The last of the birthday honorees for our group celebration was my friend Joe. When I told his wife Rachel that I was planning on making individual desserts for each birthday boy or girl, I asked her if Joe had any particular favorites that I could make for him since nothing was immediately obvious as “the one” for him. She said, “He does have a favorite – he calls it ‘girl cake’.” Um, what? She clarified that “girl cake” is how Joe refers to funfetti cake. Hilarious :)
I have made this recipe once before in cupcake form, and it was fabulous. This time I made it in two 5-inch round cake layers and decorated it with my favorite vanilla buttercream. The only problem I had was judging how long to bake the cakes. I took them out of the oven a bit early before I realized they needed to bake a bit longer, and I think this caused them to sink in the middle. Because of this I really cannot give an accurate baking time for this recipe, but I will estimate about 30-40 minutes. Of course the sunken middles were nothing some delicious frosting couldn’t fix ;)
Funfetti Cake
Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
6 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 large egg whites
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. almond extract
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup rainbow sprinkles
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour the sides of two 5-inch round cake pans, and line the bottom of the pans with parchment paper.
In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir together and set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg whites to the bowl and beat until combined. Add in the vanilla and almond extracts and mix until incorporated. Mix in the dry ingredients in three additions, alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Mix just until incorporated. Fold in the sprinkles with a spatula.
Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean (about 30-40 minutes?). Allow to cool in pans 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely. Frost cooled cakes as desired.
Source: adapted from Baking Bites
