I’m a big believer that any time of year is an appropriate time for funfetti cake. This is the first year that it occurred to me to replace the traditional rainbow sprinkles in my favorite funfetti cake recipe with a more festive color scheme and I’m so in love! A Christmas funfetti cake would be a hit for guests of all ages at any holiday party. It’s basically a Christmas party in cake form!
Moist & Fluffy Funfetti Cake
The base for this cake is my favorite Funfetti cake recipe that I wrote for my book, Anyone Can Cake. There are a few key ingredients that make it special:
- Cake Flour. If you’ve been making my recipes for a while you know how much I love to use cake flour in my vanilla-based cakes. It’s extra-fine flour that makes the crumb of this cake nice and soft. You should be able to find cake flour in the baking aisle at your local grocery store, but if you’re having a hard time finding it you can make this homemade cake flour as a substitute.
- Whole Eggs + Egg Whites. The whole eggs give this cake enough structure to suspend the sprinkles in the batter, while the egg whites keep it light.
- Almond Extract + Vanilla Extract. I use a hint of almond extract balanced with vanilla extract to flavor this funfetti cake. If you don’t love almond extract you can substitute that for all vanilla.
- Sour Cream. The sour cream in this recipe is the moist-maker. It adds richness to this cake that keeps it moist for days. If you can’t find sour cream locally you can substitute it for plain yogurt or creme fraiche.
- Sprinkles. It’s not a funfetti cake without them! I like to coat mine in a little flour to keep them suspended and prevent them from leaking their color too much.
What Kind of Christmas Sprinkles to Use in a Funfetti Cake
It’s important to use the right kind of Christmas sprinkles in a funfetti cake, because some will leak color more than others and won’t give you the confetti effect. I used these Christmas sprinkles, but any elongated sprinkles (aka jimmies) will do as long as they have the following two ingredients on the label: confectioner’s glaze and carnauba wax. These two ingredients ensure that the sprinkles are coated in such a way that they won’t leak color into the batter easily.
How to Decorate a Christmas Funfetti Cake
A funfetti cake is really all about the sprinkles, so I had to use more of the Christmas sprinkles to decorate the cake. I made a double batch of my favorite vanilla buttercream recipe and used it to fill and frost the cake with a smooth buttercream finish. Then, I added the red, white, and green sprinkles to the cake one at a time to give them a floating effect.
I really wanted to make the swirls on top of the cake look like Christmas trees, so I tinted the remaining buttercream (leftover after frosting the cake) with Forest Green food color gel. Then, I added the green buttercream into a piping bag fitted with Wilton Tip 1M and piped the Christmas tree swirls around the top edge. I sprinkled them with more of the Christmas sprinkles to make them look more festive and I just love how cute it turned out! The perfect centerpiece for a fun holiday party.
Baking this Christmas Funfetti Cake as Cupcakes
If you’re excited about this recipe but really need cupcakes instead of a layer cake, this recipe will still work great. Simply make the recipe as-is and fill your cupcake tins no more than ⅔ full, then bake at 350ºF (177ºC) for 15-18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out with just a few moist crumbs. Once they’re cool, top them with the vanilla buttercream. This recipe will make about 24-28 cupcakes.
Christmas Funfetti Cake
Ingredients
Christmas Funfetti Cake
- 2 3/4 Cups (290g) sifted cake flour* DIY recipe in notes
- 2 tsp (10g) baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 3/4 Cup (170g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 1/2 Cups (300g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs + 2 large egg whites, room temperature
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 tsp almond extract
- 1/2 Cup (120g) sour cream, room temperature
- 1 Cup (240ml) whole milk, room temperature
- 1/3 Cup (60g) Christmas colored sprinkles** coated in 2 tsp flour
Vanilla Buttercream
- 2 Cups (452g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 7 Cups (840g) powdered sugar
- 4 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 4 Tbsp whole milk, room temperature
- pinch of salt, or to taste
Additional Ingredients for Decorating
Instructions
Make the Funfetti Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350°F/177ºC. Prepare three 6-inch or two 8-inch cake pans by spraying the sides with a baking spray (Baker's Joy is my favorite) and fitting a wax or parchment paper circle to the bottom of the pan. Alternatively, you can grease and lightly flour the pans.
