![Lemon Bundt Cake](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2022/05/17/dining/ya-lemon-bundt-cake/ya-lemon-bundt-cake-mediumThreeByTwo440-v2.jpg?width=1280&quality=75&auto=webp)
Rainbow Sprinkle Cake
![Rainbow Sprinkle Cake](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2019/04/01/dining/jm-rainbow-sprinkle-cake/jm-rainbow-sprinkle-cake-articleLarge-v2.jpg?width=1280&quality=75&auto=webp)
- Total Time
- 1½ hours, plus cooling
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- ½cup/110 grams unsalted butter (1 stick), slightly softened, more for pans
- 1½cups/190 grams all-purpose flour, more for pans
- 1teaspoon baking powder
- ¼teaspoon baking soda
- ¼teaspoon fine salt
- ⅔cup/158 milliliters whole milk
- 1½teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1cup/200 grams sugar
- 1whole egg plus 2 egg whites
- ⅓cup rainbow sprinkles (not pastel, or naturally colored)
- 8ounces/225 grams cream cheese, slightly softened
- ½cup/110 grams unsalted butter (1 stick), slightly softened
- ⅛teaspoon fine salt, more to taste
- 3cups/300 grams confectioners’ sugar, sifted, more to taste
- ½teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1cup rainbow sprinkles (see note)
For the Cake
For the Frosting
Preparation
- Step 1
Make the cake: Heat oven to 325 degrees and place a rack in the center. Butter and line the bottoms of two 8-inch round cake pans with parchment paper. Butter the parchment. Flour the pans, coating the bottom and sides, then tap out any excess flour.
- Step 2
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a small bowl, stir together milk and vanilla.
- Step 3
In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low and, with mixer running, slowly add egg and whites and beat until smooth and creamy, 1 to 2 minutes. Scrape down bowl. Add half the flour mixture, then the milk mixture, then the remaining flour mixture, beating to blend after each addition. Scrape down bowl and blend once more. Remove bowl and use a spatula or spoon to mix in sprinkles by hand.
- Step 4
Divide batter evenly between the pans and bake until the tops are just dry to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Rotate the pans halfway through baking.
- Step 5
Transfer pans to a wire rack and let cool completely, at least 4 hours, before turning out.
- Step 6
Make the frosting: In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat cream cheese, butter and salt together at medium speed until light and fluffy, 2 minutes. Reduce speed to low and, with mixer running, slowly add sugar and beat until smooth. Beat in vanilla just until incorporated. Taste frosting; you should be able to taste the cream cheese and a little bit of saltiness, as well as the sweetness. If desired, add more salt or sugar. Keep refrigerated.
- Step 7
Turn cooled cakes out of pans. Using a bread knife, cut off any domed or uneven parts of each cake to make flat surfaces. Place one of the cakes on a platter or a cake stand, cut side up. Using an offset spatula, frost the top. Stack the other layer on top, cut side down. Place remaining frosting on top of the cake and, working from the center outward, frost the top and sides of the cake.
- Step 8
Place a baking sheet under the platter or cake stand, to catch any fallen sprinkles. Sprinkle the top with a layer of sprinkles. Toss remaining sprinkles at the sides of the cake, or press handfuls of sprinkles gently up the sides to make a thicker coating. Gather fallen sprinkles and repeat until coated to your liking.
- Step 9
Refrigerate cake 30 minutes or longer to set. Serve cool.
- Julia's house blend: 2 parts blue, 1 part yellow, 1 part orange, 1 part bright pink. It's best not to use white, light pastel or "natural" sprinkles. They just disappear (poof!) into the cake after baking.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
Rather than cutting off the domed top of a cake, you can completely eliminate the dome by doing this: Cut a terry cloth towel into strips and saturate in water. Wrap the strips around the cake pan. Then bake as usual. The cake will come out of the oven as flat as a pancake.
