Homemade Funfetti Cake with Funfetti Frosting — 🎂🎉🍰 This cake is as close to store-bought funfetti cake mix that I’ve been able to replicate at home. I have no shame in admitting my love for that stuff, but it’s nice to be able to pronounce all the ingredients and prep a cake from scratch in literally 5 minutes!
Table of Contents
I’ve always loved Funfetti. Who can resist all those sprinkles buried in soft, fluffy cake? None of us in my house can.
This homemade funfetti cake has sprinkles in the batter and also has a wall of sprinkles in the funfetti frosting. Sprinkle overload, such a beautiful thing.
The cake and funfetti frosting are both fast and easy to make, and the cake always turn out supremely moist, springy, and fluffy thanks to buttermilk, sour cream, and oil. That trifecta of moisturizing and tenderizing ingredients makes it impossible to have a dry cake!
Funfetti Cake Ingredients
This is such an easy funfetti cake recipe! You’ll need the following basic ingredients:
Cake:
- All-purpose flour
- Granulated sugar
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Egg
- Buttermilk
- Sour cream
- Canola oil
- Vanilla extract
- Sprinkles
Funfetti frosting:
- Unsalted butter
- Vanilla extract
- Salt
- Confectioners’ sugar
- More sprinkles!
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Funfetti Cake from Scratch
Here’s how this easy homemade funfetti cake recipe comes together:
- Whisk together the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet in another.
- Gently stir in the sprinkles.
- Turn the batter into a greased 8×8-inch baking dish and bake until the center is set and not jiggly, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs, but no batter.
- Once the funfetti cake comes out of the oven, let it cool completely before frosting. The homemade funfetti frosting is as simple to make as whipping the ingredients together until light and fluffy!
Baking FAQs
Nope! White cake is incredibly light, fluffy, and has such a lovely in flavor thanks to the multitude of egg whites in the batter. Funfetti cake is made with a whole egg, buttermilk, sour cream, and plenty of vanilla to create a richer, moister cake that is — yes — loaded with sprinkles!
Funfetti cake tastes like a richer version of a vanilla cake. It also has a subtle tang to it from the buttermilk and sour cream in the batter.
Get your hands on real buttermilk, if possible. Otherwise, you can make a buttermilk substitute in a couple of minutes. You can also use powdered buttermilk, which has a long shelf life and comes in handy for recipes like this funfetti cake.
I used generic, store-brand sprinkles to make this funfetti cake recipe and they didn’t bleed into the batter at all. Long, skinny sprinkles work best for this recipe.
If you’re concerned with the sprinkles bleeding into the batter, I recommend being very gentle when stirring them in. If you overmix the batter after adding the sprinkles, it may change color.
I have only make this with all purpose so really can’t say if cake flour will yield the same results with the same measurement of flour or not.
I’m sure you can. You’d need to double the ingredients listed and bake the funfetti cake in a 9×13-inch pan. Note that your baking time will differ since you’re making a much larger cake.
You probably can, although I haven’t done so myself so I can’t say for sure. If baking this recipe as cupcakes, you’d likely need to bake them for around 18 to 20 minutes. Use your best judgement!
Yes, you likely can double this recipe and bake it in two 8- or 9-inch round cake tins. To be safe, Google the volume of an 8×8-inch baking dish versus an 8- or 9-inch round baking tin to see how much of a difference there is between the two. This way, you’ll know if you need to double the recipe or 2.5x it, and so forth.
If you’re looking for a funfetti bundt cake recipe, I recommend making this recipe instead. I’ve tested it multiple times and know that it works in a bundt pan.
Storage and Freezing Instructions
Cake will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 5 days (I’m comfortable storing frosted cakes at room temp, if you’re not store in the fridge) or in the freezer for up to 6 months. Wrap the cake tightly with plastic wrap before freezing for best results.
Recipe Video
Pin This Recipe
Enjoy AverieCooks.com Without Ads! 🆕
Go Ad Free
Homemade Funfetti Cake with Vanilla Buttercream
Ingredients
Funfetti Cake
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- pinch salt, optional and to taste
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup buttermilk
- ⅓ cup sour cream, lite is okay (plain Greek yogurt may be substituted)
- ¼ cup canola or vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ cup sprinkles, or to taste
Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- pinch salt, optional and to taste (helps offset the sweetness)
- 1 ½ to 2 cups confectioners’ sugar, I use 2 cups
- ⅓ cup sprinkles, or to taste
Instructions
Make the Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8-by-8-inch baking pan with aluminum foil, spray with cooking spray; set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, optional salt; set aside.
