This Funfetti Layer Cake is the most delicious, moist funfetti vanilla bean cake. This homemade funfetti cake has a yellow cake base and is made with buttermilk to keep it perfectly dense, and is packed full of Jimmy sprinkles. The confetti cake is layered with a rich chocolate American Buttercream frosting, and finished with more sprinkles. This is the perfect celebration cake, and as a six inch layer cake it is perfect for a small group. This funfetti layer cake with chocolate buttercream will be your new favourite!
Table of contents
Funfetti Cake with Chocolate Buttercream
Hi hi! I want to start this post out by confessing that I think I’m breaking the funfetti rules with this funfetti layer cake. Apparently, according to the internet, funfetti cake is a place of white cake, imitation vanilla and sprinkles. I didn’t grow up with white cake (just ‘yellow’ cake which is what we call vanilla cake), so when I set out to make a funfetti cake, I wanted to keep it as delicious and flavourful as possible, so here we are - funfetti in a yellow cake. Don’t come at me, because it’s really, really good.
Funfetti Cake with Yellow Cake
I used my favourite vanilla bean cake as a base here for this funfetti layer cake, but switched out the milk in the recipe for buttermilk, just for a tiny bit more moisture. The cake is my ultimate base recipe - you can infuse the milk to flavour it, and it makes a great sheet cake, snack cake or cupcake base. Because it’s such a great base, it also handled me throwing a whole heap of sprinkles at it like an absolute champ. The cake is super tender, packed with flavour, and is an amazing homemade funfetti cake recipe, as far as I am concerned. It uses the reverse creaming method - where you mix together all the dry then incorporate in the butter and then the wet ingredients, which is not only super easy but gives an incredibly tender crumb. It’s just the best.
What are the best sprinkles to use in Funfetti Cake?
I found that the best sprinkles to use for this funfetti cake were jimmies - if you’re in New Zealand those are the long skinny rainbow ones, the colourful version of chocolate hail. The round confetti ones would work too, just stay away from nonpareils (hundreds and thousands) because they lose their colour and it gets messy quickly. I use these. Don't go for anything natural as it will bleed all through the cake.
Dark Chocolate American Buttercream
I finished the funfetti cake off with a dark chocolate American buttercream. I first discovered it on my friend Claudia’s site, by way of our other friend Thalia’s site, and it is so good! It is an american buttercream base, but is amped up with dutch cocoa and melted chocolate - imagine ganache and american buttercream had a baby. American buttercream is generally powdered sugar based, and can get a wee bit grainy, but this is fluffy and silky, and so, so good, and is perfect paired with the buttery, rich, sprinkle packed funfetti cake.
A few wee tips for making this Funfetti Cake
I use Fat Daddio’s pans and they are the best I’ve ever tried. I have three 6” and three 8” and they are just so, so good. I really recommend investing in three of each size if you can - it removes the need to halve your layers etc, which can be a huge pain.
I like making the cake ahead of time a wee bit if I can just to allow it to cool completely. The day before is great. You can wrap it and store at room temperature overnight, just make sure it is completely cool. Alternatively I like to freeze it, which makes the stacking process nice and easy to do with a cold cake. If you are making the layers ahead of time, wrap them well in plastic then freeze until you are using. I assemble straight from frozen usually - just make sure to give yourself enough time to let the layers defrost!
I left this pretty rustic around the edges and just added in some sprinkles, but if you like there is enough frosting in the recipe to finish with a border of piping if you liked.
If you want an 8” cake, just double the quantities of the cake and it will be the perfect size. You can probably get away with a 1.5x or 1.75x the buttercream quantity.
When you are dividing your batter between the pans, do it by weight. I like to know the weight of my mixing bowl before I start (write it somewhere in your kitchen), so I can just weigh the bowl filled with batter, and then subtract the bowl weight to get the weight of the batter. You can then work out how much batter goes in each pan. It’s quick and easy and means you get really even layers.
I like to use a cookie scoop to add the buttercream between the layers. that way you can easily add the same quantity between. Otherwise you can just eyeball it and plop the buttercream on!
