Funfetti Layer Cake w/Cake Batter Frosting

My awesome coworker Kira got married last weekend. For her wedding “gift” I wanted to make her a cake. I planned on making her a white cake with white frosting and doing all these cute white decorations. You know. Very wedding-like, right?

Then I talked to her direct coworker who informed me that Kira had been talking about sprinkles a lot recently. And I watched the visions of my very classy white cake began to crumble. Oh well. Who wants a boring old white cake anyway?

So I went on the search for a funfetti layer cake. I’d made one a few years ago and it was good but I decided to try a new recipe. Primarily I was looking for a cake that used whole eggs instead of egg whites which proved more difficult to find. But I did find a decent looking recipe at Chocolate Moosey.

As for the frosting … that kind of came to me a day or so later. I decided to make cake batter cookies and it occurred to me that cake batter frosting would taste delicious with a funfetti cake. I found delicious looking recipe at Your Cup of Cake.

So what was the result? Sheer genius. We ate it on Wednesday when she returned from her mini-honeymoon. The cake is dense but moist. I doubled the original recipe and split it amongst three 8-inch cake pans. I found the cake didn’t rise very much. I don’t mind dense cakes but I know some people do.

cake ingredients.

• 4 c. cake flour (spooned into the measuring cup then leveled off)
• 1 T. baking powder
• 2 tsp. salt
• 3 c. granulated sugar
• 1 pound butter, melted
• 4 eggs, room temperature
• 1 ½ c. buttermilk or whole milk, room temperature (I used cream)
• ½ c. plain Greek yogurt, room temperature
• 4 tsp. pure vanilla extract (not imitation)
• ½ to 1 c. rainbow sprinkles plus more for garnishing
• cake batter cookies for garnish

cake batter frosting ingredients.

• 1 c. butter, softened
• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 2 to 3 T. milk or cream
• 1 T. vanilla extract
• ½ c. yellow cake mix (dry), or more to taste
• 5 to 6 c. powdered sugar
• pinch of salt

cake batter frosting directions.

1. Beat butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add vanilla extract and combine until incorporated.
2. Add yellow cake mix and salt and beat again. Slowly add powdered sugar and milk until you reach your desired consistency. Taste, and add more yellow cake mix to get a stronger flavor.

cake assembly.

1. I like to make the cake the day before I’m assembling. Or a couple days even. I freeze the cake until ready to assemble. It’s easier to slice in half that way if you’re trying to get more layers. You have to let it defrost a bit but the cake doesn’t crumble as much when it’s cold. When you’re ready to assemble, slice off the domed top (if there is any) and split the cake in two.
2. Before I assemble, I place 3 or four pieces of wax paper down on the cake platter so that when I’m frosting the cake and frosting gets everywhere, I can remove the wax paper strips when I’m done and the finished product looks clean.
3. Place a layer of cake on top of your cake platter, spread frosting nearly all the way across. Top with another layer of cake and repeat until you have no more layers.
4. This frosting is enough to make a “naked” cake. It’s like leaving the crumb layer exposed basically. Spread it over the top and around the sides filling in any gaps between your layers and then use a cake spatula to scrape the frosting along the sides to give the frosting that tight “naked” look. Pop any extra frosting into your mouth or eat it with some of the domed tops you lopped off.
5. For the garnish break up a few of the cake batter cookies into a food processor and pulse until little balls of “dough” form. You’ll need slightly under-done cookies to be able to accomplish this. I think I used about four to six cookies to cover the entire top of the cake.
6. Refrigerate the cake until your ready to serve. I always refrigerate the cake overnight or up to a few days. I like to allow the frosting to soak into the layers of the cake – it makes the cake even more moist. Let the cake sit out at room temperature for a few hours before eating. This one sat out four hours and was still slightly “chilled” when served.

So this cake has a bit of a “fake” flavor because it has dry cake mix in it. Also I used partial imitation vanilla extract to get that “box” cake taste for the cake. I would not recommend imitation vanilla extract; that’s just my personal preference. Go with the real deal. It’s so much better! Plus you get enough of the fake taste in the frosting.

I don’t know about you but I believe that ice cream goes with cake like jelly goes with peanut butter. Or like cheese goes with pizza. Or like ketchup goes with french fries. Incidentally, I don’t like ketchup with french fries and I prefer honey with peanut butter but you get the idea. If you have a dry cake, ice cream makes it infinitely better. No concerns with dryness for this cake though! I topped my piece of cake with some vanilla ice cream from Ben and Jerry’s. It was H.E.A.V.E.N.L.Y.

Recipe rating: 