Funfetti Cake with Buttercream Frosting

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There was no reason for this cake to be made. I didn’t know what I was going to do with it; we all know I can’t keep an entire cake in my house; it would be eaten within, give or take, 72 hours. It wasn’t even anyone’s birthday. I just kind of wanted to use my new food coloring and I was in the mood for sprinkles. And, in my humble opinion, that’s pretty good rationale to bake an entire cake.

To be honest, this cake almost didn’t even make it to its final form. I made a batch of buttercream that was not nearly adequate to coat each layer and frost the outside of the cake. I tried to use my new cake tools to make some frosting ridges on the outside to disguise the fact that the quantity of frosting was incredibly lacking. But, the crumbs were still showing through and the ridges looked dumb and I didn’t even have enough frosting left to pipe designs around the rim of the cake (and what’s a cake without piped designs around the rim?) My husband came into the kitchen and tried to compliment my cake and how it was, “Really looking good!” (bless his heart), but my perfectionist tendencies were already overtaking the level-headed part of my brain and so I thanked him for the compliment and then told him that I was about to throw the whole cake out because it looked so stupid. Then I abandoned my powdered sugar-covered kitchen in complete disarray because it was brunch time and pancakes were calling me.

If anyone ever tries to tell you that brunch doesn’t save lives, they’re completely wrong. Last Sunday, brunch saved a life: the life of a cake. I returned home later that afternoon with a realization. A realization that shouldn’t have been all that hard to come to, but sometimes when you’re brain is telling you, “You suck, this cake sucks, you can’t do anything right and you don’t deserve to have an entire shelf of sprinkles because they’re going to be wasted on ugly cakes that don’t have enough frosting,” it’s hard to think with clarity. But my brunch time Bloody Mary apparently cleared my head, because when I sauntered back into my kitchen post-brunch, I was all like, “I’m just gonna make another batch of frosting.”

Um, duh.

So, make this cake for a birthday, or make it for no reason at all. Whatever you make it for, I can assure you that this Funfetti cake has enough buttercream frosting to decorate it any which way you damn please.

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Funfetti Cake with Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients

For the Cake:

• 3 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup 2 sticks unsalted butter, melted
• 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup ( packed light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup yogurt plain or vanilla; or greek yogurt; or sour cream
• 1 1/2 cup milk any kind is ok
• 2 Tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/3 cup sprinkles

For the Frosting:

• 2 cups (4 sticks) butter, softened
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 6-8 cups of confectioners sugar
• 4-6 Tablespoon milk or cream
• Food coloring optional

Instructions

For the Cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Spray two 8 or 9-inch round springform or baking pans generously with nonstick spray. Set aside.

   In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In a large microwave-safe bowl, melt butter in the microwave. Whisk in the sugars vigorously getting out any lumps. Whisk in the egg, yogurt, milk, and vanilla extract until combined. Slowly mix in dry ingredients until no lumps remain. The batter will be thick. Slowly stir in the sprinkles, but do not overmix because the sprinkles will bleed their color.
   

   Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan. This cake takes around 33-37 minutes to bake. Start checking the cake after 33 minutes, and keep baking until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool.
   

For the Frosting:

1. Cream the room temperature butter with an electric mixer, until smooth and fluffy. Gradually beat in confectioners' sugar until fully incorporated. Start with less and add in more to get the desired consistency. Beat in the vanilla extract.

   Pour in the milk (start with 1 or 2 tablespoons, then add more if needed) and beat for an additional 3-4 minutes. Add food coloring, if using, and beat for thirty seconds until smooth or until desired color is reached.
   

To Assemble the Cake:

1. Invert one of the cakes on a cake pan, and spread about 1/2 cup of frosting on top. Invert the other cake on top, and spread the rest of the frosting on the top and sides of the cake. Smooth out the tops and sides with a cake spatula. Decorate the cake with a piping bag and add more sprinkles if desired.

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