The best Birthday Cake recipe! You get a pillowy soft and tender, perfectly light and fluffy funfetti style cake that's generously dotted with rainbow sprinkles and it's swirled with a classic birthday cake and vanilla flavor. Then of course it's finished with the most luscious buttercream frosting. Everyone will instantly fall in love!
Servings: 16
Prep40 minutesminutes
Cook30 minutesminutes
Cooling2 hourshours
Ready in: 3 hourshours10 minutesminutes
Ingredients
2 1/4cups (300g)cake flour(preferably use a kitchen scale to measure or use scoop and level method to measure)
Vanilla Buttercream Frosting,1 full recipe found HERE (or make more for decorating)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and line two 9-inch round cake pans. Line bottoms with parchment paper, butter parchment, dust with flour and shake out excess. Wrap pans with cake strips (I use THESE - affiliate link)****.
Sift cake flour into a medium mixing bowl. Add baking powder and salt and whisk together.
In the bowl of an electric stand mixer cream butter and sugar until very pale and fluffy. Scrape down sides and bottom of mixer bowl with a rubber spatula.
Mix in vegetable oil. Then mix in the 2 egg yolks, scrape down mixer bowl. Blend in vanilla and almond extract. Set aside.
In a separate clean medium mixing bowl using an electric hand mixer whip 6 egg whites (2 from the whole eggs listed, 4 from egg whites listed) on high speed until medium-stiff peaks form (tips of peaks should just droop slightly).
Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to butter mixture in stand mixer, mix just until combined. Add 1/2 of the milk and mix just until combined. Add another 1/3 of the flour mixture mix just until combined, followed by remaining 1/2 milk mixture mixing just until combined. Add in last 1/3 of the flour mixture and mix just until combined.
Remove bowl from stand mixer. Add egg whites and sprinkles and gently fold batter with a rubber spatula just until combined.
Divide mixture among prepared pans, pour and spread into an even layer.
Bake in preheated oven until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 30 - 35 minutes.
Cool in pan about 20 minutes, then run knife around edges of cake to loosen and invert onto wire racks to cool completely.
Once cool frost with buttercream frosting. If adding sprinkles over frosting add right away before it starts to develop a lightly dry outer crust. Store cake in an airtight container in a cool temperature (or chill for longer shelf life).
Notes
*To soften butter faster I usually microwave in 4 second intervals then rotate between each interval until just soft with a bit of firmness, do not melt!
**This will take about 60 minutes of resting at room temperature, unless you're in a warmer climate.
To bring eggs to room temperature faster place in a bowl, cover with warm water, rest 5 minutes. For egg whites place in a sealed container and place in a bowl of very warm water rest 5 minutes.
***To bring milk to room temperature quickly warm in microwave until it reaches 70 degrees on an instant read thermometer. It should only take about 30 seconds.
****I use cake strips, but you can also make your own with layers of wet paper towels wrapped in a long sheet of foil or using a DIY wet cloth. I recommend using these because cakes come out taller and perfectly level (no trimming and waisting top) and edges aren't browned.
If there is a nut allergy almond extract can be omitted, increase vanilla to 1 Tbsp total.
For decorating cake I used 1m Wilton tip. You'll want about 1/3 more frosting than the recipe lists.