A soft and fluffy vanilla cake decorated with rainbow sprinkles. The perfect cake for a celebration or birthday party.
This is such a happy cake! If you've got a family birthday coming up or you just want to something fun for the lunchboxes, then my Vanilla Sprinkle Cake is the one for you.
Made from simple, pantry staples, this cake is so easy to whip up. I've used two different types of sprinkles for mine; hundreds and thousands in the cake and some fancier cake decorating sprinkles from Chef's Complements for the icing. This cake would also be delicious with chocolate, lemon or passionfruit icing.
How to make vanilla sprinkle cake:
Start by preheating the oven to 170°C fanbake. Add flour, baking powder and sugar to a large bowl then whisk together. Melt the butter in the microwave then add in the milk and vanilla. Stir together and pour on top of dry ingredients.
Add the eggs and stir. Gently fold in the sprinkles and mix until all ingredients are combined. Pour batter into the cake tray, bake for 30 minutes.
Remove the cake from the oven and leave it in the tray for 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. To make the icing, beat the butter for 1 minute before adding the icing sugar and milk. Spread on to the cake then scatter over the sprinkles. Cut into slices and serve.
We love celebrations in our house! My two other go-to cakes for birthdays are my Chocolate Banana Cake and my epic Black Forest Gateau.
Common questions about Vanilla Sprinkle cake:
What size cake tray did you use? My cake tray is 22cm x 30cm.
How long will this cake keep for? This cake keeps well in an airtight container for up to 4 days in the pantry.
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Vanilla Sprinkle Cake
A soft and fluffy vanilla cake with fun, rainbow sprinkles.
Ingredients
- 2 cups plain flour (300g)
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 cup sugar
- 125g butter
- 1⁄2 cup milk
- 2 tsp vanilla essence
- 2 eggs, whisked
- 1 Tbsp sprinkles
Icing
- 75g butter, softened
- 1.5 cups icing sugar (240g)
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 2 Tbsp milk
- 1 Tbsp sprinkles
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 170°C fanbake. Line a cake tray with baking paper
- Add flour, baking powder and sugar to a large bowl, whisk together.
- Melt butter in a glass jug in the microwave, add the milk and vanilla essence. Stir together and pour on top of the dry ingredients.
- Add the eggs and stir. Gently fold in the sprinkles and mix until all ingredients are just combined.
- Pour batter into the cake tray and bake for 30 minutes - until a skewer comes out clean.
- Stand in the tray for 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
- Icing: In a mixer or with hand held beaters, whisk butter on high for one minute. Add the icing sugar, vanilla essence and milk.
- Beat until the mixture is smooth, pale and fluffy. Spread on to the cooled cake and scatter over sprinkles. Cut the cake into slices then serve.
Notes
- My cake tray is 22cm x 30cm.
- Store in an airtight container in the pantry for up to 4 days.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 345Total Fat: 15gSaturated Fat: 9gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 68mgSodium: 208mgCarbohydrates: 49gFiber: 1gSugar: 31gProtein: 4g
Nutritional values are approximate. Please use your own calculations if you require a special diet.
Melissa
Can you make the vanilla sprinkle cake into muffins??
VJ cooks
Yes, you can! Cupcakes will take significantly less time to cook. Depending on your oven, you will need to keep an eye on them from 15 minutes on.
Daphne
Can you double the recipe to bake for a crowd? Or do I have to do two lots?
VJ cooks
If you are doubling the recipe then yes, I would cook it in two dishes. The cooking temperature and duration are for a single serving.
Jojo
Could this be made egg free? Just learnt my son is allergic to eggs 🙁
VJ cooks
That must be hard, sorry. The egg helps to bind the batter together. You could potentially use 'egg replacer', but I haven't tried that myself sorry.
Bree
My cake turned out so flat! Not the ideal birthday cake for mum. Not sure why- I have made this before and was great
VJ cooks
Sorry to hear that Bree. Common causes for a flat cake can include over beating the mixture, too much or too little baking powder or baking powder that has expired. I hope this helps.
Juanita
Hi ☺️
I made this cake for the first time for a dessert for my kids, I doubled the mixture and cooked it in an oven tray at 180 degrees Celsius, for about 40mins, it came out perfect and the kids loved it!
I didn't add any sprinkles coz my kids don't like them, and I made a caramel sauce instead of the icing ☺️
VJ cooks
That's awesome! Thanks for the feedback Juanita.
Penelope
Hi VJ, can I freeze this after it has been baked and decorated? I'm wanting to make ahead for a party.
VJ cooks
Hi Penelope, yes the cake can be frozen with the icing on it. I haven't frozen a cake with sprinkles on the icing though. My concern is that they could bleed into the icing. To avoid that I would suggest adding the sprinkles once the cake has defrosted.
Olivia
Hi, would this cake work in a circle cake tin?
VJ cooks
Because this cake is made in a large rectangle dish, you would be better off making it in two smaller circle cake tins. Unless you have a 28-30cm cake tin.