For more cake recipes, check out these:
- Chocolate Buttermilk Cake with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting and Honey Caramel Corn
- Vanilla Buttermilk Cake with Swiss Meringue Buttercream
- Lemon Sheet Cake with Lemon Curd Swiss Meringue Buttercream
- Carrot Cake Snack Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Made this recipe and love it?
If you made this recipe then I would LOVE for you to leave me a review below to let me know how you liked it! Also, please make sure to tag me on Instagram if you make it!
A note on salt and oven temperature
It is important to note the type of salt that is called for in a recipe. I use Diamond Crystal salt throughout my recipes - if you use a different sort of kosher salt or regular table salt you will need to adjust accordingly as some salt is 'saltier' than others. Morton's salt is twice as salty, so you will need half the quantity. Same goes for a regular table salt. I am working to get gram measurements throughout my recipes for salt but still getting there.
All oven temperatures are conventional unless otherwise stated. If you are baking on fan / convection, you will need to adjust the temperature. An oven thermometer is a great investment to ensure that your oven is the correct temperature.
Using the double / triple function in the recipe card
You will notice that there is a '1X' '2X' '3X' button in my recipe card. This can be used for doubling or tripling a recipe. However, please note that this only doubles the ingredient quantities in the ingredients list and NOT in the method. If there are quantities or pan sizes in the method of the recipe (for example weigh out 150g brown butter), you will need to scale this number manually. It will also not change the baking time in the recipe so you will need to adjust this yourself too. It is always a good idea to read through a recipe fully before doubling it just to check this. If you would like to scale this recipe or convert for another pan size, use my calculator!
Tools and equipment
For a list of my go-to tools and equipment, I have a post you can refer to here.
Why is this recipe in grams?
I post my recipes in grams as it is the most accurate way to bake. Cups are not only inaccurate but they vary in volume worldwide. There is no way for me to provide one cup measure that works for everyone. However, posting in weight fixes this issue. If you would like the recipe in cups you are welcome to convert it yourself via google, but please do not ask me to do it for you as I am not comfortable providing a recipe using a method that I have not tested. Baking with a scale is easy, accurate, and also makes cleanup super simple. Here is the scale that I use if you would like a recommendation! Here's to accurate baking!
Recipe For Funfetti Layer Cake
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Funfetti Cake with Dark Chocolate Buttercream
- Prep Time: 60
- Cook Time: 40
- Total Time: 1 hour 40 minutes
- Yield: One 6" layer cake - serves 8 1x
Description
The most delicious, moist funfetti vanilla bean cake. This homemade funfetti cake has a yellow cake base and is made with buttermilk to keep it perfectly dense, and is packed full of Jimmy sprinkles. The confetti cake is layered with a rich chocolate American Buttercream frosting, and finished with more sprinkles. This is the perfect celebration cake, and at six inches it is great for a small group.
Ingredients
Funfetti Cake
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
- 200g buttermilk, at room temperature
- 60g full fat greek yoghurt
- 300g all-purpose flour
- 225g sugar
- 1 ¾ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 175g unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 115g rainbow Jimmy sprinkles
Dark Chocolate Buttercream
- 225g 60% or higher chocolate, roughly chopped
- 290g unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 tsp salt
- 225g powdered sugar, sifted
- ½ tsp vanilla bean paste
- 90g dutch process cocoa, sifted
- 2-3 Tbsp heavy cream, as needed
Instructions
CAKE LAYERS
- Preheat the oven to 350°f / 180°c. Grease three 6” cake pans, and line with parchment paper on the bottom.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, egg yolk, vanilla, buttermilk, and yoghurt.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Mix briefly to combine.
- With the mixer on low, add the butter a cube at a time, until fully incorporated and the mixture looks like sand.
- Add half of the wet ingredients into the mixer. Mix until just combined, then add the second half of the wet ingredients. Mix on medium speed until just combined. Add in the sprinkles and mix to combine.Remove the bowl from the mixer and give a few folds with a rubber spatula to ensure that no dry ingredients remain.
