Hey there party animal, this 6 inch Funfetti Layer Cake is the perfect celebration cake. This fun two layer vanilla sponge is filled with rainbow sprinkles and then sandwiched and coated in creamy vanilla buttercream. It’s the happiest cake you’ll ever eat!
WHY YOU’LL LOVE THIS RECIPE
Sprinkles of joy | There’s very little to be sad about where sprinkles are involved. They turn any bake into a happy one, making it a joy to create, look at and of course eat.
The best Vanilla sponge cake | The base of this delicious cake is vanilla and alone this cake is the perfect little vanilla sponge cake. It’s baked using oil instead of butter and has the addition of buttermilk which makes it incredibly moist and tender.
Adaptable small batch recipe | Being a 6 inch cake means this is a great small batch recipe for smaller gatherings and a great cake to bake when you just want cake in the house. It will serve about 8-10 slices, or about 20 if cut into squares so you may find this is a perfect cake if you have a small group and don’t wan’t any waste. The recipe itself is also really adaptable so you can add lemon to make it a lemon cake, fill it with a caramel buttercream and top with a caramel drip to make a caramel cake. The options are endless, just remove the sprinkles and replace with whatever flavour you want.
WHAT IS FUNFETTI CAKE?
Funfetti is the well known term for sprinkles, specifically the long colourful rainbow sprinkles that resemble confetti.
The name was actually invented in 1989 by a company who introduced a new type of cake called called Funfetti as they were combining fun and confetti into one word. This cake was a vanilla cake mixed with multicoloured sprinkles set on inspiring the hearts of young children.
It certainly worked as three decades later everyone from children to adults are Funfetti obsessed. Just looking at a bake with sprinkles puts a smile on our faces and true to it’s name it turns any ordinary bake into one thats full of fun and joy!
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HOW TO MAKE THIS 6 INCH FUNFETTI CAKE
I love this cake so much it’s become my go to for any cake I make, in any size. It’s primarily an oil based cake but there is some butter as this helps add to the flavour. The oil makes sure it has a great texture and stays nice and moist.
To give you a quick idea of how this cake is made, you can follow the steps below. For the full instructions and ingredients list find the full recipe below.
Beat together the butter, oil and sugar in a mixing bowl until its pale and well combined.
Add the eggs, followed by the buttermilk and vanilla and beat it all together.
In a separate bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate soda and salt.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and fold it through gently until JUST combined.
Pour in the milk and the sprinkles then fold it all together until the batter is smooth
Divide the mixture between two 3 inch cake tins and bake for 45-50 minutes at 170C
Make the buttercream by combining the softened butter and icing sugar. Beat it together for 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy then beat as much air out with a spatula.
To decorate the cake, level the tops of the sponge off so that they are even sizes
Add a generous spoonful of buttercream to the cake and spread it across evenly. Add some sprinkles then top with the other layer of sponge.
Add almost all the remaining buttercream, and spread it across the cake smoothing it out as best you can.
Fill a piping bag with the final bit of buttercream and then pipe 8-10 swirls on top. Ideally you want a swirl per slice.
Decorate with a final dusting of sprinkles and serve.
WHICH SPRINKLES ARE THE BEST FOR THIS FUNFETTI CAKE ?
The type of sprinkles you use in a Funfetti Cake are super important. I’ve tried and tested many cakes in the past with a number of different kinds and the only ones that will produce you solid results are what is commonly known in America as ‘Jimmies’.
Jimmies are the long, thick rainbow strands which we also get here in the UK but in my experience I’m yet to find a British brand that makes them as thick and vibrant. The rainbow sprinkles from the UK will work but you might not notice the cake is as bright compared to if you used jimmies. You can get jimmies in the UK but they are slightly more costly as they are imported from America so you will be paying the cost of that within the price.
I find mine on ebay or HERE and get a bulk order so I don’t have to keep paying when I run out. It’s not cheap for sprinkles but it keeps me going so if you were to bulk order and you didn’t bake all the time, they’d last you a long time.