This looks like a great cake, one that I'll definitely make on a snowy afternoon, or snow-bound during a blizzard. But I have two comments: the photo looks like it's a 3 layer cake but you only call for two. And your gram measures for the flour--and sugar-- are very inconsistent in many of your recipes from different authors. 1 cup of flour is either 120 or 125 grams of flour, depending on who you consult (King Arthur says 120)
I've baked three of these cakes for family gatherings, and the consistent success of the results has put this particular recipe at the top of my "go to" list for celebratory events requiring something colorful, delicious, and appealing to those with the wispiest threads of childhood still left in them. I follow the recipe's directions exactly, except that I double all the listed ingredients, including the frosting, ending up with three 8-inch layers. Highly recommended!
I followed the recipe as published, except I baked the cake batter in cupcake papers instead of layers. It made 15 cupcakes (using a generous 1/4 cup of batter for each). I also ended up with excess frosting, probably because I wasn't spreading any between cake layers. Served them at a family dinner with young children and adults. It went over very well.
Excellent cake, everyone liked it - children and adults!
My tip: I added volume and height by beating 2 of the egg whites into peaks, then folding into the batter.
For frosting, I used 1/4 cup butter, 1/4 cup cream cheese, almost four cups icing sugar, and about 2 TBSPs of milk. This frosted the whole cake, with about 3/4 cup left over.
Thanks for posting. My daughter has been requesting a funfetti cake made from Pillsbury cake mix for her birthday since age 4. She'll be 18 next month, and I'd love to graduate to the from-scratch version.
Definitely! Cupcakes usually take 15 to 20 minutes to bake, so start testing for doneness at 15 minutes. It is not a huge cake (two 8-inch layers) so you will probably end up with just about 12 cupcakes.
This CAKE. Moist - sweet - nostalgic - elevated - gone. As in, greedily gobbled by successful, jaded, adults with gym memberships. Julia, my dear, I love you. Follow the instructions verbatim, you will be rewarded. Better yet; double the recipe for a three layer masterpiece. You guys, seriously, this CAKE.
I only had 9 inch pans, used those, and found that the recipe only made one 9 inch layer. I halved the frosting and it came out very well.
I needed one 1.5 oz bottle of sprinkles for the cake and one 1.5 oz bottle of sprinkles for the frosting.
My wife noted that the proportions are the same as the classic 1-2-3-4 cake. However, that makes three 8 inch layers with 3 cups of flour. This is half that recipe so you would think it would only make 2 thin 8 inch layers.
Made this for my son's 1/2 birthday (don't ask)... everyone loved it! This makes 2 THIN layers in 8" pans - the cake is rich, so we didn't mind. Don't bother cutting off the domes - extra frosting towards the edges is OK as the frosting is tasty (use offset spatula). Looks pretty with sprinkles scattered just on top. FYI the sprinkles in the batter sunk to the bottom, so I put the dense sprinkle sides in the middle, which looked nice up against the frosting layer.
The frosting is too sweet with 3 c of confectioners sugar. I made it with 2 and it was perfect.
Thank you for the "scratch" version of our family favorite. Cupcakes baked in ice cream cones were my go-to for each of my 4 children when they were in elementary school . I prepared this cake today to celebrate a daughter who got married this week at city hall.
Notes: Do not slice the cake tops. Use an offset spatula to ensure a smooth layer of frosting. Place waxed paper or parchment under cake to catch excess sprinkles and to press sprinkles onto the sides of the cake.
I have always baked from scratch with the exception of the "Funfetti Cake".............this cake raises the ever popular sprinkle cake to a new level. The recipe works perfectly as written. I opted for a heavy coating of sprinkles and it was picture perfect. It is not a very high cake but it is beautiful to look at and delicious to eat. We kept it refrigerated and served it cold. It was a very popular dessert and our new go to "funfetti" recipe.
Outstanding flavor and presentation! Made for my daughter's 1-year birthday party--huge hit among kids and adults alike. I was a little freaked out by the consistency of the batter (very airy [due to egg whites?]) but the finished cakes had great texture. Based on notes, I doubled the cake and frosting recipes and used 3- 9" cake pans. Came out perfect with ideal ratio of cake to frosting.
