Vanilla Celebration Layer Cake
This vanilla celebration layer cake is perfect for any celebration or fun event, even if that event is just a night in! We use a boxed cake mix, enhanced with some extra ingredients, and topped with our vegan buttercream frosting. The tartness of passionfruit curd in the top layer adds depth of flavor and a nice burst of citrus.
To make this cake you need a box of Pillsbury Gluten-Free Funfetti Cake Mix — we doctor this up a bit with pudding mix (adds to a softer texture) and an extra egg white. We also used a double batch of our vegan buttercream; and a half portion of our passionfruit curd.
The curd can be made ahead of time and frozen; and thawed the night prior. The frosting can also be made a day ahead and placed in the fridge but will need to come fully to room temp and be re-whipped either by hand or by a mixer.
This cake looks glam but is actually fairly easy to assemble once you have all of the components ready. Be sure to chill your cake between steps as this will make the entire process easier.
If you’re new to frosting, you may want to slightly chill the frosting (10-15 min) — but over-chilling will make it too stiff, so play it by ear. You’ll want to apply a light “crumb coat” to catch any falling crumbs — luckily this cake it so moist it yields very few crumbs as long as you prep your pans well.
You can also opt out of the piping and frost the cake with an offset spatula but the piping adds a bit of fun. If you’ve never piped before you can practice on your cutting board – AND watch some YouTube videos – they are super helpful!
Get creative, have fun, and enjoy eating this amazing cake! It is truly a stunner!
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Vanilla Celebration Layer Cake
Equipment
- 3 6-inch round cake pans
Ingredients
Funfetti Cake
- 1 package Pillsbury Funfetti Gluten-Free Cake Mix
- 1 box Jell-o Instant White Chocolate Pudding Mix
- 1 1/4 cups water
- 1/3 cup canola, vegetable or coconut oil
- 5 egg whites preferably at room temperature
Vegan Frosting
- 2 batches Vegan Frosting (follow our vegan frosting recipe)
Passionfruit Curd
- 1/2 batch Passionfruit Curd (follow our passionfruit curd recipe)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease the cake tins and apply a parchment round to the bottoms
- Combine cake mix and pudding mix in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Add water, oil and eggs and mix on medium-low for a few minutes until well combined
- Use a kitchen scale to measure equal amounts of batter into each of the 3 tins. Smooth tops
- Leave to rest on the counter for 15-30 minutes to settle
- Bake at 350 F for 30-35 minutes or until center is just moist and cake springs back when pressed (ours took closer to 35 minutes)
- Cool in pans on wire rack for at least 15 minutes and then remove to cool fully on racks. Once cool place in fridge until ready to frost
- Prior to frosting make your vegan buttercream
- To begin to assemble cake, put your bottom layer on parchment then on a flat surface. Fill a round tip piping bag with vanilla buttercream and pipe circles onto the top of the first layer. Place the second layer on top and them apply a crumb coat to the sides
- Using the same piping bag pipe a round border onto the top of the 2nd layer, then fill the center with passionfruit curd (or with frosting, if you don't have curd). Put on the third tier and crumb coat the remainder of the cake
- Chill the cake briefly. Color a portion of your frosting with pink coloring or whatever you choose. Fit a piping bag with an open star tip and remove your cake. Pipe rosettes and starts onto the top and chill cake prior to serving
Nutrition
