I like consistency. I like knowing the exact place that I should show up. I like knowing there will be a big enough parking spot. I love the comfort of life after 6pm… dinner, catching up, tv, bed. I love the romance in consistency. Showing up, day in and day out to the same person. That is this cake to me. My funfetti recipe. That comes together in a pinch and produces the same result time in and time out.
The perfect mix of fluffy and dense like the real 90s box babe. But it’s different, because it doesn’t have that artificial bite to it at the end, it won’t fall apart against the lightest frosting. It’s just a solid, no fail recipe that won’t let us down. It won’t require extra oil or sour cream or 7000 egg yolks to doll it up. So, let’s gather around it, hands interlocked as we sing “Dah who doraze” to this beautiful perfect funfetti cake.
Life isn’t really all that consistent, is it? Sure, we have the transitioning seasons, holidays that seem to repeat themselves like groundhog day. I could have sworn it was just last year that I was in the back seat of my parents Honda listening to Amy Grant on the way home from our family’s Christmas Eve party heading to the Water Street house looking for Santa in the sky. Now I listen to her, alone in my kitchen, making quick rise breads and rolling out pie dough.
Sometimes I worry that life changes so fast, I won’t have enough time to capture it in my memories. That I’ll be too busy to notice that it’s all changing, ever and always.
So, as I’m embarking into a very new chapter in my life, new city, new career, new contracts, new couch, I’m going to take extra care to remember all the little things this year. Surely, next Christmas won’t look the same. So, I’ll take extra pictures of little homemade Halloween costumes and walk a little slower from house to house. I’ll try to see all of my family on Thanksgiving somehow since I won’t be home for Christmas. And I’ll make sure to spend more time, on the couch, watching all the Hallmark movies a cynical girl can handle.
And we can do it together. Sponge in all the memories with loved ones while they’re still here. Make sure to not get lost in the busy. Making time for cookie parties and friends who need consideration. Finding time for your immediate family, even if it’s just the two of you, on a new couch watching the gas fireplace roll. Let’s not let these next few months swallow us whole as they tend to.
And, as always, we’ll make this cake in all the forms possible and watch it come out perfectly every time. Because that’s the perfect series. Recipes that have been tested and tested and used and abused and thoughtfully picked as the prize recipe for this blog. Give it a whirl, friends. Give it a whirl.
The Perfect Funfetti Cake
There are a million funfetti cake recipes on the internet, but this one’s my favorite.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 12 servings 1x
Ingredients
1/4 cup oil
1 cup butter at room temperature
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 eggs and 4 egg whites
3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 cup whole milk
3/4 cup colored or multicolored funfetti sprinkles
|| American Butter Cream Frosting ||
2 cups butter, room temp
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons cream
1/2 cup sprinkles
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a standing mixer with a paddle attachment, mix the oil, butter, sugar and vanilla and almond extracts together until smooth and fluffy. Add the eggs and mix, then add the egg whites and mix. Do not over beat, just until the batter is smooth and even.
Sift the dry ingredients together and place into butter/egg mixture. Turn the mixer on its lowest speed, wait until the flour mixture starts to absorb into the butter mixture then slowly add the whole milk as it mixes.
Baking times | Sheet Cake: 37-40 minutes. Three 6-inch cake pans: 35-40 minutes. Three 8-inch cake pans: 23-25 minutes. Two 9-inch pans: 25-28 minutes. Cupcakes: 8 minutes at 385 degrees, 8-10 minutes turned down to 350 degrees.
|| Frosting ||
Slowly mix the butter and vanilla together in a mixer on low until smooth then slowly add in the powdered sugar. Add in the cream. Add more cream as needed. You’re looking for a smooth consistency that will easily fall off a spoon when encouraged. Fold in the sprinkles.
Keywords: cake, funfetti, birthday cake
Updated to clarify recipe
Hi Karlee!!
It’s about time I leave you a reply. I’ve been following your blog now for a couple years. I’ll admit right away that I have never actually made a single one of your recipes. LOL It’s certainly not because they don’t look amazing, have simple, easy to follow instructions and I literally drool when reading your description of the delectable featured yumfest! I am so completely satisfied by your writing and your photography, that I don’t even need to experience it any more! You are so incredibly talented and it is one of my most satisfying joys to read your posts. I will actually make something soon I promise. 🙂
Thank you so much for making the world a better, yummier, more beautiful place!!
Wow, Catherine! This has made me so happy and overjoyed to hear. Honestly, truthfully. THANK YOU! It’s such a weird world, the world of blogging. and it can feel lonely and unseen. But you made me feel seen today. And for that I’m eternally grateful!
I would love to know what frosting is on this delicious looking cake?
hey! It’s just a simple american buttercream frosting with sprinkles added in!
Hi, I’m baking a 10inch, 3 layer funfetti cake for a wedding and just wondered if you would recommend using this recipe or your wonder woman funfetti cake recipe? Many thanks!