Celebrate a special birthday with this Sprinkle Birthday Cake. This deliciously moist white cake is frosted with homemade buttercream, topped with chocolate ganache drips, and decorated with lots of rainbow-colored sprinkles.
Any birthday girl or boy, no matter their age, will love this festive birthday cake.
The three layers of made-from-scratch white cake are filled with creamy homemade buttercream frosting. You can add as many colorful sprinkles to the outside cake as you like but be sure to leave room for some yummy chocolate ganache drips at the top.
I love a good white cake, actually more than I like chocolate cake, which seems strange considering my affinity for chocolate. So for this recipe, I tried out quite a few white cake recipes until I found the one that produced the best flavor and texture.
The cake is moist and tender and when layered with homemade buttercream it's really flavorful. I added a splash of almond extract to both the cake and frosting but you can always swap out vanilla if you prefer.
Being I do love chocolate so much, I decided the cake needed a bit of that too so I added some drips of chocolate ganache for looks and flavor.
Recipe
Sprinkle Birthday Cake
Prep Time
1 hr
Cook Time
30 mins
Cooling Time
1 hr 30 mins
Total Time
3 hrs
Celebrate your special day with this colorful Sprinkle Birthday Cake. Three layers of white cake are topped with buttercream frosting, loads of sprinkles, and chocolate ganache. It’s the perfect cake for any birthday party.
Course:
Dessert
Cuisine:
American
Keyword:
birthday cake, cake, chocolate ganache, drip cake, sprinkles
Servings: 12
Ingredients
White Cake Ingredients:
- 1 cup milk at room temperature
- 4 egg whites at room temperature
- 2 ¼ cups cake flour
- 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅔ cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 cup Dixie Crystals Extra Fine Granulated Sugar
- 1 teaspoon almond extract or clear vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons sour cream at room temperature (do not use low-fat sour cream)
Buttercream Frosting Ingredients:
- 2 cups salted butter softened
- 5 ½ cups Dixie Crystals Confectioners Powdered Sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons almond extract or clear vanilla extract
- 2-5 tablespoons heavy whipping cream or milk
Chocolate Ganache Drips:
- 3 ounces finely chopped chocolate or ½ cup dark chocolate chips
- ⅓ cup heavy whipping cream
- ½ teaspoon corn syrup
Sprinkles:
- ½ cup rainbow sprinkles jimmies
Instructions
White Cake
-
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
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Butter the inside of three 6-inch round cake pans then dust them with flour.
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For easy removal of your cakes, insert rounds of parchment paper into the bottom of the cake pans.
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Whisk together the milk and egg whites and set aside.
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Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt, and stir with a fork. Set aside.
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Using an electric hand mixer, beat the butter and sugar, for about 3-4 minutes, until light and fluffy.
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Pour in the almond (or vanilla) extract and beat just to combine.
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Add ⅓ of the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and beat on low speed just until blended.
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Pour in half of the milk mixture and beat on medium speed until creamy.
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Stir in another ⅓ of the dry ingredients.
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Pour in the remaining milk mixture and beat on medium speed until incorporated.
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Add the sour cream and beat until smooth and creamy.
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Add the remaining flour and beat on low speed just until combined.
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Equally divide your cake batter among the three cake pans.
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Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 28-34 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs.
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Remove the cakes from the oven and set the pans on a cooling rack.
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Allow the cakes to cool for 10 minutes then remove the cakes from the pans and allow them to cool completely.
Buttercream Frosting:
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Beat the butter on medium-high speed for 3 minutes using a hand mixer.
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Add the powdered sugar, almond (or clear vanilla) extract, and 2 tablespoons of the heavy whipping cream.
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Beat on low until the powdered sugar is incorporated, then increase the mixer speed to medium-high and beat for 2-3 minutes until the frosting is really light and fluffy.
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Add more cream, a little at a time, until your frosting is the desired consistency to frost your cake.
Frost the Cake:
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Level the tops of your cakes, removing the domed pieces.
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If you used parchment paper to line your cake pans, be sure to peel the paper off the bottom of each of your cakes.
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Set one cake on a 6-inch cake cardboard or cake plate.
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Add a ½ inch layer of frosting on top of that cake.
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Stack on a second cake, frost that layer, then add the final cake on top.
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Add a crumb coat of frosting to the outside of the cake and freeze the cake for 20 minutes.
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Remove the cake from the freezer and frost the top and sides of the cake, reserving about ½ cup of frosting for the decoration.
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Freeze the frosted cake for about 30 minutes while you are making and cooling your chocolate ganache.
Chocolate Ganache:
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Place the chocolate in a heat-proof bowl.
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In a small saucepan, heat heavy cream until just simmering.
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Pour over chocolate and let stand for 5 minutes.
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Add corn syrup and stir mixture until combined completely.
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Let the ganache cool for 15-30 minutes, stirring often, until it’s slightly thickened but still pourable.
Decorate the cake:
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Remove the cake from the freezer and press sprinkles around the bottom edge.
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Either spoon the chocolate ganache over the top of the cake, allowing drips to from from around the top edge, or pour the ganache into a squeeze bottle and pipe chocolate ganache drips around the top edge and over the top of the cake.
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Pop the cake into the freezer for 10 minutes to allow the chocolate ganache to firm up.
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Spoon the remaining frosting into a pastry bag that is fitted with a large open star tip.
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Pipe large open stars around the top edge of the cake.
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Sprinkle on some rainbow jimmies to add some color to the frosting stars.
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Allow the cake to come to room temperature before serving.
Recipe Notes
The cake may be stored at room temperature for up to 2 days. Refrigerate afterwards.
Hi, I'm Beth Klosterboer, a professional chocolatier & baker, cookbook author, and event planner. I love sharing recipes for happy occasions here on Hungry Happenings. I also create easy fudge recipes to share at HowToMakeEasyFudge.com, rice krispie treat recipes at HowToMakeCerealTreats.com, and easy cookie recipes at HowToMakeEasyCookies.com
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The Partiologist says
How fun and festive, perfect to celebrate any occasion!
Beth says
Thanks! It really is a great all-purpose cake design.
Sharon Perry says
If I make this in a 9" cake pan, would I double the recipes?
Beth says
Each of the layers used about 2 cups of batter and I'm finding information that suggests using 5 cups of batter in each of the 9 inch cake pans so if you want 3 layers doubling the recipe should work but if you want thicker layers you might want to make 2 1/2 of the recipe. Let me know how it turns out.
Sharon Perry says
Thanks for the information! My neighbors are hoping I could make them a half cake with the extra layer if I am not using it! LOL
Beth says
I hope they enjoy their cake!!!
Sharon Perry says
Love this cake, so going to make this one soon, along with the recipes you have provided!
Thanks again!
Beth says
I hope you enjoy it! The cake with the almond extract tastes a little like a decorated sugar cookie. If you aren't a fan of almond extract you can use vanilla instead. Clear vanilla will give you a bright white cake while brown vanilla will change the color of the cake slightly.