Funfetti layer cake

A cake idea that has taken the American baking world by storm and now arrives on Moje Wypieki. Simply add colourful sprinkles to a classic butter cake, sandwich the layers with your favourite cream, decorate with confetti sprinkles and your celebration cake is ready! It doesn’t require much work, yet the effect can be even more spectacular than a rainbow cake. Perfect for children’s parties!

Note: The ingredients below are for one cake layer. Prepare the recipe three times to bake three identical layers. The amount of cream given is sufficient for the entire cake.

Ingredients for one cake layer:

• 100 g butter
• ⅓ cup caster sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 100 g plain cake flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed orange or lemon juice
• 30 g rainbow sprinkles*

All ingredients should be at room temperature.

In the bowl of a mixer, beat the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the juice and mix. The mixture may curdle slightly at this stage, but this will not affect the finished cake. Sift the flour and baking powder directly over the batter and gently fold in with a spatula until just combined. Add the sprinkles and stir very briefly. Do not overmix, as the colours may begin to bleed into the batter.

Grease and line a 20 cm round cake tin with baking paper. Transfer the batter to the tin and level the surface.

Bake at 170°C for approximately 30 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool slightly in the tin, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Bake the remaining two layers in the same way.

Ingredients for lemon mascarpone cream:

• 500 g mascarpone
• 250 ml double cream
• 2 tablespoons icing sugar
• juice of half a lemon

All ingredients should be well chilled.

Place the mascarpone and cream into the bowl of a mixer and whip until thick and fluffy. Towards the end of whipping, add the sifted icing sugar and lemon juice. This cream is thick and stable. For a lighter version, use 500 ml double cream and 250 g mascarpone.

Assembly:

Place one cake layer on a serving plate and spread with some of the cream. Repeat with the remaining layers. Cover the top and sides of the cake with the remaining cream and decorate generously with confetti sprinkles.

*The best sprinkles for this cake are rainbow jimmies or tiny hundreds-and-thousands. Larger sugar pearls are too hard, and natural-coloured sprinkles tend to fade during baking.

Enjoy!