This Homemade Funfetti Cake is moist, dense, spongy, packed full of vanilla flavor and sprinkles, and topped off with light and creamy homemade vanilla buttercream frosting! Plus it only takes just 20 minutes to prep.
Easy Funfetti Cake Recipe
If you’re like me, you’ll agree that sprinkles make everything better, especially when it comes to cake! Funfetti is more than just a classic birthday cake. It’s comfort food, a late-night snack or heck, it can even be breakfast. This cake it so good, it could even be your wedding cake.
This is a homemade funfetti cake recipe based on my yellow cake. It’s got all the heavy hitters when it comes to ingredients. It’s a combination of oil and butter, egg and egg yolks, sour cream, and buttermilk.
The result is a perfectly dense, spongy, moist cake that’s packed with sprinkles and vanilla flavor and slathered with the best vanilla buttercream!
What is the Flavor of Funfetti Cake?
Classic funfetti cake is made up of a vanilla cake base with rainbow sprinkles folded into the batter, which is exactly what we’re making in this recipe.
However, you really can make any cake funfetti just by adding sprinkles. Check out strawberry funfetti poke cake, cherry funfetti almond cupcakes, or funfetti bundt cake.
Ingredients & Substitutions
For the Cake
- Granulated Sugar
- Vegetable Oil
- Unsalted Butter (melted)
- Eggs and Egg Yolks– this combination makes for a spongy, tender crumb
- Vanilla Extract
- Sour Cream – you can also use plain or Greek yogurt if preferred.
- All-Purpose Flour
- Baking Powder, Baking Soda, Salt
- Buttermilk buttermilk creates a more moist texture but regular milk will work as well. You can also easily make your own buttermilk with milk and lemon juice or vinegar. Otherwise substitute with regular milk.
- Sprinkles – use jimmies for the best results.
For the Frosting
- Unsalted Butter – cold and cubed into small pieces to be easily beaten into a light and fluffy frosting base.
- Powdered Sugar
- Vanilla Extract
- Heavy Whipping Cream
How to Make a Funfetti Cake
For the Cake
- Combine the wet ingredients. In a large mixing bowl, combine the sugar, vegetable oil, butter, eggs, egg yolks, and vanilla. Beat until well-incorporated. Mix in sour cream and beat until fully combined.
- Combine the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Mix wet and dry ingredients: Alternate adding half the dry ingredients and half the buttermilk at a time and mix until the flour just starts to incorporate. Stir the batter from the bottom to the top to make sure it’s well mixed. Then mix in the sprinkles.
- Bake. Transfer the batter to a 9×13-inch baking pan and bake at 350ºF for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before frosting.
For the Frosting
- Prep the butter. Cut the butter into cubes, place it in the bowl of your stand mixer, then use the paddle attachment to whip the butter for 5-7 minutes until it’s super light and fluffy.
- Mix in powdered sugar. Add in powdered sugar and mix on low speed until incorporated, then mix in vanilla and heavy cream. Continue beating until smooth, then beat for another 3-5 minutes to whip additional air into the frosting.
Tips for Success
Here are a few of my tips and tricks for making the best funfetti cake!
- Try to avoid substitutions. This cake is really best when it’s made as written. While there are suggested ingredient substitutions, it’s best when made as originally developed.
- Be gentle when adding the sprinkles. If you mix too hard, the color will start to bleed into the batter.
- Whip the butter for the frosting really well before adding any ingredients, This will take 5-7 minutes but adds so much air into the frosting which results in a lighter, fluffier texture.
What Kind of Sprinkles Are Best?
I recommend using jimmies (the long rainbow sprinkles) for the best results because they don’t bleed into the batter. Avoid using nonpareils (the little balls) or sugar sprinkles. These varieties will dissolve and bleed into the batter which will result in a not-so-appetizing cake color.
Can this Be Made into Cupcakes?
Yes! This batter can easily be made into cupcakes. Use a large (3 tablespoon) cookie scoop to portion the batter out into a standard-sized cupcake pan, then bake at 350ºF for 16-20 minutes. You should end up with 24 cupcakes with a little batter leftover. For 24 cupcakes, you’ll want to double the frosting recipe.
How to Store Finished Funfetti Cake
Leftover frosted cake will last in an airtight container on the counter for 3 days. If you live in a warm climate, I suggest refrigerating the cake in an airtight container. It’s best served at room temperature.
Homemade Funfetti Cake
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 28 minutes
- Total Time: 48 minutes
- Yield: 15 slices
- Category: Cake
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
This Homemade Funfetti Cake takes just 20 minutes to prep. It’s moist, dense, spongy, packed full of vanilla flavor and sprinkles, and topped off with light and creamy homemade vanilla buttercream frosting!
