Confetti Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting
Updated Oct. 28, 2025
- Total Time
- 1 hour 20 minutes, plus cooling
- Prep Time
- 10 minutes
- Cook Time
- 1 hour 10 minutes, plus cooling
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- ¾cup/170 grams salted butter, cut into pieces, at room temperature, plus more for the pans
- 4cups/512 grams cake flour, plus more for the pans
- 1½cups/360 milliliters whole milk, at room temperature, divided
- 6large egg whites
- ⅓cup/80 milliliters vegetable oil
- 1½ tablespoons pure vanilla extract
- 1teaspoon almond extract
- 1¾cups/350 grams granulated sugar
- 4½teaspoons baking powder
- 2teaspoons kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)
- ¾ cup/135 grams rainbow sprinkles
- 24ounces/675 grams cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1cup/226 grams salted butter, at room temperature
- 2cups/246 grams powdered sugar
- 2teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
- Rainbow sprinkles for decorating, optional
For the Cake
For the Frosting
Nutritional analysis per serving (14 servings)
789 calories; 47 grams fat; 25 grams saturated fat; 2 grams trans fat; 14 grams monounsaturated fat; 3 grams polyunsaturated fat; 85 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 46 grams sugars; 9 grams protein; 501 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Make the cake: Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour three 9-inch round cake pans.
- Step 2
In a large liquid measuring cup, whisk together ½ cup of the milk, the egg whites, oil and vanilla and almond extracts.
- Step 3
In a large bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. With an electric mixer on medium speed, beat in the butter until the mixture looks sandy, about 1 minute. Add the remaining 1 cup milk and beat until smooth, about 2 minutes. The batter will be thick.
- Step 4
With the mixer running, add the egg mixture in 2 parts, increasing the speed in between each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as necessary.
- Step 5
Increase the speed to medium-high and beat the mixture for another minute. Reduce the speed to low and mix in the sprinkles.
- Step 6
Divide the batter evenly among the prepared pans and spread it out with an offset spatula.
- Step 7
Bake until the layers are puffed and light golden and a toothpick inserted into the center of each comes out with moist crumbs attached, 35 to 40 minutes. Transfer pans to a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes, then tip them out of the pans to cool completely. (If you would like to make the cake in advance, you can wrap the baked and cooled layers in plastic and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw in the plastic at room temperature or in the fridge before frosting.)
- Step 8
Make the frosting: In a large bowl, with an electric mixer on medium, beat the cream cheese and butter together until fluffy and smooth, about 2 minutes. Beat in the powdered sugar, vanilla and salt until smooth. Cover and chill until ready to use, then beat until smooth and spreadable.
- Step 9
If your cakes are domed, use a serrated knife to level the tops. Place one of the cake layers flat side down on a platter or a cake stand. Using an offset spatula, frost the top with 1 cup of frosting. Stack another layer on top, flat side up and top with 1 cup of frosting. Finish with the last layer, flat side up. Use the remaining frosting to cover the top of the cake, and working from the center outward, frost along the top and down the sides of the cake. Top with sprinkles as desired.
- If you only have two 9-inch cake pans, you can bake two cake layers rather than three (you may have to increase the cooking time by a few minutes). Once they’re cool, wrap them individually with plastic and freeze for 30 minutes. Then, use a serrated knife to split each layer evenly in half for a four-layer cake.
Private Notes
Comments
I've been baking cakes for a long time (and have had my share of disasters) but one of the best pieces of advice here is to bake the layers in advance, days ahead, and refrigerate and/or freeze them. Baking and frosting involve tow very distinct tasks and techniques, and time wise, baking a cake from batter to frosting is a marathon task for most of us.
Rose Levy Beranbaum’s cream cheese frosting is divine: 24 ounces cream cheese, 4-8 ounces butter, 12 ounces melted white chocolate, lemon juice (or dessicated lemon crystals). Use less butter if you want the cake to hold up in warm temperatures.
A note for uk bakers- sprinkles are less robust here and way more prone to melting, they are also not as vibrant. Something to do with e numbers is my guess, but either way, whenever I have tried to make a cake like this they melt and make a very sad cake with a layer of sugar at the bottom, slightly ill coloured crumb and no sprinkles in it. If anyone knows how to get around this without ordering them online (who can be bothered) then please lmk
Cake came out dry! Next time I will cut the baking time. Icing was delicious and light tasting.
The chemistry of this recipe worked perfectly for me (with the cook time adjustment mentioned in other posts). The cake came out beautifully. Mixing took considerably longer with my handheld mixer to reach "sandy", "smooth", "fluffy", etc. My patience was rewarded. HOWEVER, I must say that the frosting is TOO SALTY. I think unsalted butter would be better here. The salt in the cream cheese plus the added tsp of kosher salt should be enough to temper the sweetness.
Cook time is inaccurate in the recipe! so bad. Took it out at 28 minutes, and it's DRY. 22 minutes probably correct. The prescribed 40 minutes might catch fire.