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Try something different from your usual birthday cake with these birthday cake sandwiches! Turn a simple sheet pan vanilla sprinkle cake into sprinkle cake sandwiches! It’s so much fun to eat!
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While walking through the malls and airports over the past year, I’ve noticed the new phenomenon that is vending machine cakes. Have you tried one of these? I guess a lot of them come from the Cake Boss, who has probably perfected the art of cake sandwiches. I have never actually taken the time to stop and buy one of these from the cake ATMs, but it’s been on my mind to try my own cake sandwich recipe!
Why not start with a birthday cake version?
Ingredients for Birthday Cake Sandwiches
If you’ve made a vanilla sheet pan cake before, the ingredients for this recipe will be familiar to you!
For these cake sandwiches, you’ll need:
- unsalted butter
- sugar
- eggs
- sour cream
- vanilla extract
- all-purpose flour
- baking soda
- baking powder
- salt
- buttermilk
- sprinkles
Sour Cream: Using sour cream in this recipe creates a lot of moisture in this cake. If you don’t have sour cream, you can also use full fat Greek yogurt.
Buttermilk: I prefer to use store-bought buttermilk as I think it makes for the best results, but you can certainly make your own! Add 1 tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice to a cup of whole milk and let it sit for 10 minutes before using it.
Sprinkles: You can use any sprinkle mix you want, but just avoid non-pareils as they bleed too much!
Instructions for Sprinkle Sheet Cake
1. Preheat the oven to 350 F and spray a 12 x 17″ sheet pan with nonstick spray. Line the pan with parchment paper, leaving enough overhang so you can grab the cake and lift it out once baked.
2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or using a handheld electric mixer, beat the softened butter on high for 1-2 minutes, before adding in the granulated sugar. Beat the butter and sugar together on high for another 1-2 minutes. With the mixer running on low, add in the eggs, one at a time, followed by the vanilla extract, then the sour cream. Mix on medium until everything looks combined.
3. With the mixer running on low, add in half of the dry ingredients, followed by half of the buttermilk. Add the remaining dry ingredients, followed by the remaining buttermilk. Mix on low until thoroughly combined, but don’t overmix!
4. Using a spatula, fold in the sprinkles. Empty the cake batter out on to the prepared sheet pan, then smooth it out with a spatula. Bake the cake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool the cake for 15-20 minutes before running a knife gently along the edges of the cake, then carefully grabbing the edges of the parchment paper and lifting the cake out of the pan and on to a large cutting board or wire rack.
Vanilla Sprinkle Buttercream
You’ll need a delicious frosting to act as the filling for your cake sandwiches! This sprinkle buttercream is simple and super versatile. Gather together the following ingredients:
- unsalted butter, room temperature
- powdered sugar
- pure vanilla extract
- heavy cream
- sprinkles
1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or using a handheld electric mixer, mix the unsalted butter on high until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes.
2. Add in 1 cup of the powdered sugar, along with the vanilla extract. Keep adding in the powdered sugar, one cup at a time, along with the heavy cream, mixing on high until smooth and creamy! Add either more powdered sugar or slightly more cream, until the frosting is smooth.
3. Fold in the sprinkles with a spatula!
How to Turn a Cake Into Cake Sandwiches
1. Once removed from the cake pan, carefully cut the cake horizontally, in half. Spread all of the frosting over one half of the cake, smearing it evenly.
2. Working carefully, place both hands under the parchment paper on the side of the cake with the frosting on it, and in one smooth motion, flip the cake over on to the unfrosted side.
3. Make another cut horizontally through both cake halves, then one more cut vertically. Next, make 2 diagonal cuts through the cake halves to form 8 pieces/sandwiches.
4. Use a spatula to scoop up and plate the individual cake sandwiches. You can also make additional cuts to the cake to make smaller pieces! Serve with a fork or just use your hands like a regular sandwich!
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Can You Use Any Flavour Cake For a Cake Sandwich?
If you have a favourite cake flavour and a good sheet pan cake recipe for it, you can definitely turn that one into a cake sandwich too! You will need to make sure you have the right amount of frosting for the sandwich, which is about 3 cups in total.
Try a chocolate sheet pan cake recipe, carrot cake or red velvet! Yum!
The same is true if you want to use a different flavour buttercream for this particular cake recipe.
Other Cakes and Cupcakes
Some of my other favourite cakes and cupcakes from the blog!
Cake Sandwiches
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 8 sandwiches 1x
Description
Try something different from your usual birthday cake with these birthday cake sandwiches! Turn a simple sheet pan vanilla sprinkle cake into sprinkle cake sandwiches!
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 1/2 cup sour cream, room temperature*
- 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
- 1/2 cup rainbow sprinkles
Funfetti Buttercream
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp heavy cream
- pinch salt
- 1/4 cup rainbow sprinkles
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F and spray a 12 x 17″ sheet pan with nonstick spray, then line it with enough parchment paper that the sides overhang. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or using a handheld electric mixer, beat the softened butter on high for 1-2 minutes, before adding in the granulated sugar. Beat the butter and sugar together on high for another 1-2 minutes.
- With the mixer running on low, add in the eggs, one at a time, followed by the vanilla extract, then the sour cream. Mix on medium until everything looks combined.
- With the mixer running on low, add in half of the dry ingredients, followed by half of the buttermilk. Add the remaining dry ingredients, followed by the remaining buttermilk. Mix on low until thoroughly combined, but don’t overmix!
- Using a spatula, fold in the sprinkles. Empty the cake batter out on to the prepared sheet pan, then smooth it out with a spatula. Bake the cake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Cool the cake for 15-20 minutes before running a knife gently along the edges of the cake, then carefully grabbing the edges of the parchment paper and lifting the cake out of the pan and on to a large cutting board or wire rack.
- Make the buttercream. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or using a handheld electric mixer, mix the unsalted butter on high until smooth and creamy, about 2-4 minutes.
- Add in 1 cup of the powdered sugar, along with the vanilla extract. Keep adding in the powdered sugar, one cup at a time, along with the heavy cream, mixing on high until smooth and creamy! Add either more powdered sugar or slightly more cream, until the frosting is smooth. Fold in the sprinkles with a spatula!
- Make the cake sandwiches. Once removed from the cake pan, carefully cut the cake horizontally, in half. Spread all of the frosting over one half of the cake, smearing it evenly.
- Working carefully, place both hands under the parchment paper on the side of the cake with the frosting on it, and in one smooth motion, flip the cake over on to the unfrosted side.
- Make another cut horizontally through both cake halves, then one more cut vertically. Next, make 2 diagonal cuts through the cake halves to form 8 pieces/sandwiches.
- Use a spatula to scoop up and plate the individual cake sandwiches. You can also make additional cuts to the cake to make smaller pieces! Serve with a fork or just use your hands like a regular sandwich!
Cake sandwiches will keep fresh, at room temperature, for 2-3 days in an airtight container. You can also freeze the cake for up to 2 months.
Notes
*You can substitute the sour cream for Greek yogurt if you don’t have any sour cream!
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Category: cakes
- Method: oven bake
- Cuisine: american
