Homemade Funfetti Cake

You are all likely aware that Crist likes to bully me into baking for her. Every now and again, I’ll get an email or text message that says something along the lines of “I’m feeling very neglected…” which translates directly to “It’s been several weeks since you mailed me any baked goods.” Or, when she’s experiencing a particularly bad bout of low blood sugar, she’ll simply leave a comment on one of my posts, like this:

When Crist comes to visit, as she did this past weekend, I do my best to be a good hostess and have some sort of freshly baked treat waiting for her when she arrives. As this last trip approached, she told me in no uncertain terms that she would really, REALLY like her baked good to be a sprinkle cake; and thus, a sprinkle cake (otherwise known as a homemade funfetti cake) was made.

Homemade Funfetti Layer Cake
serves 8-10
recipe from here

4 egg whites, from large eggs
1 cup milk, divided (use 2% or whole milk)
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups cake flour
1 1/2 cups white sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
4 T butter, softened
8 T shortening
1/3 cup multi-color sprinkles (you want the long, skinny, waxy ones; the kind they put on ice cream cones)

1.) Preheat your oven to 350°. In a small bowl, whisk together your egg whites, 1/4 cup of the milk, and the vanilla extract. Set it aside.

2.) In the bowl of a stand mixer (or just in a large bowl), whisk together the cake flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

3.) Add in the butter and shortening, and mix on medium until they are well combined with the flour mixture; it should look like big crumbs, once it’s all combined. Also, now would be a good time to throw a dish towel over the top of your mixer before you turn it on… unless you are interested in wearing the flour mixture. Not that I would know anything about that.

4.) Pour the remaining 3/4 cup milk into the bowl, and mix until combined, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl a couple times.

5.) Add the egg white mixture in 3 additions, mixing and scraping the bowl between each addition.

6.) Remove the bowl from the mixer, and gently fold in the sprinkles with a rubber spatula.

7.) Spray two 9″ cake pans with non-stick cooking spray (or, you can butter and flour them), and then divide your batter between them. Bake the cakes for 25-30 minutes, or until the edges have browned, and a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. If you have accidentally unevenly divided the cake batter, make sure you test each cake for doneness separately – they’ll require slightly different baking times if they have different amounts of batter.

8.) Remove the cakes from the oven, and place them on a cooling rack for about 15 minutes. Once they’ve cooled a bit, flip the cakes out onto the cooling rack (be very careful – the warm cakes are VERY delicate, and will break easily). Leave the cakes on the rack for an hour or more, until they are 100% cool.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
makes enough to frost one 9″ two-layer cake

2 sticks of butter, just barely softened
4-6 cups powdered sugar
1/4 to 1/2 cup milk (2% or whole)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1.) In the bowl of your stand mixer, beat the butter with the paddle attachment on medium for about 30 seconds. Add in 4 cups powdered sugar, 1/4 cup milk, and 1/2 tsp vanilla, and beat for a couple minutes, until it has all come together smoothly.

2.) Add in more powdered sugar and/or milk, until you reach your desired consistency and sweetness (you’ll want it to be spreadable, but fairly thick). Add in food coloring (the gel type is best) if desired.

Now it’s time to frost your cake! Get out your cake stand, your off-set spatula, your wax paper, and get going (this tutorial of ours will help you with this part). Feel free to decorate the top of the cake with some additional sprinkles, or by piping on some decorations.

This cake is SWEET, but in a really excellent way. Additionally, it keeps really well on a cake stand with a tight-fitting cover – I made this cake on Thursday, and it was still incredibly moist and delicious last night. It would be perfect for a birthday party, or any other celebratory gathering – the sprinkles just look so fun and festive!

Still working my way through the last 1/3 of the cake,
Tina