WHY ARE JIMMIES BETTER THAN OTHER RAINBOW STRANDS?
As mentioned earlier for me it comes down to what they add to the end result of the bake. I personally have found that the UK brands of sprinkles have not held well in the cake batter and therefore muddied the cake a little compared to this cake where you can see the ‘jimmies’ have held their shape much better. I have also found that some cheaper style sprinkles have released their sugar into my cake batter rather than holding together and my bake has been effected with sinking as a result.
There’s also a big difference in the colour and these are so much brighter so the cake is therefore much brighter as a result.
CAN I USE OTHER SPRINKLES LIKE HUNDREDS AND THOUSANDS?
To get the best results for the cake batter I wouldn’t use anything like a small nonpareil sprinkle. Nonpareils are the small little ball sprinkles which can come in rainbow or singular colours. In the cake batter these would melt and I don’t think you’d get the best looking cake at the end of it. However, when it comes to decoration you can use whatever you like as this is purely down to personal preference as opposed to the effect on a bake.
TOOLS YOU WILL NEED TO MAKE THIS 6 INCH FUNFETTI CAKE
6 inch 3 inch deep cake tin
Non-stick baking paper
Handmixer or standing mixer
Cake Leveller (optional)
Off-set Palette knife
Piping Bag
Open Star Piping Nozzle
Cake smoother (optional)
Cake stand (optional)
Shop these tools
OTHER FUNFETTI BAKES YOU SHOULD TRY
I would love it if you tagged me @mykitchendrawer on Instagram if you make these 6 inch Funfetti Cake. It’s the biggest honour to see my recipes come to life in your kitchen and if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to drop me a message. Happy baking!
6 Inch Funfetti Cake
Equipment
- Measuring Jug
- 6 inch 3 inch deep cake tins
- Handheld whisk or standing mixer
- Off-set Spatula
- Piping bags
- Piping Nozzles
Ingredients
- 50 g unsalted butter softened
- 130 ml vegetable oil
- 300 g caster sugar
- 3 eggs large
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 150 ml buttermilk
- 300 g plain flour
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 180 ml milk
- 150 g sprinkles jimmie style
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180°C and line two 6 inch 3 inch deep cake tins with baking paper
- Beat together the butter, oil and sugar in a standing mixer or mixing bowl using a handmixer until its pale and well combined.
- Add the eggs one by one, followed by the buttermilk and vanilla and beat it all together until smooth.
- In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate soda and salt until fully incorporated.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and fold it through gently until JUST combined.
- Pour in the milk and the sprinkles and fold it all together until the batter is smooth and the sprinkles evenly distrubuted.
- Divide the mixture between two 3 inch cake tins and bake for 45-50 minutes at 180°C. Allow to cool in the tins, then remove to a wire rack to cool completley.
For the decoration
- Make the buttercream by adding the softened butter to a mixing bowl and beating it together to soften. Gradually add the icing sugar then beat it all together for 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy. To remove any air bubbles. use a spatula to push the air bubbles out and make it as smooth as possible.
- To decorate the cake, level the tops of the sponge off with a cake leveler so that they are even sizes. Any scraps can be eaten as little samples.
- Add a generous spoonful of buttercream to the cake and spread it across evenly, then add some sprinkles across the top and place the other layer of sponge on top.
- Add almost all the remaining buttercream to the tops and sides of the cake and spread it across, smoothing it out as best you can.
- Fill a piping bag with the final bit of buttercream and then pipe 8-10 swirls on top, ideally you want a swirl per slice.
- Decorate with a final dusting of sprinkles across the top and against the sides and serve.
I am afraid this didn’t work. There were ingredients that were to be added (bicarbonate of soda) that were not listed on the ingredients list. It also said to add to the 3″ pans(?) – I worry that other instructions may have also got muddled. The cake also came out totally raw in the middle despite being in the oven for the allotted time.