Soft and buttery vanilla sheet cake filled to the brim with sprinkles. Topped with my favorite creamy vanilla frosting and, as expected, more sprinkles.
Here’s a giant cake filled to the brim with sprinkles. It’s topped with sweet and creamy homemade vanilla frosting. It’s big enough to feed an army of sprinkle and cake and frosting lovers. Is there a better way to end a wonderful year??
Yes! Add more sprinkles on top.
Funfetti sheet cake is what dreams are made of. Let’s dig in.
I have to be honest, I made this funfetti cake back in October and have waited this long to share the recipe with you. Pumpkin, Thanksgiving, and all those Christmas cookies got in the way. Sorry? I did, however, make it again this past weekend to bring to some friends. Just as tasty as I remember.
Anyway. Having a loved sheet cake recipe in your baking repertoire is priceless. It’s a fun-filled cake that you can bring along to potlucks, office parties, birthday parties, and basically anywhere you need to feed a crowd some dessert. I have a recipe for a three layer confetti cake, but I’ve never made a sprinkle sheet cake before, so this recipe was fun to play around with. The most important part about this cake recipe (and, well, any cake recipe) is having the correct size pan. I can’t tell you how many readers have contacted me about a cake recipe catastrophe. Only to find out they weren’t using the correct size pan. Whoops!
This sheet cake requires a 12×17-inch jelly roll/half sheet pan. I own 5 of these pans. They are DYNAMITE in the kitchen. I bake cookies on them, I cool toffee on them, roast vegetables on them, and I make sheet cakes in them. A fabulous multipurpose sheet pan is irreplaceable. Please, from one baker to another, get this pan. You can also use it to make this chocolate cake roll.
And a huge supporter of frosting. We’ll get to that in a minute.
Also important: using the right ingredients. Quite often, I hear about recipe disasters stemming from using substitutions. Like using margarine for butter, baking soda for baking powder (don’t do that! ever!), using almond flour for all-purpose, etc. Recipes that are developed with certain ingredients won’t turn out the same unless you’ve been testing and playing around with the recipe. I always suggest making the recipe as written first and then playing around with the recipe as you see fit. Some ingredients in some recipes shouldn’t be altered. And for this recipe? It’s pretty much all of them.
Every single ingredient plays a major roll in this thin cake’s texture, taste, and appearance. The butter and vanilla give the cake unbeatable vanilla cake flavor while creaming the butter and sugar give the cake its soft, cake-like texture. The two eggs tenderize and give structure while the whole milk leaves the cake moist. The yogurt (an acid) reacts with the baking soda to leaven the cake, and the flour is… well… everything. The only room for substitutions would be using sour cream instead of yogurt and other types of milk instead of whole milk. Please see my recipe notes for further details. If you’d like to leave the yogurt out all together, you’d have to sub in a different moist ingredient as well as use baking powder– and play around with that amount. And you’ll have a completely different tasting cake. What a headache. So, always follow a recipe.
On top of this buttery, sprinkle filled sheet cake is my classic vanilla frosting. My prized frosting, my favorite frosting! One of them, at least. There is just enough frosting to get that creamy extra sweetness in every bite, but not too much to take away from the fluffy cake hiding underneath. A fabulous cake to frosting ratio.
The happiest cake for the happiest new year. 😀 For more sprinkle-filled happy desserts, add my confetti sprinkle cheesecake and cake batter chocolate chip cookies to your list, too!
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Funfetti Sheet Cake
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 24 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour, 45 minutes
- Yield: serves 25-30
- Category: Cake
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Soft and buttery vanilla sheet cake filled to the brim with sprinkles. Topped with my favorite creamy vanilla frosting and, as expected, more sprinkles. This recipe requires a 12×17 half sheet jelly roll pan.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (16 Tbsp; 226g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 2 cups (400g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 2 and 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup (120g) sour cream or plain yogurt*
- 2 and 1/4 cups (281g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (240ml) whole milk*
- 1/2 cup (94g) rainbow sprinkles, plus more for decoration*
Vanilla Frosting
- 3/4 cup (12 Tbsp; 170g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3 cups (360g) confectioners’ sugar
- 2–3 Tablespoons (30-45ml) whole milk*
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Generously grease and lightly flour a 12×17-inch half sheet/jelly roll pan. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using a handheld mixer or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the softened butter for about 1 minute on medium speed. Get it nice and smooth, then add the sugar on medium speed and beat until fluffy and light in color. Beat in eggs and vanilla until smooth. You’ll need to stop the mixer and scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl to get it all mixed a couple times. Beat in the yogurt on medium high speed until combined.