I made this cake using Better Batter gluten free flour in place of all-purpose flour. 1:1 flour swap and everything else remained the same and followed the recipe. Turned out great! Will be making again!
I only had a single 9 inch round baked for 25 min same temp listed. If you’re going for double layers, the single tier wasn’t large enough to split in two, so I would double recipe with the single 9 inch round then you can cut in half
Also used 2 6" pans and got nice, thick layers I halved to make a four-layer cake.
Tweaked this to be gluten free with ATK's homemade blend + 1/2 tsp xanthan for my first GF birthday and was very happy with it. Tweaks: extra egg white, keep the three whites separate and whip to stiff peaks with 1/4 of the sugar at the end, fold in before baking to lighten (crucial--1st try w/o whipped whites was a brick & shrunk excessively); 50% more baking powder; rest batter 30 min. before folding in whipped whites; de-pan immediately and cool in fridge to minimize shrinkage.
Rules broken: 1. Butter was not "slightly softened" enough and the mix did not become creamy and a few small chunks remained in the batter all the way to the oven. 2. I only had 9" pans so the cakes were thinner - not as thin as a pancake but not as thick at a traditional two layer cake. 3. I let cool on a wire rack for 1/2 hour instead of 4 hours. My cakes were thin. Result: No issues the cake came out perfect and delicious. It is a big hit and I will make again!
For European cake-makers: Made this with two 16 cm spring pans (so smaller than the 8in, which, admittedly, is part of the problem here) and followed the advice to double the batter recipe. Big mistake. I had two larger-than-the-European-average cakes. And some extra frosting. To sum up: (for euros) no double batter, single frosting (if you’re lazy and don’t want to do the maths to reduce by 20-30%).
Doubled to make a 2 layer 9” cake, baked for 40mins at 325 turned out great! Did not have to cut the top just put upside down on the cake plate it was fine, not a big dome to deal with. Also doubled the frosting but not the full sugar amount did that to taste. Was tempted to add lemon to the frosting but glad I resisted. The cake is not overly sweet even with the sprinkles so the frosting really shines. I stuck with the standard rainbow sprinkles and worked like a charm! Made for the 4th of July
Excellent cake! We followed the directions exactly and the whole family loved!! No modifications needed!
I have made this cake twice now for my daughter’s birthday. The second time, I used unsalted Kerrygold butter for the frosting and it turned out more yellow than white. Still tastes great but would not use the Irish butter in the future to get a whiter color.
I used this sponge recipe (1x) for two 6-inch pans without alterations; it was the perfect amount. I halved the frosting which was just barely enough. My kid wanted a rainbow cake. I omitted the sprinkles. For the sponge, I divided the batter into 7 equal parts of 100g each with gel coloring made all rainbow colors (including pink). I dropped splotches of each color in the caketins til I ran out. The result was a psychedelic tie-dye rainbow look that was awesome. White frosting for contrast.
I’d like to make this for my son but he’s not fond of cream cheese frosting. Would this work with a different frosting such as buttercream?
Cake 3/5, frosting 5/5 Weighed flour, only have 9 in pans so just made a simple 9 in cake Took 40 min to bake at 325—maybe that’s why it was dry? Would make again bc it looks so fun, but would try with buttermilk
It was pretty good, but not amazing so not sure I’d make it again. I doubled the recipe for two 9 inch round pans and it was the perfect amount of icing. It took 40 minutes. It was very moist and not very sweet which was fine as others said because the icing is sweet. It just was kind of flavorless, so I was thinking some fruit filling would be nice…
Probably should double it next time
My cake turned out dry and hard.. I followed to a tee! What gives?
I tried to make this as cupcakes and it did not work out. I adjusted the baking time, but they came out very dry and with a dense, tough crumb. Maybe it could work with cake flour instead? I didn’t bother with the frosting since I threw away the cupcakes.
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