It’s been a while! We’ve decided to try and resurrect the blog after noticing when we were prompted to renew the website domain, that it was getting some traffic. We couldn’t quite believe that people still read our blog posts, some of which are more than 10 years old. Since our last ones there have been a few degrees, multiple jobs, houses and children. We’ve been busy but there has still been a lot of baking going on.

Most recently I (Lizzy) made a birthday cake for my oldest daughter (she’s just turned 3). When asked, she said without hesitation that she wanted a sprinkle cake. Cakes decorated with sprinkles are all the rage, but I fancied adding the Funfetti element as well. For those who don’t know, a Funfetti Cake is one where you add sprinkles into the batter which give it a fun, multicoloured look when you cut into it.

This cake was super easy and it looked fabulous. The sprinkle decoration could hide my messy butter-creaming (Ruth is a queen at it but I have yet to master it…) and it looked pretty professional, even if I say so myself. If you’re wanting to make an impressive cake but unsure on your icing ability then this really is the cake for you.

To begin I used a standard vanilla cake recipe. I made enough for 3, 8″ cakes. This was a little complicated as I, like most amateur bakers, only had two tins. It is important not to make cake batter too much in advance of putting it in the oven as baking powder (UK version) starts to work as soon as it comes into contact with liquid. So I made two tins worth, cooked them and then made the third.

To break it down, for two tins this was 4 eggs, 225g caster sugar, 225g self-raising flour, 225g margarine, 2tsp baking powder and 2tsp vanilla, 2tbsp milk). For the third tin I simply halved the quantities (2 eggs, 110g caster sugar, 110g self-raising flour, 120g margarine, 1tsp baking powder, 1tsp vanilla, 1tbsp milk). When making any cake that starts with a basic sponge recipe we always cream together the butter and sugar then add the beaten eggs and rest of the ingredients; mixing these for as little time as possible, just enough to fully combine them . If you want a more in-depth breakdown as to how to mix a good sponge look at our basic cupcake recipe and follow the same principles.

To incorporate the Funfetti element I bought these Rulop sprinkles. Unfortunately you can’t escape the fact that you need sprinkles with proper bright food colouring in to get the best effect (i.e. E-numbers). What can I say, it was a one off birthday cake for a party where the kids were going to be eating their bodyweight in biscuits and sugar anyway and it was certainly worth if for the effect.

To incorporate the sprinkles I sprinkled them over the top of the batter in the tin and mixed them through lightly with a knife just before baking. I did this because I thought they might all sink if I stirred them into the batter directly. However, if I were to do this again, I would add some to the batter and then sprinkle additional ones onto the top of the cake before baking. I bought a 200g bag of sprinkles and used about 2/3 – 3/4. If I did it again, I would use them all, it could definitely have taken more.

I made these cakes well in advance of the party and once cooled, wrapped them in clingfilm and put them in the freezer. The day before the party I made my buttercream (double this recipe and adding in vanilla essence) and then got the cakes out of the freezer and unwrapped them. I first put a thin layer of icing to sandwich the cakes together and then covered the outside, filling any gaps between the cakes with extra icing. Icing them frozen was a revelation and I will be doing it again. It was so much easier with no crumbs or cake falling apart. Freezing didn’t seem to compromise the cake quality, it was still delicious. I would have put jam in the middle if I had been allowed (my daughter claims not to like it).

In order to cover the cake in sprinkles I bought hundreds and thousands from Tesco. The ones that are round. I only needed one pot but I would buy two to be safe. I covered the entire outside of the cake in sprinkles, finding a rhythm to sticking them on. I would fill my hand with sprinkles and roll it up the cake, letting sprinkles stick as my hand moved. I recommend putting your cake plate/board on a tray with a lip or even doing this outside if it is a nice enough day. It is a messy process!

Once I had done that, I thought the edging around the top was not neat enough so I sprinkled additional sprinkles around the top, creating a border which meant it wasn’t as important to get the top circular edge completely neat. To be honest, I had never thought as far ahead as what was going to go on top of the cake. A quick trip to Tesco found the perfect paper cake toppers for my dinosaur obsessed toddler and a few candles completed the look. Nothing fancy but it looked good and she loved it.

This sprinkle cake could be personalised in so many ways. You can buy sprinkles in all sorts of shapes and colours, particularly if you look online.

My top two takeaways for making a cake look more that little bit more impressive:

1. Add an extra layer. Making the cake that bit taller makes it look a lot more professional
2. Cover the sides because neat butter-creaming is difficult!