This homemade Funfetti poke cake takes a favorite childhood birthday cake to the next level! This moist vanilla cake recipe is soaked in pudding and topped with fluffy cake batter whipped cream.
Check out my 15 Irresistible Poke Cakes for even more delicious poke cake inspiration.
Easy Funfetti Cake
Is there anything better than sinking your teeth into a slice of cake? The answer is no, especially if it’s funfetti cake. How many funfetti cakes did you eat as a child? As much as I love the classic, these days I much prefer my homemade version instead.
This easy funfetti poke cake is ultra moist thanks to sour cream and buttermilk. It’s packed with colorful sprinkles, filled with vanilla pudding, and topped off with cake batter whipped cream! If you’ve never had cake batter whipped cream before, you’re in for a real treat.
This is the perfect cake for birthdays, BBQs, or even a mellow Saturday night at home.
What is the Difference Between Funfetti and Confetti Cake?
There is none! Funfetti cake and confetti cake are just two ways of referring to the same type of cake: vanilla cake with sprinkles in the batter.
What You’ll Need
- Granulated Sugar
- Vegetable Oil
- Eggs
- Vanilla Extract
- Sour Cream – keeps the cake ultra moist. You can lighten it up by swapping the sour cream for plain Greek yogurt if preferred.
- All-Purpose Flour – spooned and leveled for the best results!
- Baking Powder
- Salt
- Buttermilk – if you don’t have buttermilk, you can make a homemade buttermilk substitute using regular milk and white vinegar or lemon juice.
- Rainbow Sprinkles – I recommend using jimmies instead of nonpareils (the tiny round colored balls), which tend to run when they come in contact with liquid.
For the Filling
- Instant Vanilla Pudding
- Milk
For the Topping
- Heavy Whipping Cream
- Yellow Cake Mix – from the box, you’ll use the powdered mix.
- Rainbow Sprinkles
What Can I Substitute for Cake Mix?
If you’d prefer not to buy a box of cake mix just for the topping, you could swap it out for powdered sugar. You just won’t have the “cake batter” flavor. Instead, it would just be regular whipped cream.
Let’s Make Homemade Funfetti Poke Cake
There are three layers in this cake. First up is the cake.
Make the Cake
- Prep: Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
- Beat the wet ingredients: Combine sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla in a mixing bowl until well incorporated. Mix in the sour cream,
- Combine and add the dry ingredients: Combine all remaining dry ingredients and add half to the batter along with the milk, beating until combined then all the remaining ingredients and beat until fully combined.
- Stir in the sprinkles: Once the batter is finished, stir the sprinkles in with a spatula.
- Bake: Transfer the batter to a 9×13″ baking dish and bake at 350ºF for 28-30 minutes.
- Heat-treat the cake mix: While the oven is still warm, you can heat-treat the yellow cake mix for the topping if desired. See below for details.
Add the Filling
- Poke the cake: It’s best to do this while the cake is still warm. Use the handle end of a wooden spoon or another similar object to poke holes all over the top of the cake, then allow it to cool completely.
- Add the filling: In a bowl, combine the vanilla pudding and milk, whisking until the pudding is dissolved. Before the pudding sets, pour it over the cooled cake. Spread with a spatula to fill the holes.
- Chill: Chill the cake in the refrigerator for 10 minutes, until the pudding sets.
Prepare the Topping
- Chill the mixing bowl: Place a clean mixing bowl into the freezer for 10 minutes.
- Beat the cream: In the chilled bowl, beat the heavy whipping cream and use an electric mixer until soft peaks form.
- Add the dry ingredients: Slowly add in the yellow cake mix and beat until stiff peaks form. Stir in sprinkles with a spatula.
- Decorate & Chill: Spread the prepared whipped cream over the cake and store in the fridge until ready to serve.
Do I Need to Heat-Treat Cake Mix for the Frosting?
This is completely up to your own discretion and what you feel is safe for you. Recent recommendations suggest that any raw flour should not be consumed unless it’s been heated to kill any bacteria. I recommend the method for heat-treating flour that I use in my edible cookie dough.
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spread the cake mix out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and bake for approximately 10 minutes, or until the temperature of the flour reaches 160°F. You’ll need to sift it with a fine-mesh sieve for the best results and the smoothest frosting.
Can I Make this Ahead of Time?
Absolutely! Poke cakes get even better as they sit, so they’re the perfect make-ahead dessert. The filled and frosted cake can be stored in the fridge for up to 3 days before serving.
I do feel the whipped cream topping is best served within 24 hours. So my recommendation is to bake the cake up to 2 days in advance and store it at room temperature or in the fridge until you’re ready to add the filling and toppings.
How to Store Finished Poke Cake
Once you’ve added the filling and topping, the homemade funfetti cake should be stored in the fridge. It will last for up to 3 days.
More Easy Poke Cake Recipes
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Funfetti Poke Cake
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 28 minutes
- Total Time: 38 minutes
- Yield: 15 slices
- Category: Cake
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
This homemade Funfetti poke cake is a moist vanilla cake recipe loaded with sprinkles, filled with vanilla pudding, and topped with creamy cake batter whipped cream!
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 2 cups (380g) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (118 ml) vegetable oil
- 3 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon (14.8 ml) pure vanilla extract
- ½ cup(118 ml) sour cream
- 2 ½ cups (350 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 1/2 teaspoons (9.3g) baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon (5 g) salt
- 1 ¼ cups (296 ml) buttermilk (or milk)
- ½ cup sprinkles
For the filling:
- 1 package (3.4oz) instant vanilla pudding
- 1 ¾ (414ml) cup milk
For the topping:
- 1 ¾ cup (414ml) heavy whipping cream
- ¾ cup yellow cake mix (dry)
- 2 tablespoons rainbow sprinkles
Instructions
For the Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the sugar, vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla extract. Beat on medium speed until well incorporated. Scrape down the bowl as needed. Next mix in the sour cream and beat until well combined.
- Combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Add half the dry ingredients, and half the milk, and beat on low speed just until the flour starts to incorporate. Repeat until all ingredients are added and combined. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl and stir the batter from the bottom to the top to ensure it’s well mixed. Use a spatula to stir in the sprinkles.
- Pour the batter into a 9-inch by 13-inch pan and bake at 350°F for 28-32 minutes. Test the cake for doneness by inserting a toothpick into the center of the cake. If the toothpick comes out clean, the cake is done. Cool for 30 minutes.
- Heat-treated flour: While the oven is still warm, heat-treat the cake mix for the topping if desired. See notes.
- While the cake is still warm, take the end of a wooden spoon or another round object and poke holes all over the top of your cake. Cool completely.
For the filling:
- In a small mixing bowl, combine the vanilla pudding and the milk and whisk until the pudding mix is dissolved. Before the pudding sets (do not refrigerate), pour it over top of the cake, and spread with a spatula to fill in all the holes. Chill for at least 10 minutes until the filling has been set.
For the topping:
- Chill the mixing bowl and beaters in the freezer or refrigerator for 10 minutes. Once chilled, beat the heavy cream on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form. Add the cake mix and beat at high speed until stiff peaks form. Stir in sprinkles then decorate the cake.
Notes
- Ingredient Substitutes:
- Sour cream: can be substituted with plain or Greek yogurt
- Buttermilk: can be substituted with regular milk or you can make a homemade substitute
- Heat-treated cake mix: If you would prefer to heat-treat the cake mix. preheat the oven to 350°F. Bake the flour on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper for approximately 10 minutes, or until the temperature of the flour reaches 160°F. Cool and sift through a fine-mesh sieve before adding to the whipped cream.
- Storage instructions: The cake can be stored at room temperature until you add the filling and topping. Once you’ve added the filling, it must be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container.
- Make-ahead instructions: The baked cake can be stored at room temperature up to 2 days in advance. I recommend adding the filling and topping before serving.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Slice
- Calories: 433
- Sugar: 41.4 g
- Sodium: 327.9 mg
- Fat: 22.6 g
- Carbohydrates: 60.9 g
- Fiber: 0.6 g
- Protein: 6.4 g
- Cholesterol: 74.1 mg
I followed the directions exactly. The 9×13 cake overflowed in my oven and was a liquid mess. I don’t recommend at all.
Gosh that must be terribly frustrating. However, I’ve made this cake base recipes over 100 times at least (it’s used across so many recipes on my site) and the only way this would overflow is if the pan was too short on the sides, or I guess it’s possible if you added more baking powder than the recipe calls for?
I was looking through older comments and noticed your original recipe used condensed milk vs the pudding in the current one. I was curious why the change? Is the pudding a better flavor, more or less sweet? I’m going to make this for my daughter’s birthday and am super excited to try it 🙂 I just can’t decide which filling to use! Haha. I also considered adding cream cheese to the pudding filling, have you ever tried that with any of your poke cakes? Thank you so much!!
Hi Molly, either one will work. Sweetened condensed milk will produce a more “wet” cake like tres leches where as the pudding cake, while till incredibly moist, has more defined textures with the cake, pudding and topping. I do think it’s a little less sweet since it’s not soaked in the milk. I have no combined cream cheese and pudding, but I have used a cream cheese whipped cream which is super good. https://beyondfrosting.com/cream-cheese-whipped-cream/
Thank you so much for answering all of my questions! I’m going to stick to the pudding filling and try your cream cheese whipped cream for the topping. I am so excited, this looks so tasty!
Hello, will round cake pans work for this cake? We did make it last night in a 9 x 13 and it was delicious. My son wants a dinosaur cake for his birthday, which will be easier to do with round cake pans (if possible). Thanks!
Hi Jenny. Yes you can do round pans, but just take into account that the liquid filling will make the cake much less stable (for stacking) and may leak out the sides before it sets. If the pan is tall enough, maybe you can assemble both the cake layers and pudding in the pan, then remove it to frost.
Is the cake mix required for the topping supposed to be yellow or white? It says yellow, but I’m just dbl checking bc I figured it would give the cake topping a yellow tint
Either one will work
My filling didn’t look thick like yours. Was I supposed to use buttermilk? It was completely watery.
Hi Alissa- are you referring to the pudding filling? It’s just instant pudding mix and milk, and once you refrigerate the pudding should set, just as if you made it in a bowl. Was your pudding instant pudding or cook and serve? It needs to be instant.
Could you used cool whip mixed with the dry cake mix and sprinkles for the frosting?
I have not tried is that way, but I would recommend making trying it before you frost the whole cake with it. Maybe grab an extra container of Cool Whip to have just in case you don’t like it. Or just skip the cake mix altogether.
Can you make this with round cake pans?
Yes, but you’d want to make sure the plate you put it on has a rim because I’d expect some of the liquid ingredients to seep out
Hi! I was just wondering how sweet this entire cake is? I have tried a couple of funfetti cakes with different frostings and they were absolutely sick-sweet. Your recipe looks great and I’d love to try it! Thanks!
Hi Annamarie! Personally I wouldn’t call this sick-sweet, but I know what you mean when you say that! I think this is a nice balance myself, but that being said I still wouldn’t be able to finish a giant slice
Do you use yellow cake mix or vanilla for the topping? The recipe says yellow and the directions say white. Or can you use either one? Thank you!
Hi Sherry, this is for a homemade vanilla cake. If you want to make this cake with a cake mix, you can either use vanilla or yellow.