- In a separate small bowl, whisk together the egg, buttermilk, sour cream, oil, and vanilla.
- Add the wet mixture to the dry, mixing lightly with a spoon or folding with a spatula until just combined. Small lumps will be present, don’t overmix or try to stir them smooth.
- Gently stir in the sprinkles, taking care not to overmix or they could bleed.
- Turn batter out into prepared pan and bake for about 30 minutes (start checking at 25 minutes), or until center is set and not jiggly, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs, but no batter.
- Place pan on a wire rack and allow cake to cool. While cake cools, make the frosting.
Make the Vanilla Buttercream Frosting:
- To a large bowl, add the butter, vanilla, optional salt, and slowly add the confectioners’ sugar while beating with a handheld electric mixer until smooth and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Turn frosting out onto cooled cake, smoothing it lightly with a spatula or offset knife.
- Evenly sprinkle the sprinkles before slicing and serving.
Video
Notes
- Cake will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 5 days (I’m comfortable storing frosted cakes at room temp, if you’re not store in the fridge) or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
- Cake base adapted from Vanilla Cake with Vanilla Bean Browned Butter Glaze.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
©averiecooks.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited.
More Desserts Using Sprinkles:
Easy Homemade Funfetti Bundt Cake — No cake mix in this 100% homemade funfetti cake that’s loaded with sprinkles and tastes amazing! Fast, easy, and the best scratch funfetti cake recipe!
Funfetti Cookies — These funfetti cookies are essentially sugar cookies from scratch that have been loaded with sprinkles. They have that nostalgic boxed cake flavor but are 100% homemade!
Oreo Chocolate Chip Funfetti Cookies — The cookies are loaded with Oreos, sprinkles, chocolate chips, and are adapted from my favorite recipe for chocolate chip cookies. They’re soft, moist, buttery, and thick enough to sink your teeth into!
Funfetti Cake Mix Cookies — Jumbo, super soft, slightly chewy cake mix cookies that are loaded with rainbow and confetti sprinkles, and topped with vanilla cream cheese frosting!
Birthday Cake Cinnamon Rolls — The softest, fluffiest, most tender cinnamon rolls stuffed with cinnamon-and-sugar and rainbow sprinkles! Topped with tangy cream cheese frosting and more sprinkles!
Copycat Lofthouse Sugar Cookies — Just like real Lofthouse cookies, but with sprinkles baked in! These cookies are soft, buttery, and they just melt in your mouth!
Thank you for this recipe! I love how easy it is to make (my 2 year old did all the dumping and mixing in the bowls!) And the whole family enjoyed it. Glad I can finally ditch that box mix for birthdays!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! Glad you can ditch the mix!
THis looks amazing! I want to make this for my daughters birthday party. Do you think it would hold up as a 2 tiered cake?
Yes I do think it would if you doubled the recipe and baked in two pans. But I haven’t tried it personally and being that it’s a birthday cake, you may want to give it a trial run before the big day. Let me know how it goes!
Hi Averie,
congratulations for your amazing funfetti cake. I love it and i baked it for my little son. BUT the sprinkles I used (which I bought in Germany cause I’m living here…) bleeded the whole batter so that the batter was just completely greenish-blueish and no color spots were visible any more.
It disappointed me so much. But I guess it has to do with the spinkles I used. Can you one more time explain which sprinkles you would propose to be the best? Is there a special brand you used? (I must admit that the sprinkles I used just have a terrible sweet artifical taste which made my cake even sweeter and not enjoyable). I would love to be more successfull with the cake and hope for you help:-) Many thanks!!!
I usually use Wilton brand sprinkles or just some that I find in the grocery store but I’m sure what you find in your grocery stores will be different. Thanks for trying the recipe and yes, the sprinkles do matter and I’d use a brand you’ve been happy with before in cookies, cakes, etc. and go with what you know works well.