Ingredients
For the cake
- 1 1/2 cups (285g) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (118 ml) vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons (28g) unsalted butter, melted
- 2 large eggs
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 tablespoon (15ml) pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup (118ml) sour cream (or plain Greek yogurt)
- 2 ½ cups (350g) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons (7.5g) baking powder
- 1 teaspoon (4g) baking soda
- 1 teaspoon (5g) salt
- 1 1/3 cup (315ml) buttermilk or milk
- 1/2 cup sprinkles
For the frosting
- 3/4 cup ( 170g )unsalted butter, cold
- 2 1/2cups (325g ) powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoons (5ml ) pure vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon (15ml ) heavy whipping cream
Instructions
For the cake
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a large mixing bowl, combine the sugar, vegetable oil, butter, eggs. egg yolks and vanilla extract. Beat on medium speed until the eggs and oil are well incorporated and the batter is lighter in color, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the bowl as needed. Next mix in the sour cream and beat until well combined.
- In a separate bowl, combine the remaining dry ingredients. Alternate adding half the dry ingredients and half the buttermilk at a time and mix just until the flour starts to incorporate. Then add remaining dry ingredients and buttermilk and beat until well 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. Mix in the sprinkles by hand.
- Pour the batter in a 9-inch by 13-inch pan and bake at 350°F for 25-30 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. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.
For the frosting
- Cut the butter into pieces. Using the paddle attachment, whip the butter for 5-7 minutes, scraping down the bowl occasionally, beating until the butter look light in color.
- Add the powdered sugar and mix on low speed until incorporated into the butter then add the vanilla extract and heavy cream and mix to combine. Beat for about 60 seconds.
- Continuing beating on low until the ingredients start to mix together. Increase speed to medium-high and beat for another 3-5 minutes to whip additional air into the frosting. Spread over cooled cake.
Notes
- This can easily be made into 24 cupcakes by using a large (3 tablespoon) cookie scoop. Bake for 16-20 minutes at 350°F
- This cake is best with buttermilk, but if you don’t have any, you can make a homemade substitute.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice
- Calories: 447
- Sugar: 44g
- Sodium: 282mg
- Fat: 23g
- Carbohydrates: 63g
- Fiber: .6g
- Protein: 4.7g
- Cholesterol: 84mg
Hi! Is this recipe good for 3 layers of 8” cake or 3 layers of 6” cake? I want to try. Thank you!
Yes either or! Three 6-inch cakes would have thicker layers.
Can this recipe be doubled for larger sheet cake
Yes I don’t see why not
Just made this for my niece’s birthday and it came out spectacular! We live at 7000’ so I used some high altitude modifications- decreased the temp, cook time, sugar and leaveners, and increased the flour and liquid. It was probably a little less sweet because of the decreased sugar but I definitely made up for it by decorating with whipped cream! For reference, 3x this recipe made 2-10” rounds, 2-6” rounds, plus a bakers’ dozen cupcakes. I love and highly recommend every one of your recipes that I’ve tried! Will post pics and tag you on IG!
Wow Lo! That’s amazing!! Thank you so much for sharing!
Just want to confirm – it says egg yolks. Is it yolks or whites?
Egg yolks are just yolks. Egg whites are just the whites. This recipe has 2 full eggs plus 2 egg yolks
Hi! Super easy to make, but I didn’t realize it said 2 yolks and I did 2 whites instead. The cake is cooling so I haven’t tried it yet, think it’ll taste that off?! I hope not!!
I am honestly not sure, it will be a different result then how I made it but please do let me know how it tastes!
The best. Look no further. It’s fluffy, great crumb, and the flavor is to die for. I made cupcakes and want to eat them all haha
Woohoo! Thank you so much!!
Hi, I tried your recipe and I used glass pan and the cake was cracked on top. The taste was super good though. I don’t know what did I do wrong. Am I not supposed to bake it in the glass pan?
Hi Pattira, I am not sure why that happened. I have not baked this recipe in a glass pan, but I suppose it could be part of the issue? You should have able to use one though.
Hi, thanks for sharing this recipe. Just had one question. I used another recipe previously where the batter was as thin as this one and after baking all the sprinkles had fallen to the bottom and glooped together. Have you ever found that happen with this recipe? Any suggestions to avoid this? Thanks
I have not experienced that with this recipe
If I use the 9in cake pans aswell how much batter should I put in each pan to get 3 equal layers
Hi Kyra, I don’t have the exact cup measurements off hand. I would start by adding 1 cup of batter to each pan and then see what you have left. Measuring the batter ad you pour is the best option to ensure evenly filled pans
Is this recipe enough batter for 2 nine inch round cake pans? Also the last time I tried another funcetti recipe the sprinkles bled into the batter. Any suggestions? I am making a bunny cake for Easter and thought this would be yummy!
Thanks!
Hi Carol, this batter would actually make closer to 3 layers in a 9-inch pan. It would be too much batter for only 2 layers. Also in regards to the sprinkles, be sure not to use non pareil, those will bleed. This batter is also a very wet batter and the results would be the same if you used non pareil
Hello, is the buttermilk required or can it be substituted with other milk?
You can use milk
Love anything funfetti especially the batters we use our sprinkle mixes in to holiday them up. So fun! Pinning to make ASAP!