Today is Literally, Darling’s second birthday! And the best ways to celebrate birthdays, milestones, and anniversaries is always with cake.
A classic birthday cake is a great item to have in your arsenal of recipes. This one is incredibly easy and I find myself going back to it over and over again. Because it’s a classic recipe, it’s easy to change and tweak it to make other cakes. This one includes rainbow sprinkles in the batter, which creates the “confetti” effect. But you can easily leave them out for another classic—yellow cake. To make a chocolate cake, you could leave out ½ cup of flour and add ½ cup of unsweetened cocoa powder. It’s that simple sometimes! You can also switch up the extracts and use others besides vanilla. Lemon, almond, and coconut extracts are some of my favorites and you can find them in your grocery store in the spices section.
To me, homemade frosting is so much better than anything you can buy at the store. It’s fluffier and holds piped designs better. Frosting is basically butter, vanilla extract, a tablespoon or two of milk, and powdered sugar. You don’t need a stand mixer; a hand-held electric mixer will get the job done.
When I was planning out this cake, I knew the frosting had to be Literally, Darling green. I used gel food coloring, which is available in primary colors at most grocery stores. Also, craft stores like Michael’s and Hobby Lobby carry just about any color of gel food coloring you could ever need. I used about an ⅛ tsp of green food coloring and a dab or two of blue, but definitely start out with a little. You can always add more coloring, you just can’t take it away. Start with a little green and go from there.
I’m so excited to be a part of this amazing group of writers. I can’t wait to see where Literally, Darling goes in the next few years!
Homemade Confetti Cake
Ingredients
1 cup butter, softened
1½ cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup rainbow jimmies
Directions
1.) Line two 8 inch round cake pans (or three pans, cake layers will be thinner) with parchment paper and spray with non-stick spray. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2.) In a medium sized bowl, beat butter on medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy. Add sugar and vanilla, then mix well. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each.
3.) In another bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add half of the flour mixture and half of the buttermilk to the sugar mixture. Mix until just combined. Repeat with the second half of the flour and buttermilk, and mix well. Stir in the rainbow jimmies.
4.) Divide the batter equally among the cake pans and bake for 20 minutes or until lightly golden brown on top. Another great way to test if cake layers are done is to insert a toothpick into the center of the cake, and if it comes out clean, the cake is ready. Let cake layers cool completely before frosting.
Vanilla Frosting
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups butter (2 1/2 sticks), softened
2 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp milk
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
green and blue gel food coloring
Sugar pearls
Directions
1.) In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Add vanilla and milk. Mix until well blended. Add half of the powdered sugar, mix on low speed until just combined, and then medium speed until completely combined. Repeat with the second half of the powdered sugar. Remove about 3/4 cup plain frosting for piping around the edges of the cake.
2.) To achieve the Literally, Darling shade of green, add about an 1/8th teaspoon of green food coloring to the frosting, and a small dab of blue. Adjust the color with more dabs of green or blue until the color is just right. Spread the green frosting between the cake layers and around the outside. Pipe white frosting using a piping bag and small star tip. Sprinkle edges with sugar pearls. Enjoy!