My inspiration for this cake is that... well, sprinkles make everything better. Truly! At my cottage bakery, a funfetti cake is a moist vanilla-based batter, with sprinkles both baked in, and all around the cake. It screams "kid's birthday" and it's so delicious that everyone wants seconds, adults and gluten-eaters alike! So let's get to it and see what makes the perfect gluten-free funfetti cake!
This recipe was developed after my super moist and airy gluten-free vanilla cupcakes, which are my cottage bakery's top seller.
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Ingredients
Most of the ingredients for this gluten-free funfetti cake are kitchen staples, but I want to talk about two important ingredients.
- Gluten-free flour: not all GF flour mixes are created equal. My recipe was developed using my own blend, which is specially formulated to fight grittiness. Please click through for my DIY blend, and recommended commercial alternatives.
- Sprinkles: make sure you check the ingredients, because not all sprinkles are gluten-free! In my bakery, I use the Supernatural brand (non-affiliate) because they are completely allergen-free. However, the colors "bleed" a bit in the batter. They are perfect for covering the cake though!
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
Let's bake a cake!
- Sift all the dry ingredients and set aside. This prevents clumps (baking soda is often a culprit) and aerates the flour for a light batter.
- In a mixing bowl, cream butter, sugar and oil until light and fluffy. Add the sour cream and eggs and continue mixing until homogeneous.
- To the creamed butter-sugar, add a third of the dry ingredients, and mix to incorporate.
- Add half of the liquids and mix to incorporate.
- Continue alternating between dry and liquids until all ingredients have been used. Finally, fold in the sprinkles.
- Divide the batter evenly between the two greased and lined cake pans.
- Bake at 350F for ~30 minutes.
- Fully cool and frost!
- The best way to add sprinkles to the side of the cake is by FREEZING the cake layers so the cake is hard, and pressing a hand full of sprinkles on the frosting.
Please note, not shown in the gallery below is how to make the buttercream for the gluten-free funfetti cake. You'll find photos and a video in my buttercream recipe.
Hint: this is optional, but most cake decorators will wait until the cake has cooled, wrap it tightly in plastic and flash-freeze it. It's much easier to decorate a hard frozen cake AND as the cake thaws, it will release moisture for the perfect cake experience!
Substitutions
The allergens in this recipe are: eggs, milk. I don't recommend substituting a flax egg, instead you can look and modify my gluten-free vegan lemon cake recipe. Please note that I am working on a vanilla version of that recipe.
- Dairy-free - there is milk in several places, but they are all replaceable. I often bake dairy-free per my customers' requests and the following substitutions are tried and true:
- butter: use your favorite vegan butter sticks (STICKS not spreads), my preference is those high in saturated fats like the coconut-based vegan butter from Trader Joe's
- buttermilk powder: omit this ingredient, replace all the water with vegan buttermilk, which is vegan milk, like almond milk, curdled with a teaspoon of lemon juice or apple cider vinegar
- sour cream: use a vegan sour cream, or a plain vegan yogurt
Variations
You can use chocolate sprinkles, or a mix of rainbow and chocolate sprinkles! You could also replace the sprinkles by mass in the batter by chocolate chips, or caramel chips!
Equipment
You'll need either a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or an electric mixer. For this recipe, I am using two 6-inch round cake pans.
Storage
My recipe written as is, is shelf-stable. Store your gluten-free funfetti cake at room temperature on the counter. It's going to be moist and yummy for 3 days stored this way. Unfortunately, if you refrigerate it, it will quickly dry out. Once cut, you can wrap leftovers in plastic stored at room temperature.
If you need to freeze leftovers, I suggest flash-freezing 10 minutes to harden the frosting, then wrapping in plastic and storing in an airtight container, for up to a month.
Top tip
Sift your dry ingredients! It prevents clumping, and adds air in the batter for a nice fluffy cake.
FAQ
It's a vanilla-based cake with sprinkles in the batter and the frosting, for a fun colorful product that kids love!
A cake is done baking when a pressed finger in the middle makes an indentation that bounces back and disappears immediately.
Related
Looking for other gluten-free cakes or cupcake options for your celebration?
Gluten-Free Funfetti Cake
Equipment
- 1 electric mixer
- 2 six inch cake pans
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 200 grams gluten-free flour please click through for appropriate blend
- 18 grams corn starch
- 7 grams baking powder 1½ teaspoon
- 3 grams baking soda ½ teaspoon
- 19 grams buttermilk powder you can omit, and replace water with buttermilk
- 3 grams salt ½ teaspoon
Creamed Ingredients
- 70 grams butter soft, room temperature
- 32 grams canola oil or other neutral tasting oil like safflower
- 205 grams sugar
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 1 egg white room temperature
- 36 grams sour cream room temperature
- 70 grams sprinkles make sure they are GF, like Supernatural
Liquid Ingredients
- 130 grams water room temperature
- 8 grams vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract, 2 teaspoon
Buttercream Frosting
- 170 grams butter salted, room temperature
- 10 grams hot water only as needed
- 340 grams powdered sugar
- 8 grams vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract, 2 teaspoon
- 70 grams sprinkles
Instructions
For the Cake
- Sift all the dry ingredients (minus the salt) into a bowl. Add salt, and set aside.Note: salt is too large to be sifted.
- In a separate bowl, place sugar, oil and butter. Using the electric mixer, cream those ingredients together until light, white and fluffy.
- Add the eggs and sour cream, and continue mixing until the mixture is homogeneous.
- Remove one beater from the electric mixer, and mix by hand for the following instructions. Mixing by hand avoids overworking the gums in the flour which can cause a "goopy" batter.
- To the creamed ingredients, add and mix ⅓ of the dry ingredients.
- Combine the vanilla and water in a glass, and add ½ of it to the batter. Mix well.
- Continue alternating between dry and liquid ingredients, mixing well (by hand) after each addition, until all ingredients have been used.
- Fold in the sprinkles gently.
- Divide the batter evenly between the cake pans, which should be greased and lined with parchment paper.
- Let the batter sit in the cake pans for 10 minutes while the oven preheats to 350 °F (177 °C)
- Bake in the middle of the preheated oven for 20 minutes, then rotate the cake pans. Bake an additional ~10 minutes.
- The cake is done when a pressed finger into the middle of the cake makes an indentation that bounces back immediately without making a lasting print. Bake longer if the middle of the cake seems soft still.
- Fully cool on a rack. Optional: wrap the cake in plastic to "flash-freeze". This hardens the cake and makes it easier to decorate.
For the Buttercream
- If you're new to frosting, please see my buttercream post for pictures and a video.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or an electric mixer), cream the salted butter until light, white and fluffy. This takes ~5 minutes.
- IF your house is cold, you may need to soften the butter using hot water, only as needed, to help creaming it.
- Add the powdered sugar and vanilla, and continue mixing until a smooth buttercream frosting forms. This takes an additional ~10 minutes.
- Decorate your cake with frosting and sprinkles!
- Hint: to coat the cake in sprinkles as shown, I used frozen cake layers so it would be hard, and I pressed a handful of sprinkles to the side of the cake. Pictures in the instruction section of the post.
- Enjoy!
Naelle @ GlutenFreeDIYers
I baked this for my son's second birthday and it was a huge success, I'm happy to share the recipe with all of you!