Funfetti Layer Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

A plush and luscious funfetti layer cake that is brimming with rainbow sprinkles and filled with a cream cheese frosting – nostalgia at its most delicious!

Just before the holidays my husband, for reasons I can’t possibly fathom, decided to weigh himself for the first time since Nico was born. 

I don’t know exactly what he saw that day, but ever since then he looks at every plate I put in front of him with a whole lot of skepticism and asks “Does this fit with my diet?”.

I don’t even know that that means, so I just smile and nod regardless of what it is. 

Could be salad. A plate of pasta. Some sort of vegetable-laden curry.

A slice of funfetti layer cake piled high with cream cheese frosting.

Okay, to his credit that I couldn’t get past him but we love this cake so much that he ate it anyway. I’ve made it so many times in the past year and each one just reaffirms how in love with it I am. If you’re in the market for a cake that tastes like childhood, birthdays, and pure unadulterated happiness then this is it. 

The recipe for this funfetti layer cake comes from Sarah Kieffer’s Baking For The Holidays cookbook, which I’ve waxed poetic about more than a few times now. Despite what it’s title implies it is more than just a holiday recipe book, featuring treats that can and should be (and most certainly are in my kitchen) enjoyed year-round, this cake being one of them.

I’ve tried a lot of funfetti recipes during my tenure as a home baker, on a constant search to find the elusive One that mimics the boxed cake mix cakes of my childhood but without all of the chemicals and preservatives. As it turns out, all of that artificial flavor is actually pretty difficult to replicate using real ingredients. There were a lot of recipes that were good cakes in their own right, but this is the only one that captured the plush velvety texture of boxed cake mix coupled with the sweet pure white vanilla cake flavor.

How exactly is this cake nirvana achieved, you ask? Well, first of all the cake is made with the reverse creaming method, which is where you start with the mixer bowl filled with all of your dry ingredients and then slowly add in the butter piece by piece. This ensures that every grain of flour gets coated with butter, producing a tight, tender crumb. This is in contrast to the typical creaming method, where butter and sugar are first mixed together, with the liquid and dry ingredients added in alternating additions afterward.

The reverse creaming method, more than any other, is the ultimate for mimicking the texture of boxed cake mixes and, if we’re being honest, it’s also just easier. There’s less mess since you don’t have to dirty an extra bowl to mix the dry ingredients and no flour flying everywhere as you alternate adding the dry and then the wet ingredients to the batter. Additionally, it’s also more foolproof against overmixing, as the butter coating on the flour prevents excessive gluten from forming during the mixing process.

Another factor contributing to the textural perfection of this cake is that it uses only egg whites (and a whole lot of them!) in the batter. Whereas the reverse creaming makes for a denser cake, the reliance on egg whites alone for structure makes it lighter since there are no yolks to weight it down. The two strategies balance each other out making for a cake that is plush and light at the same time.

Rainbow sprinkles are mixed into the batter by hand, ensuring that all of the ingredients are well combined and that you are dazzled by vibrant rainbow colors in every bite. It should be noted that all sprinkles are not created equal when it comes to funfetti cake, as smaller sprinkles (like nonpareils) will bleed a lot and turn the cake a muddy blue/purple hue. Larger sprinkles (jimmies) are the way to go here, as they will resist dissolving into the batter during the mixing process leaving well-defined blocks of color in the finished product. I am partial to the Sweetapolita brand of sprinkles, but most of the available blends at the grocery store or online will work just fine.

The final component of this cake that truly sets it apart from all others is the FROSTING. Cream cheese frosting to be precise, which trumps all other frostings, at least in my book.

Its subtle tartness offsets the sweetness of the cake and makes for more interesting flavors all around. Where I’ve strayed slightly from the recipe in the book is that instead of using light corn syrup in the frosting, I use Lyle’s golden syrup. This is a trick I picked up from Zoe Francois’s Zoe Bakes Cake cookbook, and in all likelihood I will never go back to using regular corn syrup in frostings ever again.

Lyle’s golden syrup is a British product that is an amber-colored inverted sugar syrup. It has a bit of a caramel flavor to it, which I really like as an addition to what would otherwise be a plain vanilla frosting. It is usually found in the international section at the supermarket or can be ordered online if your local stores don’t carry it. Alternatively, light corn syrup can be used in its place.

And now after looking through all of these photos, I think I know what my weekend plans are going to be.

Funfetti layer cake, here I come!

Funfetti Layer Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

 

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A plush and luscious funfetti layer cake that is brimming with rainbow sprinkles and filled with a cream cheese frosting - nostalgia at its most delicious!

Yield: 12 servings

Ingredients

For the cake

• 1 cup (210 g) large egg whites, room temperature
• 1 cup (240 g) whole milk, room temperature
• ½ cup (120 g) creme fraiche, room temperature
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 2¾ cups (391) all purpose flour
• 2 cup (400 g) sugar
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup (227 g) unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into 1-inch pieces
• ¾ cup (115 g) rainbow sprinkles

For the cream cheese frosting

• 1 cup (227 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 8 oz (226 g) cream cheese, room temperature
• 2 tbsp Lyle's golden syrup or light corn syrup
• pinch of salt
• 4 cups (480 g) powdered sugar
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract

Instructions

For the cake

1. Heat oven to 350F. Grease two 8-inch cake pans and line with parchment paper. Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg whites, milk, creme fraiche, and vanilla. Set aside.
3. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a stand mixer bowl. With the paddle attachment, mix the flour on low speed. While the mixer is running, add in the butter one piece at a time, beating until the mixture looks like coarse sand.
4. With the mixer still running on low, slowly add in about half of the wet ingredient mixture. Increase the speed to medium and beat for 30 seconds.
5. Return the mixer back to low speed and add the rest of the wet ingredient mixture. Increase to medium and beat for 20 seconds.
6. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the sprinkles, and fold in with a spatula, making sure to scrape the sides and mix to completely combine.
7. Divide the batter between the prepared baking pans and smooth the tops into an even layer.
8. Bake for 30-38 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through, or until the cakes are golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs.
9. Allow to cool in the pans on a wire rack for 30 minutes. Turn the cakes out onto the rack and allow to cool completely.

For the cream cheese frosting

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter and cream cheese on medium speed for 3 minutes. Add in the golden syrup and salt, then mix on medium until well combined. Decrease the speed to low and slowly add the powdered sugar. Once it's all mixed in, increase the speed to medium and mix for 3-4 minutes, or until smooth and fluffy. Add in the vanilla and mix on low until just combined.

To assemble

1. Place one of the cakes on a cake stand or serving platter. Top with 1 cup of the frosting and spread into an even layer. Place the second cake on top of the frosting and coat the cake top and sides with the remaining frosting.
2. Serve immediately or store in the refrigerator until ready to serve, up to 24 hours. Bring the cake to room temperature before serving.

Notes

Recipe from Baking For The Holidays

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