This is a traditional vanilla Birthday Cake with buttercream frosting An old classic that will never go out of fashion.
Celebrating Birthdays With Cake
Birthdays are special, it’s that simple. Today in our house we are celebrating the very special day of our little girl. Well, maybe not so little any more as 14 seems quite grown up to me. I need to say that again…FOURTEEN!
I was asked to make a “funfetti” cake. I used a trusty ol’ vanilla cake recipe that I have been using for years and years and honestly can’t remember where it came from originally. It has changed somewhat from originally making it about 20 years ago, but still the same basic vanilla cake. Personally, vanilla birthday cake is my favourite.
Notes About The Birthday Cake
- Important to note that this is a FOUR layer cake and it was baked in 6-inch pans. If you choose to bake it in bigger pans just remember you will have to increase the baking time.
- It is best to use the long sprinkles as opposed to the tiny dot ones that I used in this cake. They will bleed much more colour into your cake than the smaller ones. Careful not to over mix, or the dye will run too much into the cake.
- Always allow cakes to cool completely before frosting the cake.
I know this isn’t the prettiest cake on the Internet as decorating isn’t my forte shall we say…hahaha. But I can tell you the cake is delicious. It’s been tried and tested for years with great results.
Happy cake baking friends
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Birthday Cake
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 1 Cup butter
- 1 3/4 Cups sugar
- 5 Eggs
- 1 Teaspoon vanilla
- 2 3/4 Cups plain flour sifted
- 1 1/2 Teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 Teaspoon salt
- 1 Cup buttermilk
- 1/4 Cups sprinkles
For the frosting:
- 1 1/2 Cups butter at room temperate
- 3 Cups icing sugar sifted
- 1/2 Teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 Tablespoons milk more if needed
- Extra sprinkles for decorating
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and line four 6 inch pans. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, sift together the flour, salt and baking powder. Set aside.
- In the bowl of your electric mixer, mix the butter on high speed for about a minute and add the sugar all at once. Continue to mix on high speed until pale in colour and light and fluffy. About 5 minutes. Mix in the vanilla extract. Beat in eggs, one at a time and mixing well after each addition.
- In three additions add the flour and the milk. Starting and ending with the flour. Gently stir in the flour with a spatula and be careful not to over mix. Stir in sprinkles and give a gentle stir. Evenly pour into prepared pans.
- Bake around 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes our with just a few crumbs. Remove from oven and cool in pans for about 5 minutes on a wire rack. Remove cakes from pans and gently peel off parchment paper. Leave to cool completely.
- While the cake is cooling, make the icing. In the bowl of your electric mixer, beat the butter on high speed until smooth. Gradually start adding your icing sugar and mixing as you go. Continue this process until you have added all of the icing sugar. It should be smooth and quite thick. Mix in the vanilla extract and two tablespoons of the milk. Mix on high speed. Add the remaining milk until smooth and creamy. If you think it is still too thick, add a little more milk until you reach the desired consistency.
- To assemble the cake. Put your first layer flat side up on the cake plate or stand you are using. Spread over enough frosting to cover the entire layer. Repeat for remaining layers. For the top layer, place it with the flat side down, so you will have a mounded top. First frost the cake by almost scrapping the frosting against the cake to just cover it. This is the crumb layer, so crumbs won’t show through in the final result. Then, frost the cake over completely until is it all covered. While the frosting is still really moist, throw over as many sprinkles as you like.
- This cake can be stored in the fridge, but the frosting will harden. Make sure you take it out of the fridge at least an hour before cutting into it. It will keep up to 3 days but best the day it is made.
*A note on times provided: appliances vary, any prep and/or cook times provided are estimates only.
Thanks For Stopping By & Hope To See You soon!