I tried this for an office birthday and I doubled it since I didn’t have any rounds and put it in a 9×13 pan and worked out beautiful. It turned out yummy and was a hit at the office.
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! Glad it doubled great in a 9×13!
How long did you bake the 13×9 for? I probably should have asked before making the batter and doubling it. :)
Typically when increasing the batch size you don’t need to increase the baking time by all that much, if any.
This recipe is sooooo good! My husband loves the funfetti box mix but I hate using those store bought mixes and I came across this. I baked mine into mini cupcakes at the same temp for about 12-15 minutes. This is the second time this week I have made them. The buttercream is simple yet, DELICIOUS! Today I doubled the icing… to have a little left over for myself.
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you as mini cupcakes! Love that you doubled the icing…to have some leftover for yourself :)
Our daughter is planning a sleepover this weekend, we are so going to make this with the girls over here at our house! I will have to make minor variations to go dairy-free to accommodate allergies so fingers crossed it’s still fabulous!!
Good luck and LMK how it goes!
Thank you! I showed Lauren the page and she is sooo excited!
Can I ask how you made this dairy-free? I know adding some vinegar to soy milk can approximate buttermilk, but what about the sour cream? How did it come out?
Really want to make this cake for my boyfriends birthday but I don’t own an 8×8 pan. Is there any other baking pan you would recommend? Thank you!
You could possibly double the recipe and bake in a 9×13 but I haven’t tried it that way. Not sure by how much, if any, you’d need to extend the baking time.
Since I didn’t have an 8×8 baking pan I used an 8 in round pan and baked it for the same amount of time that the recipe called for and it came out perfectly!
Thanks for trying the recipe and glad it came out great for you even with an 8-inch round!
Hi Averie, just made the frosting and it turned out to be more tan / yellowish and far away from the white on your pictures… maybe the butter is different in Germany? :)
I have a feeling it is. When I buy European butter here in the US (expensive so I don’t do it often) but it’s noticeably more yellow. You could always put food coloring in the frosting to turn it pink or something or yellow for purposefully yellow, and that would solve the color issue.
Just made this–amazing! My husband and I love the funfetti cake made from a box but somehow this is even better! Thanks for the recipe!
Thanks for trying the recipe and glad it came out great for you! And yes, I agree, better than a box! :)
Can this recipe be used for cupcakes as well??
Probably would be fine, although I haven’t personally tried.
This looks incredible! I was wondering if I substituted the unsalted butter with salted butter in the icing if it would make a big difference?
Probably would just taste a bit more salty but would probably be fine.
I tried this recipe today and made it as cupcakes. They turned out great and are so delicious! I will never use the cake mix again. (The recipe made 12 cupcakes and I baked them at the same temperature for 20 minutes)
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! And glad you’ll never need cake mix again after this recipe! Great info that you got 12 cupcakes and baked for 20 mins!
This cake looks amazing!!! I’m baking for the office – wondering what your thoughts are re: making this recipe into cupcakes?
Haven’t tried making it as cupcakes but if you read over the comments, I’m pretty sure there have been a few who have tried. Since I haven’t tried, I can’t say for sure. Probably okay, but can’t vouch personally.
Wondering if this recipe could be doubled and baked in two 9 inch round pans to make a layer cake?
Probably although I haven’t tried it that way so can’t say for sure.
did you end up making this recipe in a 9×13 pan? im also wondering if doubling the recipe would work.
I doubled it and it turned out fine..
Great!
I’m new to your blog, but I must say… I can’t wait to bake/cook my way through all of your amazing recipes!
I was wondering if regular vanilla yogurt would be an acceptable substitution for the sour cream?
Thank you so much, and keep the recipes coming! :)
It’s much thinner than sour cream and I wouldn’t. Greek yogurt, fine. Plain yogurt, no. Enjoy!
Can I just say thank you! Your recipes are making my friends think I am some 5-star baker! Browsing for quick, simple recipes for a variety of events, yours always looked the most amazing and were equally as easy-sounding and let me just say they have far exceeded my expectations. I am so excited to continue to try out more of your recipes!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you and that the recipe helped make you look like a superstar & exceeded expectations! LMK what else you make and try!