Fourth of July Funfetti Cake
This delicious funfetti cake is the perfect finale to a Fourth of July barbecue or party. Moist vanilla layer cake is filled with patriotic sprinkles. The entire cake gets coated in a beautiful vanilla buttercream, and then rolled in red, white and blue stars! Have a wonderful 4th of July!
Buttercream Coloring tip: In order to get deep colors, such as the red and blue above, it takes a lot of food coloring. Unfortunately, that can stain your teeth when you eat it and can sometimes change the texture of the buttercream. Instead, try mixing these colors and then let them sit for a few hours so that the colors can deepen.
To get a red buttercream, start by adding about three drops of soft pink food coloring to your white buttercream. Stir well. Next, add about a teaspoon of true red food coloring. Then, once you’ve mixed the buttercream so that no streaks of food coloring remain, cover the buttercream and let it sit at room temperature for a few hours.
For the navy blue buttercream, repeat the above process using 3 drops of magenta or violet food coloring. Once mixed, add one teaspoon of navy food coloring. Once mixed well, cover and let sit on the counter for a few hours so that the colors intensify.
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Fourth of July Funfetti Cake
Makes: 4-6 servings
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Bake Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour & 15 minutes
Ingredients
For the Vanilla Cake:
- 1 whole egg (I use extra large)
- 3 egg whites (also extra large)
- 1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
- 2 tsp clear vanilla extract
- 3 cups, plus 2 tbsp (359.4 g) cake flour
- 1 & 3/4 cups (350 g) granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp plus 1 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 12 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup sprinkles
For the Vanilla Buttercream:
- 2 cups unsalted butter, slightly chilled
- 6 cups powdered sugar, measured then sifted
- 2 tsp clear vanilla extract
- 3 tbsp heavy cream
- Pinch of salt
*This buttercream recipe makes enough to fill and cover your cake. If you want to add additional piping, you’ll want to make an extra 1/2 batch.
Instructions
For the Vanilla Cake:
Preheat your oven to 350°F. Prepare four 6-inch round cake pans or three 8-inch round cake pans by spraying each pan with non-stick spray, covering the bottom of the pan with parchment paper and spraying the parchment paper with the non-stick spray as well. Set aside.
In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine the whole egg, egg whites and clear vanilla extract. Set aside.In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the cake flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Mix on low speed for about 30 seconds.With the mixer on low speed, add the butter and buttermilk. Continue to mix on low until just combined and then increase to medium speed and mix for 1-2 minutes, until light and fluffy.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the egg mixture in two additions, beating on medium speed for about 20 seconds after each addition until just combined and all the ingredients are thoroughly incorporated. Fold in the sprinkles.
Divide the batter into the four 6-inch pans or three 8-inch prepared cake pans, using a kitchen scale to measure equal parts in each pan. (Use about 11 to 12 ounces of batter in each of the four 6-inch pans or 15 to 16 ounces of batter in each of the three 8-inch pans). Bake for 20-25 minutes (my cakes took 20 minutes), or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let the cakes cool in the pans for 10 minutes and then invert onto wire racks until completely cool.
For the Vanilla Buttercream:
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed for about 3 minutes, until the mixture is light and fluffy.With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the powdered sugar, followed by the heavy cream, clear vanilla extract and salt. Continue to beat the frosting on medium-high speed for an additional 5 minutes.
Before frosting your cake, make sure to mix the frosting by hand with a wooden spoon to push out the air pockets.
Assembly:
After leveling each of the cake layers with a cake leveler or serrated knife, place the first cake layer, top side up. For the 6-inch cake, add about 1/2 cup of frosting on the cake layer. For the 8-inch version, add about 1 cup of frosting. Spread over the cake layer as evenly as possible. Repeat this step until you get to the final cake layer, which you will lay top side down.
Apply a thin coat of frosting around the entire cake to lock in the crumbs. Freeze for 10 minutes.
After the crumb coat is set, continue frosting and decorating the cake.
Recipe from Cake by Courtney
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