Oh the sprinkles were plentiful this past weekend as we celebrated our daughter-in-law, Colleen’s birthday. Here is the wonky cake I made that I mentioned yesterday when I posted my sprinkle birthday cake watercolor card I made.
It might have been a bit wonky, but it was soooo yummy! This white, vanilla cake filled with colorful, celebratory sprinkles is really worth the extra effort to make from scratch!
And serve it with some fresh churned birthday cake ice cream (like we can get around here from Bruster’s Ice Cream), and you will really be sparkling!
Sprinkle Birthday Cake*
Cake Ingredients:
- 3 and 3/4 cups (431g) all-purpose flour
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks; 345g) butter, softened
- 1 3/4 cups (350g) granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 2 large egg whites
- 3 tsp. (15ml) vanilla
- 1 1/2 cups (360ml) buttermilk (or buttermilk substitute: 1 1/2 cups milk mixed with 1 1/2 Tbsp vinegar)
- 3/4 cup (142g) rainbow sprinkles
Vanilla Frosting Ingredients:
- 1 1/4 cups (2.5 sticks; 287g) butter, softened
- 5 cups (580g) confectioners’ sugar
- 1/3 cup (80ml) heavy cream or half and half or milk (all work)
- 3 tsp (15ml) vanilla
- 1/8 tsp salt
- Additional sprinkles or other decorations
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Grease and lightly flour three 9-inch cake pans.
- Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl. Set aside. Mix butter on high speed of mixer until smooth and creamy – about 1 minute. Add sugar and beat on high for 5 more minutes. On medium-high speed, add 1 whole egg at a time, beating well after each addition until all 4 whole eggs are mixed in. Beat in vanilla.
- With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients in three additions alternating with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients, and mixing each addition just until incorporated. Do not overmix. The batter will be smooth, velvety, and slightly thick.
- In a separate mixing bowl, beat the 2 additional egg whites until thick, foamy, and soft peaks form- about 3 minutes. Gently fold into the batter. Finally, gently fold sprinkles in.
- Pour batter evenly into each cake pan. Bake for approximately 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow cakes to cool completely in the pans set on a wire rack.
- To make frosting, beat the butter on medium speed in mixer until creamy – about 2 minutes. Add confectioners’ sugar, cream, vanilla, and salt with the mixer on low. Increase to high and beat for 3 minutes. Add more confectioners’ sugar if frosting is too thin, more cream if frosting is too thick, or a pinch more of salt if frosting is too sweet.
- To assemble: Place one cake layer on serving plate. Evenly cover the top with frosting. Top with second and third layers and repeat. Spread remaining frosting on sides. You can tint small portions of the frosting to make decorations or use decorator frosting and decorate with additional sprinkles.
Jodi’s Cake Tip: If at all possible, I always try to bake my cake at least one day ahead of time or even the night before serving so that it can be frozen. I bake the layers, cool, and then place each un-frosted layer in a large Ziploc bag and freeze. For one thing, this makes the cake much easier to frost. But secondly, and most importantly, freezing the cake, even if only for a few hours overnight, makes for a much moister cake. I learned this by accident when I used to always make cakes fresh the day of serving thinking that was best, and then had to do ahead one time years ago because of time constraints. It was the first time everyone ooooohhhed and awwwwhhed over the cake. I’ve frozen ahead ever since.
And here is the birthday girl blowing out the candles. A bit blurry, but a quick snap with my iPhone after we sang. I love doing special things for this special girl!
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
*FULL Credit for this recipe goes to Sally’s Baking Addiction Funfetti Cake.
the creative life in between 