A couple of weeks ago, my dear friend’s daughter, Emmy, turned one year old. I knew Emmy wouldn’t remember this birthday (or the next one, or the next one), but I’d be damned if a niece of mine wasn’t going to have the best first birthday cake in all the land.

Plus: I figured after she faceplanted in her slice, I’d get to take home some leftovers. (So this wasn’t completely altruistic.)

After consulting with my friend, we settled with this homemade funfetti cake. My mom always made our cakes from scratch, so you know no nostalgia for boxed funfetti is influencing me when I say: this was a darn good cake. It is essentially a very vanilla, slightly almondy, and quite sweet cake, with a very rich vanilla buttercream frosting.

Plus: just look at how cute it is! Just look at it!
Two things give this cake that perfectly white color that allows the sprinkles to pop: the exclusive use of egg whites, and the use of clear imitation vanilla extract. Using regular vanilla extract will make the cake slightly more yellow. For me, the three bucks for clear imitation vanilla was well spent, given the stunning (and cute! So cute!!) outcome. But you do you!

In the end, Emmy didn’t know what to do with her cake: she ran her hand over it, stuck her finger in it, had one bite, and then moved on to play with her toys. The adults at the party, on the other hand, certainly did: we demolished this. Until next year…

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Previously:
One year ago: Anglo-Australian Scones
Two years ago: Truffled Kettle Corn

And for my Australians:
Six months ago: Ratatouille
One and a half years ago: Mango-Chia Smoothie (awful photos from the early blog days, but great recipe) 

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Emmy’s Funfetti Cake

From My Name is Yeh
Makes one double-layer 8- or 9-inch round cake

Ingredients

Cake
Parchment (aka baking) paper, to line cake pans
2 1/2 cups (343g) all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (34g) constarch
1 teaspoon (5g) kosher salt
2 teaspoons (8g) baking powder
1 cup (226g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups (313g) sugar
4 egg whites from large eggs
1/4 cup (59mL) flavorless oil (such as vegetable oil)
1 tablespoon clear imitation vanilla (see notes at end of recipe)
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
3/4 cup (177mL) whole milk
1/2 cup (75g) rainbow sprinkles (artificially colored cylinders–see notes at end of recipe)

Frosting
1 3/4 cups (395g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 1/2 cups (383g) powdered sugar
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoon clear imitation vanilla
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
2+ tablespoons whole milk (see notes at end of recipe)

Decoration (optional)
5-7 ounces (141-198g) marzipan
Food coloring

Instructions

Cake
Preheat the oven to 350F (176C). Grease the bottoms and sides of two 8- or 9-inch diameter cake pans and line the bottoms with rounds of baking paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, salt, and baking powder.

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or with a set of electric hand beaters, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, (3 to 4 minutes in a stand mixer, a bit longer with hand beaters). Add the egg whites, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the oil and the almond and imitation vanilla extract.

With the mixer running on low speed, add the dry mixture and the milk in two or three alternating batches and mix until just barely combined. (Alternatively, just add in three batches and mix with electric beaters on low after each addition.) Then, using a rubber spatula, gently fold in the sprinkles until they’re evenly distributed. Pour the batter into the cake pans, distributing evenly between the two pans. Spread the tops smooth with a spatula.

Place in oven and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. For my 9″ pans, this took 21 minutes. The original recipe, which called for 8″ pans, said to begin checking for doneness at 25 minutes.

Let the cakes cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then gently turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely. (Make this easier by placing the wire rack on top of the pan, then flipping the cake and rack upside down.)

Frosting
In a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or in a bowl with electric hand beaters, beat the butter until smooth and gradually beat in the powdered sugar. Add the salt, extracts, and milk and beat to combine.

Decoration
Break the tube of marzipan into chunks. Color each chunk with food coloring–I made four chunks and colored them purple, aqua, yellow, and pink. (The back of the food coloring package will tell you how many drops of each color you need to create the outcome you want.) Your hands are going to be neon by the end of this–it washes off with a good scrubbing. Roll out each piece of marzipan between two pieces of wax paper or baking paper until it is about 1/8″ thick. Using a small, sharp knife, cut the marzipan into triangles. Carefully peel the triangles off the wax paper and place on the cake. This is tedious work, but the outcome is, as you can see, insanely cute—worthy of a first birthday.

Notes

Imitation vanilla: As I explain in the headnotes, using imitation vanilla helps keep the cake and icing bright white. You could skip it, but your cake won’t be as white. It usually costs 2-3 bucks.

Rainbow sprinkles: Molly Yeh, who developed this recipe, experimented tirelessly with different kinds of sprinkles. She found that artificially-colored cylinders–not nonpareils, rainbow sugar, or anything naturally colored–created the brightest, best funfetti effect.

Milk for frosting: I made this in February, when the entire East Coast–but especially my drafty kitchen–felt like an ice box. As a result, my room-temperature butter was very cold and quite hard, and I needed to add another tablespoon of milk to make the frosting spreadable. If you do need to add extra milk, add it just a teaspoon at a time.

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