate it.
Yes you can! Store it in an airtight container to freeze. It can be frozen with or without frosting on it as well.
Homemade Funfetti Cake Recipe
Ingredients
Cake:
- 2 cups (248g) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (226g) unsalted buter, melted
- 1 ½ cups (300g) granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup (237ml) buttermilk (see note)
- 1 cup rainbow sprinkles
Frosting:
- 1 cup (226g) unsalted butter , softened
- 4 cups (452g) powdered sugar (confectioners' sugar)
- 1 teaspoon (15 ml) vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2-5 tablespoons (30-75ml) heavy whipping cream
- ½ cup sprinkles plus more for topping
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 9×13-inch baking pan.
- Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- Mix butter and sugar on medium speed in a large bowl using a hand or a stand mixer until smooth. Mix in eggs one at a time, then mix in vanilla.
- Add the buttermilk alternately with the dry ingredients, mixing on medium-high speed between each, starting and ending with the buttermilk, and mixing just until the batter comes together. Be sure to scrape the bowl while mixing. Stir in sprinkles.
- Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.
- To make the frosting: beat butter with a hand or a stand mixer until creamy. Slowly add in powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, until a crumbly mixture forms. Mix in vanilla and salt, then add 2 tablespoons heavy cream. Mix until smooth, adding more cream until you reach your desired consistency. Stir in sprinkles.
- Frost cake with frosting and top with more sprinkles. I find it easiest to frost with an offset spatula. Store loosely covered for up to 2 days.
- Also makes 24 cupcakes, two 9-inch rounds, or three 8-inch rounds.
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
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- Room temperature ingredients help the vanilla cake stay moist and fluffy.
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- Be sure your baking powder is fresh and not expired.
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- Make it Gluten Free: This cake also works with gluten-free 1:1 all purpose flour.
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- If you want to be able to remove the cake from the pan, be sure to line the pan with parchment or foil and spray with baking spray (the kind with flour).
- To substitute for buttermilk you can make your own by adding 1 teaspoon lemon juice or white vinegar to your measuring cup and filling it with milk to the 1 cup line. This recipe also works with regular milk and nondairy milk, I just like the extra fluffiness and moisture that the buttermilk lends.
- Pan Substitutions: I have made this cake in two 9-inch rounds, three 8-inch rounds, and 24 cupcakes. Then stack the cake layers with frosting between them.
- If you decide to make a layer cake, you can torte the cake layers using a serrated knife and make double the layers. I also like coating the cake with a crumb coat before applying the final layer of frosting.
I made the classic birthday cake and it turned out wonderful It’s a keeper!!
Must save recipe! After trying out numerous funfetti cake recipes–this one was absolutely perfect, and an instant save! It was moist, flavorful & the whole family loved it! I plan on making a cupcake version for my little ones birthday party tomorrow!
So glad you enjoyed it!
What a waste…. I’m sorry ( but not sorry) I wasted so much product and money doing this cake and it stuck to my pans, and crumbled. Not a good taste really either smfh. Please save your time and energy … my kids are disappointed and so am I
I am so sorry that happened to you! This should not have done that. Let’s troubleshoot a bit:
*Did you grease your pans or use parchment or cooking spray?
*How long did you bake it? Did you pull the cake out when a toothpick came out clean?
*Dryness and cracking is usually caused by over baking or using too much flour. Did you pack your flour or make any substitutions?
*What size pan(s) did you use?
Got your new cookbook really love it a little disappointed that you didn’t include tips like the vinegar tip you posted. I was looking forward to the extra tips
There are tons of tips in the book – ones that pertain to the recipes in it. I don’t think the vinegar tip is necessary for any of those cookie recipes.
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