A beautiful, two layer, from scratch vanilla Funfetti Cake! Topped with our homemade vanilla frosting recipe, this is a fun and festive treat.
If you love cake, be sure to try our reader favorite vanilla layer cake recipe or our vanilla sheet cake! Top them with sour cream frosting for a tangy sweet treat.
Why this Recipe is Best
Funfetti conjures images of kids birthday parties. Balloons everywhere, tables piled with gifts and frosting-covered faces.
Our homemade version the classic Funfetti dessert is based on my go-to White Cake Recipe. It’s fluffy and sweet with a rich vanilla flavor. Best of all, it goes with just about any kind of frosting!
- Soft crumb with moist texture
- Fresh vanilla flavor
- Colorful and bright
Just fold in sprinkles and voila! Vanilla Funfetti Cake! This dessert is bright, cheery and pretty much guaranteed to make you smile.
Be sure to try our funfetti cheesecake or no bake funfetti cheesecake next!
Ingredient Notes
- Vanilla extract. Because vanilla is the central flavor in this cake, a good quality vanilla is important. Use a pure extract (not imitation) such as Rodelle. You can also learn how to make your own vanilla extract for this cake!
- Granulated sugar. For an even deeper vanilla taste, try Vanilla Sugar instead.
- Egg Whites. Keeps the cake tender, without adding color to the layers, letting the sprinkles show! Save the yolks for our lemon curd recipe!
- Cake flour. With less protein than other wheat flours and a finer grain, cake flour gives this cake a delicate, light crumb.
- Sprinkles. Jimmies sprinkles or confetti sprinkles work best in this recipe. Do not use sugar sprinkles (sanding sugar).
Frosting Suggestions
This recipe includes instructions for making a fluffy vanilla buttercream frosting. It looks beautiful with the colorful sprinkles all over it and you can’t beat the classic taste.
Want to mix it up?
- Try this vanilla funfetti cake with chocolate buttercream instead.
- Double Fudge Frosting or Lemon Buttercream are delicious ideas too.
- Vanilla Sour cream frosting is also a delicious option!
Of course, if you’re pressed for time, go ahead and use a canned frosting. Your Funfetti cake will still be a hit. . . and we won’t tell.
Tips and Tricks
- How to add sprinkles. Once frosted, put the cake over a baking sheet. Fill your hand with sprinkles and press your palm gently to the side of the cake. Repeat until the whole diameter of the cake is covered.
- Store leftover cake tightly covered in a cake saver or airtight container. Enjoy within 3 days.
- Don’t discard those egg yolks! They come in handy for making Homemade Lemon Curd. (You know you wany to try it).
- Use my Homemade Cake Release to make it easier to slide baked cakes out of the pan.
Recipe FAQs
While the sprinkles release moisture and bleed color into the white cake as it thaws, the taste will still be amazing. So yes, you can freeze funfetti cake.
You can but the cake will not be as light. If you don’t have cake flour, it’s easy to make a substitute with all purpose flour and cornstarch. Measure out 2 1/2 cups of cake flour. Remove 5 tablespoons of the flour. Replace with 5 tablespoons of cornstarch. Use this mixture in the recipe in place of the cake flour.
More Funfetti Recipes
- Frosted Funfetti Blondies!! Chewy blondies loaded with colorful sprinkles and topped with a creamy vanilla frosting (with more sprinkles of course)! A fun treat that can be made festive with any color sprinkle.
- Soft and chewy Sugar cookies with SPRINKLES! Happy baking with these Funfetti Cookies!
- I’m pretty sure it’s a well known fact that sprinkles make everything taste better. These Funfetti Shortbread Cookie Sandwiches are no exception to that rule! Filled with sprinkles, these are sure to go fast!
- Delicious Vanilla Funfetti Cake Roll with homemade Funfetti Whipped Cream filling. Perfect summer dessert!
More Easy Cake Recipes
See all Cake recipes
Funfetti Cake
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 5 large egg whites room temperature
- ¾ cup milk
- ¾ cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 2 ½ cups cake flour
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup sprinkles
For the frosting:
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- ¼ cup heavy whipping cream
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
- ½ cup sprinkles
Instructions
For the cake:
- Whisk together the egg whites and 1/4 cup of the milk in a small bowl until slightly combined. Set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, beat butter, sugar, and vanilla for 2 minutes on medium speed, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add in dry ingredients and mix until combined. Beat in egg white mixture until fully blended. Add in remaining milk and beat for 3-4 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl. Fold in sprinkles.
- Spray two 9-inch cake pans with baking spray. Pour batter into pans and bake in a 350 degree oven for 26-28 minutes. Remove and cool completely on wire rack.
