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Happy Friday, friends! I’m super excited to present to you this new & improved Classic Confetti Cake!

Back in 2016, I posted The Ultimate Funfetti Layer Cake, and while it was cute and fun and turned out great when I made it, I’ve received a lot of comments over the years from people having issues with the recipes. This is long overdue, but I finally revisited this cake and am happy to say it’s a million times better and easier than the old version.

Like, I intended to take this cake to some friends or work or something to get it out of the house, but we loved it so much that we kept it and snacked on it all week. 😂 Sorry not sorry!

Cake pans

First things first! I made this cake (and the original version) in three 6-inch cake pans, but you can also make it in two 8-inch cake pans. I love 6-inch cakes because they’re taller without being a bigger cake, but I know not everyone has 6-inch pans. If you bake a lot, you should totally get some, though!

the confetti cake

I’ve learned a lot and had more experience with baking cakes since 2016, including finally perfecting my ideal base cake recipe. So I scrapped the original and went with that. It’s pretty much what I start with for all my cakes, and then change the flavors and tweak things as necessary. It produces such a soft and fluffy and moist cake. Every time! I love it because I know it’s going to turn out, and it’s never dry.

This cake uses oil instead of butter, vanilla extract and butter flavoring (I like McCormick) to achieve that classic and nostalgic birthday cake flavor, three whole eggs instead of 4 egg whites, and about 1/2 cup of an assorted of confetti sprinkles.

the frosting

In the old version of this cake, I created a “birthday cake frosting” that included some dry cake mix that gave the frosting a cake batter flavor. While it tasted good and is still a fun idea, I covered this updated version in a classic buttercream. Because some things are better when they’re simplified and sometimes a good old classic is really the best.

pink drips

One of the biggest issues with the old cake was the pink drips. I used candy melts, but it turned out too thick and hard to work with. That’s where most of the complaints came from, so I turned to one of my favorite baking bloggers, Chelsweets! She creates the most colorful and incredible cakes and always has pristine drips! Her recipe is essentially a white chocolate ganache with gel food coloring. (You can find that recipe and all of her helpful tips here!) It’s a thousand times easier and yields perfectly formed drips.

I decided to finally update this cake recipe because my birthday is on Monday, so it was a nice little treat to have this cake around to munch on this week! My parents raved about the cake itself too. It’s just so soft and moist. Like a little multicolored cloud with pink swipes of frosting lol. I could go on and on about how much better this version is, but I hope you give it a try or make it for someone’s birthday soon!

Happy baking, friends!

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Classic Confetti Cake

Prep Time: 45

Cook Time: 25

Total Time: 1 10

Ingredients

Confetti Cake:

2 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 ½ cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp butter flavoring such as McCormick
½ cup vegetable oil
1 cup whole milk
½ cup sprinkles

Pink Drip:

⅓ cup heavy cream
1 heaping cup white chocolate chips
Pink gel food coloring

Buttercream Frosting:

1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
1 cup vegetable shortening
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp butter flavoring such as McCormick
2 tbsp heavy cream
5 cups powdered sugar

Instructions

For the cake:

Preheat oven to 350°F and spray three 6-inch (or two 8-inch) cake pans with baking spray and dust with flour.
In a large bowl, whisk together four, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Add eggs, vanilla, butter flavoring, vegetable oil, and milk. Mix on medium speed until all ingredients are combined. Fold in sprinkles.
Divide batter among cake pans and bake for 23 to 25 minutes, or until cakes are lightly golden on top and a toothpick inserted into the center of each layer comes out clean.
Let cakes cool in pans for 5-10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the pink drip:

Combine cream and white chocolate in a small saucepan over medium low heat. Stir frequently, letting white chocolate melt but not burn. Use a small whisk to incorporate the melted white chocolate into the cream. Remove from heat and stir in a small dab of pink gel food coloring. Add more food coloring until the desired hue is reached.
Set aside to cool completely.

For the frosting:

Cream butter on medium-high speed with an electric mixer. With mixer running, add shortening. Mix until smooth and creamy.
Add vanilla, butter flavoring, half of the powdered sugar, and 1 tablespoon of cream. Mix until well blended and fluffy. Repeat with second half of powdered sugar and cream, and mix for 1 minute.

Assembly:

Once cake layers are cool, use a cake saw or serrated knife to cut off any domed tops. This will help create an even and flat layer of cake.
Place one cake layer on your cake stand or cake plate and spread a layer of frosting on top. Repeat with remaining cake layers. Spread frosting over the outside of the cake. (I added a tiny bit of pink food coloring to some of my buttercream and added some swipes of pink frosting as well.)
Chill the cake in the refrigerator for 20 to 30 minutes. Transfer the white chocolate mixture to a piping bag or squeeze bottle.
When you’re ready to add the drip, remove the cake from the refrigerator and pipe drips around the edges of the cake. I like to add the drips around the edges, which creates a border and leaves the top open. Then I go back and fill in the top by drizzling on some of the white chocolate mixture and using an offset spatula to spread it out to the drips around the edges. Personally, I prefer doing it this way, but you could start by pouring some of the white chocolate mixture onto the top of the cake, spreading it just to the edges, and then adding the drips around the sides.
Let the drips set for a few minutes. Then add any additional decorations or sprinkles as you like!
Cake can be stored covered at room temperature or in the refrigerator.