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Happy Birthday Cake

Source of Recipe

From "Big Food Big Love" by Heather Earnhardt


Recipe Introduction

"I always got sprinkles on my vanilla-chocolate swirl from the Mister Softee trucks when I was little, and wanted a cake and frosting that reminded me of the vanilla ice cream with rainbow sprinkles smashed into it. This is a cake that you should have enough of for breakfast. At our house we always have a store-bought cupcake in the morning for the kids' birthdays (mostly to remind them of how much better their real birthday cake will be later after supper) and one slice of leftover birthday cake for breakfast the day *after* their birthday as a sweet reminder."

List of Ingredients

â—¦  2 ¼ cups (4 ½ sticks) butter, at room temperature, plus more for greasing
â—¦  5 cups all-purpose flour
â—¦  1 ½ teaspoons salt
â—¦  1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
â—¦  1 teaspoon baking soda
â—¦  1 ½ cups buttermilk
â—¦  2 tablespoons vanilla extract
â—¦  3 cups sugar
â—¦  7 large eggs, at room temperature
â—¦  1 cup rainbow sprinkles

For the frosting:
â—¦  2 ½ cups (5 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
â—¦  2 pounds confectioners' sugar, sifted
â—¦  1 tablespoon vanilla extract
â—¦  1 tablespoon heavy cream

â—¦  Rainbow sprinkles, for decorating


Recipe

Thoroughly butter three 9-inch cake pans, making sure to coat the sides, and line the bottoms with parchment paper. Butter the parchment and set the pans aside. Line three baking sheets with parchment paper and set them aside. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

In a large bowl, sift the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda together. In a small bowl, combine the buttermilk and vanilla.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl after every two eggs. Reduce the speed to low. Add the flour mixture and the buttermilk mixture in three alternating batches, beginning and ending with the flour. Mix in the sprinkles. Scrape down the sides of the bowl again and pour the batter evenly into the prepared pans.

Bake until the cake springs back when you touch the center with your finger, and it is pulling away from the sides of the pan just a bit, 30 to 40 minutes, rotating the pans front to back and top to bottom halfway through baking. Let the cakes cool in the pans until you can touch the pans comfortably, about 15 minutes, then flip the cakes out onto the lined baking sheets to cool completely before frosting.

While the cakes cool, make the frosting. In the clean bowl of the stand mixer, mix the butter and sugar until no clumps remain. Add the vanilla and cream and blend until smooth. Frost between the layers, around the sides, and on top of the cake with the frosting. Garnish the top of the cake with the sprinkles. Sometimes I even add them to the sides as well for an extra-special presentation.

Makes one 3-layer, 9-inch frosted cake