An explosion of colorful sprinkles meets a three-tiered vanilla cake with a soft, dense crumb. Every bite leaves you with a rainbow of sugary sprinkles and fluffy buttercream frosting.
Preheat the oven to 325°F. Spray three 7” round cake pans with non-stick baking spray and line the bottoms with parchment paper.
In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and creamy with a hand mixer. Add one egg at a time, beating well after each addition.
Add vanilla extract, almond extract, and vegetable oil and beat well.
In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
Add half of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and begin to beat. Add half of the milk, then the remaining flour mixture, then the rest of the milk. Beat just until fully combined.
Fold in 1⁄2 cup of rainbow Jimmies.
Divide the batter between the three prepared cake pans.
Bake for 35-40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with just a few crumbs.
Cool cakes on a cooling rack for 10-15 minutes, then turn out from the pans and cool the rest of the way.
Frosting
To make the frosting in a standing mixer, beat the butter on high speed until lightened and fluffy. Add powdered sugar gradually.
Beat in the extracts. With the mixer running, pour in the heavy cream until the frosting is light and fluffy and desired spreading consistency.
If you’d like to fill the cake layers with funfetti frosting, set aside about 1 cup of frosting. Mix in 2 tablespoons of sprinkles.
Assembling the Cake
Place the first cake layer on a cake stand or platter. Add about 1⁄2 cup of frosting to the top and spread to the edges.
Stack the second layer on top and add a layer of frosting on top of this one also. Top with the third cake layer.
Frost the cake with the remaining frosting and decorate as desired. We piped a few swirls on the top of the cake and added sprinkles to the tops and around the bottom perimeter.
Notes
Freezing the cake layers for 1-2 hours (or up to 3 days) helps to lock in moisture and also makes assembling and frosting the cake easier.
This recipe will yield enough frosting for thick filling and plenty to frost and decorate the cake. You can halve the frosting recipe for a simpler cake.
The butter and vanilla extracts in the frosting will give it a cream color. For a truer white, you can use clear vanilla extract. You can also substitute some or all of the butter with white shortening, but you will compromise on flavor.
The sprinkles you use in funfetti cake batter matter. You'll want to stick to rainbow Jimmies. Jimmies will not lose their color or bleed into your cake batter once mixed. Confetti sprinkles are another good choice here, they are the small disc-shaped sprinkles you've likely seen in cakes and cupcakes before. I do not recommend using nonpareils, as they bleed and will tint the color of your cake batter.
You can also bake a 2-layer cake in 8- or 9-inch cake pans. You may need to adjust the cook time.
Store your funfetti cake, covered with an airtight lid (in something like a cake carrier) in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. You can store this cake without a covering, but once you cut into it, it should be covered with at least plastic wrap to prevent it from drying out.