When I was looking for a cake to make for my sister’s birthday, I wanted something fun and festive. It also had to be something my nephew would enjoy making with me but not overly complicated as his attention span only goes so far. And finally, given the price of butter, it had to be something that wasn’t covered in loads of buttercream. The answer was this homemade confetti bundt cake from Averie Cooks.

What is a confetti cake?

At some time you probably had a confetti cake or cupcake – vanilla sponge filled with colorful sprinkles. Pillsbury made this cake famous with its Funfetti cake mix and frosting. And it’s hard not to feel like a celebration when you cut into this cake.

I wanted something other than a typical layered birthday cake and came up with the idea of making a bundt cake. Of course, I wasn’t the first one to come up with this idea. There are so many talented bakers on the internet, I was happy to follow someone else’s recipe. The one deviation I made was in the frosting. Instead of a thick, fluffy layer of frosting, I made a vanilla glaze that was thick but still fluid enough to run down the sides of the cake. Other than that, I followed Averie’s recipe.

What do you mean by sprinkles?

Go to any baking aisle and you will find all types of colorful decorations to use in and on your bakes. Not all of them will work inside a cake as the colors may run and turn the cake into a muddy grey color or will melt and lose their shape. Some of the main types you will find are:

• Sprinkles – colorful rod-shaped sugar strands. They also come in all chocolate.
• Nonpareils – tiny colored sugar balls. Dragées are larger nonpareil that typically have a pearlized coating.
• Quins – flat sugar pellets that often resemble sequins but can also be in shapes like flowers or ducks or Mickeys.

Of these different types, sprinkles are best to use inside the cake because the color bleeds the least. Any of the others are great for decorating the outside of the cake.

In some cases, sanding and coarse sugars could be considered sprinkles, but not for this cake.

Why a bundt cake?

In addition to not requiring a ton of buttercream, a bundt cake is a fun alternative to the typical layer cake. The shape is a little unexpected and it provides an option to fill the center with candies, flowers, or other fun decorations. I opted to using some fun toppers – there is an amazing variety of cake decorations out there.

This is also an easy, straight-forward cake to bake with my nephew. Interpretation of a recipe by a teenager who is still learning the ins-and-outs of baking is pretty funny and I did spend a fair amount of time laughing at his comments (“what does it mean the sprinkles may bleed?”). All-in-all it was a terrific experience and we made some great memories that day in the kitchen. And, more importantly, my sister enjoyed her birthday cake.

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