- Add the sifted cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer (a handheld mixer works fine too!), cream the butter on high for 2 minutes. Add in the sugar and continue to beat on medium-high until light and fluffy (another 2 minutes), scraping down the bowl and paddle as needed. With the mixer on low speed, add the eggs and egg whites one at a time. Add the vanilla extract, almond extract, and sour cream. Mix for one minute on high speed, scraping down the bowl and paddle once more.
- Turn the mixer off and add in the dry ingredients all at once. Mix on low speed until just combined, then slowly pour in the milk while continuing to mix on low until incorporated, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and give it a few stirs to make sure there are no lumps. The batter will be slightly thick.
- Gently fold the flour-coated sprinkles into the cake batter by hand, then divide evenly between the prepared cake pans and bake for 32-36 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let the cakes cool in the pan for five minutes before turning them out onto a wire rack for an additional few hours of cooling. Make sure they’re entirely room temperature before applying any frosting.
Make the Vanilla Buttercream
- With a hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter on high until creamy and light (almost white) in color, about 7 minutes.
- Turn the mixer to low speed and add the powdered sugar a few cups at a time, scraping down the bowl and paddle after each addition and making sure each is fully incorporated before adding the next one.
- Add the vanilla, milk, and salt and mix on low for another minute until fully incorporated and smooth.
Assembly
- Once the Christmas funfetti cakes are completely cooled, level them to your desired height. Add a swipe of buttercream onto a cardboard cake circle and place the first cake layer on top. Fill and stack the cake with vanilla buttercream. Crumb coat the cake with vanilla buttercream, then place it in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to let the buttercream set firm.
- To create the design pictured, frost a smooth buttercream finish onto the cake with vanilla buttercream, then add Christmas sprinkles to the sides of the cake one at a time using the pad of your finger (see Step 3 of this blog post for more explanation on how to do this). Then, place the cake back into the refrigerator to chill the buttercream while you prepare the green frosting for the swirls on top.
- Make the Green Frosting: To the remaining buttercream, add about 5 drops of AmeriColor Forest Green food color gel. Add more if you'd like but keep in mind that the color will deepen over the next several minutes as the color develops.
- Place the green frosting into a piping bag fitted with Wilton Tip 1M, then pipe swirls all around the top of the cake. Add more Christmas sprinkles on top of each swirl.
Notes
- The Christmas funfetti cakes can be baked, cooled, wrapped in plastic wrap, and left out at room temperature up to two days ahead of decorating. Unfrosted cake layers can be wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and stored in the freezer for up to two months before thawing and frosting.
- The vanilla buttercream can be made ahead and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. When you’re ready to use it, bring it back to room temperature and re-whip in your stand mixer to bring back to smooth buttercream consistency.
Did you make this recipe? Let me know what you think in the comments below, or by tagging @sugarandsparrowco on Instagram! I love to see your creations and hear your feedback.
This recipe looks wonderful but I would like to make a larger cake, of 3 8” layers. Would it work to just make 1 1/2 times the cake batter recipe? Or would that mess up the chemistry? Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you!
Hi Karen! Yes, making 1.5x the recipe will be the perfect amount of batter for three 8-inch pans. Enjoy!
Hi Whitney! Do you think nonpareils sprinkles would work in this recipe? I just bought a huge container of Xmas-colored nonpareils sprinkles and would love to use those, but want to make sure they’ll give that same pretty vibrant effect you get with the elongated sprinkles.
Hi Christina! I wish nonpareils would work, but they notoriously bleed color when used in funfetti cakes. I recommend the jimmy sprinkles I linked in the blog post for this recipe, but here’s my favorite way to use nonpareils in case you need ideas: https://thesaltymarshmallow.com/soft-batch-christmas-sprinkle-cookies/
Can I use your fluffy white cake recipe for this confetti cake? What’s the difference between this cake recipe and fluffy white cake recipe?
Im looking to bake a very fluffy white confetti cake that’s very vanilla.
Hi Wendy! I have tried the bakery-style white cake with sprinkles before and they all sank. The batter is too thin for that cake recipe to suspend the sprinkles in the baking process. This recipe has batter that is thick enough to suspend the sprinkles, yet still produces a moist and tender cake. Hope that helps!