- In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together. Pour half of this flour mixture into the creamed butter mixture. Beat on low speed for 5 seconds. Pour in half of the milk. Beat on low speed for 5 seconds. Repeat with the rest of the flour and beat in the remainder of the milk until combined and smooth. Do not overmix. Fold in the sprinkles.
- Spread the cake batter into the prepared pan. Smooth it out into a thin, even layer. Bake for 20-24 minutes or until the top is lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Make sure you rotate the cake pan once or twice during bake time if your oven has hot spots (mine does). Remove from the oven and allow the cake to cool in the pan on a wire rack. As the cake is cooling, make the frosting.
- For the frosting: Using a handheld mixer or stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy—about 2 minutes. Add confectioners’ sugar, milk, vanilla extract, and salt with the mixer running on low. Increase to high speed and beat for 3 full minutes. Add more confectioners’ sugar if frosting is too thin, more milk if frosting is too thick, or a pinch more of salt if frosting is way too sweet.
- Spread frosting all over cooled cake, then top with sprinkles. Slice and serve. Cover leftovers tightly and store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: Cake can be made 1 day in advance, covered tightly at room temperature, and then frosted before serving. Frosting can also be made 1 day ahead of time—cover tightly and keep in the refrigerator.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 12×17-inch Baking Pan | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Glass Mixing Bowl | Whisk | Cooling Rack
- Yogurt: Plain Greek yogurt, regular plain yogurt, or sour cream are all OK. Do not use nonfat; I suggest full fat or low fat.
- Milk: I highly recommend whole milk for the richest taste and moistest texture. 1% or higher milk fat is ok, as well as nondairy (low fat, not nonfat) milks. Whole milk (or even half-and-half or cream) is best in the frosting as well.
- 9×13-Inch Cake: Simply pour the batter into a greased and lightly floured 9×13-inch pan and bake for 35-38 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Be sure to tent the cake with foil after 20 minutes of baking to prevent over-browning on the top and sides.
- Sprinkles: Here is where I buy my rainbow jimmies sprinkles in bulk. Do not use nonpareils (the little ball sprinkles) inside the cake batter because they bleed color. You can, however, decorate the frosting with nonpareils like I did in these photos.
Perfect party cake! I made 2 for a friend’s birthday party and everyone absolutely loved it! I did 2 cups of butter for the frosting and just kinda added a little bit more of the ingredients and tasted and adjusted as I went. Perfect ratio of cake to frosting. Keeper for sure!
Love this recipe so much! I used for both of my kids’ first birthday smash cakes. I bake as directed, then cut out three little circles and stack to make the perfect baby cake. I use your “not so sweet whipped frosting” and it is perfect.
Unfortunately this was one of the worst cakes I’ve ever had. I usually love the recipes on this site but this one was not good at all. There’s so much sugar the outside burnt so quickly while the inside came out uncooked. It would be one thing of this happened with a very tall cake, but this was not even a two inches. It also had very little flavour and seemed very oily even though there is no oil in the recipe.
Completely agree! Way too much sugar and way too greasy!! Have loved so many recipes on this site but this was a miss!
I loved this recipe so much. I needed something simple and kid-friendly to bring to a new friend’s house. I love the idea of a half-sheet cake for feeding a larger group. This was delicious and very quick & easy to make. I even made a mistake with the timer and was afraid I left it in too long — but it was perfect! The only thing I’d mention is that the frosting recipe only allowed for a thin layer of frosting, which is surprising, as recipes from this site usually have plenty of frosting. It was enough to cover the cake, but barely. Just mentioning it in case others would prefer a thicker layer of frosting. I will definitely make this again.
I love all your recipes! Can this funfetti sheet cake be made into cupcakes?
Hi Tashi! It sure can. We’re unsure of the exact bake time, but likely around 18-20 minutes or so. Use a toothpick to test for doneness. Or, you might enjoy our Confetti Cupcakes instead!
Hi! I was winding if I could make this in a full sheet cake pan. Would I double the recipe? And how long would it take to bake?
Hi Bobbi, here’s everything you need to know about cake pan sizes and conversions. We’re unsure of the exact bake time for that size.