For the frosting:
- Beat butter for 3 minutes using whisk attachment on an electric mixer. Add in powdered sugar, heavy cream and vanilla. Beat an additional 4-5 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- To assemble, place one layer of cake on a cake stand. Add a large amount of frosting to top and smooth with an offset spatula. Top with second layer of cake. Apply frosting to entire cake.
- To add the sprinkles to sides of cake, place cake on a baking sheet (to help catch excess sprinkles). Fill hand with sprinkles and press gently into sides of cake. Repeat until desired amount of sprinkles are applied.
Notes
Nutrition
Who needs a boxed mix when you can make it better from scratch? This easy, cheerful Vanilla Funfetti Cake is perfect for birthdays, graduations and anytime you’re in the mood to celebrate!
Can I use regular flour in stead of cake flour?
I would like to make this cake to bring to a party tomorrow. Csn it be made in a 9×13 pan? If so, how long does it cook for? Also, do you know how many cups the batter makes? Thank you so much! Funfetti is the BEST! 🙂
I have read the Funfetti cake recipe 3 times & cannot figure out what do you do with the egg whites whisked together with the milk – recipe does not give that info or I am just stupid and cannot figure it out. Help !!!
So fluffy! I want to dive right in! Great cake recipe, Aimee!
Thanks girl 🙂
Funfetti cake is so much to bake. I bet this cake tastes as good as it looks! The sprinkles look great!
Oh man, I think I just drooled all over myself. I am such a sucker for a delicious vanilla cake!
I just love how bright and cheery this funfetti cake is!!! And I do love that Rodelle vanilla…it smells and tastes amazing!!!
sometimes funfetti cake is just THE BEST-and yours looks fantastic, so fluffy and moist and perfect!
Love this cake, Aimee! Rodelle vanilla is amazing stuff!
This cake looks Aimee and just PERFECT for Spring!
I would like to make this cake for Easter but I am with Karen, when do you add the egg whites and milk that you slightly combined and set aside in Step 1? Thank you.
All fixed, so sorry about that 🙂 ENjoy the cake Michelle!!
I would like to make this today, but do not see when to add in the egg whites and milk. Could you get back to me soon. Thanks
All fixed, thanks for catching that. A whole section was left out!! ENjoy the cake Karen 🙂
I so needed this recipe for my sons bday at the beginning of the month! I made a funfetti cake and it turned out way to sweet! What sucked was I didn’t experiment so a bunch of 12 year old boys has way to sweet cake. Oops. 😉 This looks delicious and so so moist. So I totally agree with you about vanilla. There is a difference and you can taste it. I’ve never seen Rodelle extract. Wonder if its in cali? Gotta check it out. Thanks sweetie! Pinned of course too. 😉
Oh bummer Cyndi. Although sometimes kids don’t care about overly sweet 🙂 I find Rodelle at all my local grocery stores. You can also order it amazon. So worth it 🙂
We love cake too! It’s my favorite dessert. My husband especially loves funfetti cake so I’m sure this one would be a real winner. And I had to laugh when you mentioned the sprinkle mess, I am still finding sprinkles on the floor from the sprinkle cake I made last October 🙂
Not sure what I did wrong but these fell totally flat and did not even resemble a cake after baking. There is no baking soda in the list of ingredients, is this accurate? Has anyone actually made this and been successful? I just see reviews about people wanting to bake it….
The cake has baking powder as a leavener. I would check to make sure yours is not expired 🙂
Quick question. When do you add the milk and eggs into the other ingredients?
I love funfetti – everything is so much better with sprinkles 🙂
Such a fun cake! Love the sprinkles! And the recipe looks delicious! A must try!
~Liz@HoosierHomemade
Thank you Liz 🙂
I love the simplicity of this cake. Vanilla and fun colored sprinkles. Definitely Pinning this for later.
Gotta say I totally am with you with how sprinkles have a mind of their own. I made my granddaughter a sprinkle cake for her birthday last year using nonpareils. Those suckers bounce. I lost count how many times I swept strays into the sink that escaped the cookie sheet with sides. How they got from my kitchen to my dining room I’ll never know. Luckily my hubby followed up after me with a vacuum…lol.
Oh those nonpareils are the worst!!! They do bounce. After Christmas cookie decorating, I find them for weeks in the crevices of my floor boards!
This cake looks so good! I am always too scared to try homemade cake recipes…I always make a box because every time I make homemade cake it turns out dry. But this cake looks so good! And so easy! Need to try!
Nope. Not dry. You just need the right recipe 🙂 Thanks for stopping by Katelyn!