This show-stopping Old School Birthday Sprinkle Cake deserves a spot on your dessert menu. Layers of moist, fluffy vanilla cake are frosted with luscious buttercream and coated in rainbow sprinkles! Serve plain or with ice cream or custard during birthdays or other special occasions.
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The old-school sprinkle tray bake cake inspires this birthday cake! Instead of baking the cake in a tray, I bake them in circular cake tins, add easy creamy vanilla buttercream or White Chocolate Buttercream in between each layer, frost the cake with buttercream and coat it with sprinkles!
This old school birthday sprinkle cake is a great option for kids' birthdays and rainbow-themed parties. You can also try my rainbow layer cake or Chocolate Oreo Drip if you love this cake.
Why You Should Try This Recipe
- This old school birthday sprinkle cake is made with easy-to-find ingredients.
- The ingredients are budget-friendly.
- You can change the size depending on how many people you need to feed.
- It can be made into cupcakes.
Ingredients
- Unsalted butter: Ensure the butter is at room temperature to achieve the ideal cake batter consistency.
- Caster Sugar: Sift the cast sugar to remove excess lumps or dirt.
- Eggs: Use room-temperature eggs to ensure that the ingredients combine properly when mixing. If you are short on time, place the eggs in their shells in warm water for seven minutes or until they reach room temperature.
- Vanilla extract: For vanilla flavor.
- Self-raising flour: Sift the flour before mixing. Do not use plain flour because it does not include leavening agents.
- Baking powder: To give the cake a fluffy cake texture.
- Milk: Use room-temperature full-fat milk.
Sprinkle Cake Decoration
- Unsalted butter: Use room-temperature butter to make the buttercream.
- Icing sugar: Sift the sugar before combining the ingredients for a smooth texture.
- Heavy cream or milk: Use full fat heavy creamy.
- Vanilla extract: Adds vanilla flavor.
- Colored sprinkles: For decoration.
Tips and Substitutions
- Mixing: Do not overmix the batter once the wet and dry ingredients have been combined because this will affect the texture of the cake and make it chewy.
- Weighing ingredients: Use a measuring scale to weigh the ingredients to avoid any pitfalls.
- Room temperature: All of the wet ingredients should be at room temperature for ease when mixing.
- Cooling: Let the cake cool completely before frosting it with buttercream. The buttercream will melt if the cake is still hot or warm.
- Baking tray: The classic sprinkle cake is made in a tray so feel free to bake the cake batter in a tray instead. Once the cake cools coat the top with buttercream and sprinkles.
- Additions: To add an extra surprise, you can make a sprinkle cake with candy inside! Once you layer the cake, create a small circular hole in the center of the first layer and stuff it with candy. Then frost it with buttercream and coat it with sprinkles.
How to Make Old School Birthday Sprinkle Cake
- Preheat oven to 175C or 350F. Then lightly grease a 7” baking tin with oil or butter and line it with parchment paper. Set aside for later.
- Add 350g of room-temperature unsalted butter and caster sugar to a large bowl. Mix the ingredients for 3-5 minutes or until fluffy.
3. Next, pour one egg into the creamed butter and mix for 2 minutes or until the egg disappears. Repeat this step with the remaining eggs and add 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.
4. Combine 350g of self-raising flour with 1 teaspoon of baking powder. Add one-third of the flour mixture. Repeat this step until the cake batter is just combined. Do not over mix as this will result in a tough, chewy cake. Add 1-2 tablespoon of milk if the cake batter is too thick.
5. Pour the cake batter into the prepared cake tins. Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick that is pushed in the center comes out clean.
6. Let cakes cool completely on a cooling rack.
Decorate Sprinkle Cake
7. As the cake cools, prepare the vanilla buttercream. Whisk 400 g of room-temperature unsalted butter in a bowl for 1 minute. Then add one-third of 700g of sifted icing sugar and whisk until combined. Repeat this step with the remaining sugar. Add 2-3 tablespoon of heavy cream and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. Whisk for 3-5 minutes.