- Divide the batter between your three cake tins (I prefer to do this by weight - see notes). Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the cakes are springy to the touch, and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and cool for 15 minutes in their pans, then turn onto a wire rack and allow to cool completely.
DARK CHOCOLATE BUTTERCREAM
- Melt the dark chocolate in 15 second increments in the microwave, stirring well between each until melted. Set aside to cool completely.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on high speed until light and fluffy, approx. 4 minutes. Add the salt, powdered sugar, vanilla bean paste, and cocoa, and mix until smooth, scraping down the sides once or twice.
- Add the melted chocolate and mix well until silky. If needed, add cream 1 tbsp at a time to get the frosting to a nice smooth, fluffy consistency.
ASSEMBLY
- Level off the cake layers. Secure one of the layers of cake to a cake turntable, cake stand or cake board using a little buttercream. Add about half a cup of buttercream onto the first layer of cake (I used a cookie scoop that had a 2 Tbsp volume and added 3 scoops), and smooth using an offset spatula.
- Place the second layer of cake onto the first, pressing very lightly to secure, and sealing the joins with a thin layer of buttercream. Add more buttercream, smooth down, then top with the third layer of cake - I like to put this one upside down to ensure that the top of the cake is flat.
- Crumb coat the cake - to do this, apply a thin layer of buttercream over the surface of the cake, and smooth with a bench scraper or icing smoother. Refrigerate the cake for 15-20 minutes, until the crumb coat has set. Press a piece of plastic wrap over the surface of the buttercream while you are chilling down the cake.
- If you have started with a chilled or frozen cake, or the buttercream seems to be not too sloppy, you can skip the chilling down of the crumb coat if you like, or reduce the time to 5 mins. If you have an empty freezer you can also throw it in the freezer for 5 minutes to help set it!
- Add a second layer of buttercream to the cake - I like to make this one thicker and smooth down the edges.
- Smooth the buttercream on the outside of the cake using a bench scraper, scraping down between passes. Fill in any gaps, and add additional buttercream where needed. Continue until you are happy with the finish.
- Chill the cake until you are ready to serve. Bring to room temperature for about an hour before serving.
Notes
Dark Chocolate buttercream from Butter and Brioche via The Brick Kitchen
Keywords: Funfetti Cake, Vanilla Bean Cake, Buttermilk Cake, Yellow Funfetti Cake, Funfetti cake with Chocolate Buttercream, American Buttercream
This is a happy situation!!!
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Loved this recipe! I've never tried the reverse creaming method before and it was super easy. I think the crumb of the cake itself wasn't as light, but dang it was so good!!
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Yayyy so good right! Yep it's meant to be a slightly denser crumb, it's my fave!
Can you please write your recipes in cups as well as grams? Many of us do not weigh our ingredients.
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Hi! I don't provide recipes in cups sorry as they are not accurate. You can read more about this on my FAQ page if you like. I test my recipes in grams so it does not make sense to then provide a less accurate measurement. By posting my recipes in grams I know my readers are making the recipe accurately. Happy to recommend a scale if you need one!
So glad to see you use grams for measuring ingredients.
Yayyyy they are the best! x
Hi Erin,
Your cake looks spectacular! I was wondering what brand of Jimmy's you used?
Hiiii these are just ones I got on Amazon I think but I LOVE the ones that Nuts.com sells 🙂
I love that this is in grams!
I'm going to make this for my daughter's birthday cake. Sadly, she prefers vanilla frosting - any recs to go with this?
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Hi! Sure thing! My vanilla bean swiss meringue would go perfectly with this, or if you wanted an american buttercream then the frosting I use for these macarons is an american buttercream! I love the Swiss though 🙂
So excited to try this for my husband’s birthday in March (he loves sprinkles). I only have two, 9-inch cake pans, however. Will this recipe still work for me?
