Christmas Funfetti Cake
Layers of soft and moist vanilla cake with Christmas colored sprinkles suspended throughout, filled and frosted with vanilla buttercream in a festive design.
Servings 15 slices
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
*DIY Cake Flour Recipe: To make your own cake flour, spoon and level one cup of all-purpose flour and remove 2 Tbsp. Add 2 Tbsp of cornstarch. Repeat per the amount of cake flour you need, then sift the flour and cornstarch mixture 4 times (don’t skip that step!). After sifting, spoon and level to re-measure the amount of cake flour you need.
**Christmas Sprinkles: the best kind of sprinkles to use in this cake are the rod-shaped kind that don’t bleed color. Look for “carnauba wax” and “confectioner’s glaze” in the ingredients list. These are coating agents that will keep the sprinkles from bleeding color into your batter and frosting. My favorite Christmas sprinkles to use are these ones.
Make Ahead Tips:
- 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.