8. Add the buttercream to a piping bag and add buttercream on top of the first cake layer. Place the second layer on top of the cake.
Alternatively, you can use this Easy Cream Cheese Frosting, Best White Chocolate Buttercream or Easy Whipped White Chocolate Ganache.
9. Frost the whole cake. Use a smoother to smooth around the cake and the edges. Then coat the cake in sprinkles and decorate with more buttercream around the rim of the cake.
8. Serve this fun old school birthday sprinkle cake for birthdays, plain or with custard.
Recipe FAQs
Sprinkles are small colorful sweets that are used to decorate desserts such as cakes, doughnuts, brownies, and more. They have a hard texture and can be found in most supermarkets.
In the UK, sprinkles are also referred to as "hundreds and thousands".
Place the cake in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or refrigerate it in an airtight container for up to two weeks.
More Delicious Cake Recipe
Old School Birthday Sprinkle Cake
Equipment
- mixing bowl
- Hand-held or stand mixer
- baking tins
Ingredients
- 350 g of unsalted butter room temperature
- 350 g of caster sugar
- 6 eggs at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon of baking powder
- 350 g of self-raising flour
- 1-2 tablespoon of milk
Buttercream Frosting
- 400 g unsalted butter room temperature
- 700 g of icing sugar sifted
- 1-2 tablespoon of heavy cream or milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 175C or 350F. Then lightly grease a 7” baking tin with oil or butter and line it with parchment paper. Set aside for later.
- Add unsalted butter and caster sugar to a large bowl. Mix for 3-5 minutes or until fluffy.
- Next, pour one egg into the creamed butter and mix for 2 minutes or until the egg disappears. Repeat this step with the remaining eggs and add vanilla extract.
- Add one third of the flour, baking powder, milk and mix until combined. Repeat this step until the cake batter is just combined. Do not over mix as this will result in a tough chewy cake.
- Pour the cake batter into the prepared cake tins. Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick that is pushed in the centre comes out clean.
- Let cakes cool completely on a cooling rack.
Decorate Sprinkle Cake
- As the cake cools, prepare the buttercream. Whisk room-temperature unsalted butter in a bowl for 1 minute. Then add one-third of the sifted icing sugar and whisk until combined. Repeat this step with the remaining sugar. Add heavy cream and vanilla extract and whisk for 3-5 minutes.
- Add the buttercream to a piping bag and pipe buttercream on top of the first cake layer. Place the second layer on top of the cake. Then frost the whole cake. Use a smoother to smooth around the cake and the edges. Then coat the cake in sprinkles and decorate with more buttercream around the rim of the cake.
- Serve this fun Sprinkle cake for birthdays, plain or with custard.
Video
Notes
- Mixing: Do not overmix the batter once the wet and dry ingredients have been combined.
- Weighing ingredients: Use a measuring scale to weigh the ingredients.
- Room temperature: All of the wet ingredients should be at room temperature.
- Cooling: Let the cake cool completely before frosting it with buttercream. The buttercream will melt if the cake is still hot or warm.
Marta
I made this sprinkle cake as a surprise for one of my friend's birthday this past weekend and she actually cried! We all loved how moist and tender the cake was and it was so colorful, you can't help but smile when you see it.
Camille
Sim, I baked your sprinkle cake for my niece's birthday, and it was a huge hit! Not only did it look so festive and fun, but it tasted fantastic too. Thanks for making me the star of the party with this fabulous recipe! xx
Jessica
This cake is as delicious as it is fun to make. It's perfectly moist, tender with great flavor and the sprinkles just made everyone at my friend's birthday party happy. Great recipe!
Robin
I decided to make this cake for my great-nephew's birthday. It was as cute as it was scrumptious - both the kids and adults approved!
Jazz
Love how easy this cake is to make and it tastes better than the storebought one we usually go with!
Britney Brown-Chamberlain
My best friend's birthday was last week and I made this cake for her. She LOVED it and everyone else did too! I was a bit nervous to make a cake for everyone but your clear instructions made it so easy to do. Thank you so much, I will definitely be making this again!