Hiii! Yep it will be just fine, you will just need to scale the recipe. So to make an 8" three layer cake I would double this recipe (a 6" cake doubles to an 8"), so if you have 2 9" pans I would also make a double to give you a two layer, 9" cake!
Thank you for your prompt reply! I am excited to try the recipe.
Hi there! Is there a way to leave out the Greek yogurt and use only buttermilk in this cake?
Hi! I haven't tried it sorry! You probably could but I am not too sure what the conversion would be.
Hi Erin
I would Love to make this for my daughters birthday. I ended up ordering 2- 8 inch pans. Do I just double your recipe? What would you suggest?
Thanks
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Hi! So sorry for the delay in reply - I was away from my computer all day yesterday. I usually double a 6" recipe to give an 8" cake but this has 3 layers and you said you only had 2 pans, so you could either do like a 1.5 times the recipe, or just double it and bake some off in another pan for a wee snack later, or you can just hold 1/3 of the batter back and bake two layers, then bake the last one. It should be fine to sit at room temperature for a little bit - take the cake out of the pan after it has been out of the oven for about 5 minutes, then you can run the pan under cold water to cool it down quickly so you can use it again 🙂 I hope that helps and sorry again for the delay!
Thank you for the detailed reply. I really appreciate it 🙂
This cake did not rise at all. I think it’s because all the measurements are in grams. This is my first time doing liquids in grams and I would not do this again. Instead I followed another confetti recipe by Sally and it turned out perfectly. Very unhappy with this one!
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It has absolutely nothing to do with the measurements being in grams. Please explain how that would make a difference? They are by far the most accurate way to bake. Please check your baking powder is not expired.
How do y9ou measure in grams. Do you need a scale?
Hi, you do need a scale. The one I use is by the brand Escali and you can purchase it online 🙂
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Hello - quick question for you! Have you ever experimented with 0% fat free greek yogurt in place of full fat? Would that severely alter the cake, or do you think it would be a substantial substitute?
Hiiii! I haven't but it should be ok! ideally you'd use full fat! You can also use sour cream!
Hi Erin! I am baking this cake tomorrow and out of an abundance of caution I want to ensure I do everything correctly. I have a few additional questions for you below that I hope you will be able to answer for me:
1) I wasn't able to find vanilla bean paste, so I got pure ground vanilla from Lafaza. 1/2 tsp equates to one tsp vanilla extract. Would the same adjustment work for the paste? 1/2 tsp equates to 1 tsp of vanilla bean paste?
2) I will be making the cake one day in advance. Do I need to freeze the layers, or is it ok to put them in the refrigerator? And will the buttercream last for 24 hours if it's in an airtight container in the refrigerator?
3) Should the cake ideally be assembled when the layers are frozen, or when they are cold? (Kind of goes hand in hand with #2)
4) I found cocoa powder that was processed with Alkali but it's not technically labeled dutch processed (though it is from the Netherlands) - will this work for the call for dutch processed cocoa? It's Whole Foods 365 organic cocoa powder (unsweetened).
5) I am doubling the recipe and using 8 inch pans - do you think I am safe with 1.5x the amount of buttercream frosting, or do you think I need 1.75x? I'll be doing a finish similar to yours without any piping...just a neat and clean look. I'm trying to get the measurements as close as possible when I do the frosting and would prefer not to have too much leftover if possible.
I know these are a lot and I'm grateful for your time and help in answering everything! I'm so excited to make the cake for my birthday tomorrow.
Hi! So sorry for the delay! I hope it all went well! Please let me know if you still have questions! i usually assemble either cold or room temp for the layers and would do 1.75 for the frosting just to be safe. the vanilla and cocoa should be just fine!
This recipe is amazing, I love sprinkles!
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Hi
Cake sounds amazing. And i prefer weight in grams, much more accurate. Could I possibly exchange the butter for oil? Or half butter half oil. I feel oil makes the cake extra moist. Would love to try it. Please let me know. Thanks. And can I use the recipe with sprinkles or without?
Hi, no please don't add oil to this. It is already very moist! You can leave the sprinkles out if you like! I would suggest making it as written