Spring Birthday Cake Pastel (Print)

Tender vanilla cake layered with creamy buttercream and decorated with soft pastel floral designs for special occasions.

# What you'll need:

→ Cake

01 - 2½ cups all-purpose flour
02 - 2½ teaspoons baking powder
03 - ½ teaspoon salt
04 - 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
05 - 2 cups granulated sugar
06 - 4 large eggs, room temperature
07 - 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
08 - 1 cup whole milk, room temperature

→ Buttercream

09 - 1½ cups unsalted butter, room temperature
10 - 6 cups powdered sugar, sifted
11 - ¼ cup whole milk
12 - 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
13 - Pinch of salt
14 - Gel food coloring in pink, yellow, lavender, green, and blue

→ Decoration

15 - Edible flower petals
16 - Sprinkles

# Directions:

01 - Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and line three 8-inch round cake pans with parchment paper.
02 - In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
03 - In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, approximately 3 to 4 minutes.
04 - Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in vanilla extract.
05 - Alternately add flour mixture and milk to butter mixture, beginning and ending with flour. Mix until just combined; avoid overmixing.
06 - Divide batter evenly among prepared pans and smooth the tops.
07 - Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
08 - Let cakes cool in pans for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
09 - In a large bowl, beat butter until creamy. Gradually add powdered sugar, milk, vanilla, and salt. Beat until fluffy and smooth, approximately 3 to 4 minutes.
10 - Divide buttercream into separate bowls and tint each with desired pastel gel food coloring.
11 - Place one cake layer on a serving plate. Spread a layer of buttercream on top. Repeat with remaining layers.
12 - Apply a thin crumb coat of buttercream over the entire cake. Chill for 20 minutes.
13 - Decorate cake with pastel buttercreams using piping bags fitted with various tips to create floral designs. Garnish with edible petals or sprinkles if desired.
14 - Chill for 15 to 20 minutes before serving to set the buttercream.

# Expert Advice:

01 -
  • The cake itself is impossibly tender and stays moist for days, which means you're not stressing about it drying out before the party.
  • Buttercream from scratch tastes nothing like the canned stuff, and once you make it once, you'll never go back.
  • The pastel decorating part is genuinely forgiving—imperfect flowers look charming, not sloppy.
02 -
  • Everything needs to be room temperature—butter, eggs, milk—because cold ingredients don't incorporate smoothly and you'll end up with a lumpy batter that bakes unevenly.
  • Sift your powdered sugar for the buttercream; I skipped this once and spent ten minutes trying to blend out grainy spots that never fully disappeared.
  • Don't overmix the batter after adding flour; the moment you stop seeing streaks, you're done—keep going and you'll have a tough cake instead of a tender one.
03 -
  • Use gel food coloring, not liquid, because liquid adds moisture that thins out your buttercream and changes the texture.
  • Invest in a scale if you have one—dividing batter evenly between pans means all three layers bake at the same rate and you don't have one cake overcooked while another needs five more minutes.
  • Keep piping bags and tips in the refrigerator before decorating so the buttercream holds its shape longer as you work.
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