Easter Cake Recipe (Pastel Swirled Cake)

Swirled pastel cake on a blue spatula to show the swirls.

Easter Cake Recipe (Pastel Swirled Cake)

This fun and festive Easter Cake Recipe is an easy swirled cake that starts with a cake mix! Swirls of pastel dyed cake batter is swirled into the white cake to create this beautiful springtime pastel cake. Perfect to serve as a kid-friendly Easter dessert!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword easter cake recipe, easter dessert ideas, swirl cake, swirled cake

Prep Time 25

Cook Time 35

Total Time 1

Servings

Calories 425kcal

Author Jessica - Together as Family

Equipment

Ingredients

Swirled White Cake

1 box (15.25 oz) white cake mix
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
1/4 cup water
4 egg whites
1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract
blue, pink, & yellow food coloring
pastel colored sprinkles

Vanilla Frosting

1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup heavy cream *see notes
1½ teaspoons clear vanilla extract

Instructions

Heat oven to 350° F. Spray a 9x13 cake pan with cooking spray. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, with an electric hand mixer, beat the cake mix, sour cream, oil, water, egg whites, and clear vanilla extract. Mix on low speed for about 30 seconds, and then increase the speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes.
*Scrape the sides of the bowl as needed
Pour 2 cups of the white cake batter into the prepared pan. Evenly spread it out.
Divide the remaining white cake batter between 3 smaller bowls. It will end up being about 1/2 cup each. Add 2-3 drops of blue, pink, and yellow food coloring to each bowl. One color per bowl.
Stir each color well, and add more food coloring if necessary, until desired color is reached.
Place spoonfuls of the colored batter over the white cake batter in the baking pan. I just alternate each color (blue, pink, yellow) across the cake.
Using a silverware knife or a toothpick, gently run it through the batter creating a swirled pattern. You may have to repeat this another time to get it nicely swirled together.
*To avoid over swirling, start a swirl pattern from left to right and gradually work your way down the pan. Do not randomly swirl, you want to do the same pattern both times you swirl the batter.
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Let the cake cool completely before frosting.
To Make The Frosting : With an electric hand mixer, beat the butter in a mixing bowl, for 1-2 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar, heavy cream, and vanilla extract. Beat for 2 minutes until it's fluffy and thick.
*It's best to use heavy cream in the frosting to get that "whipped" consistency.
Frost the cooled cake and evenly sprinkle the sprinkles over top. Cut into squares and serve.

Notes

Holiday Variations : Make this cake for any Holiday! I've made it for Fourth of July with red & blue food coloring + festive 4th of July sprinkles. Make it for Valentine's Day with red & pink food coloring + heart sprinkles. And make it for Christmas with red & green fool coloring + Christmas sprinkles.

Butter : If using unsalted butter in the frosting (which is fine) you may want to add just a pinch of salt. Maybe a 1/4 teaspoon or less.

Heavy Cream : Also called heavy whipping cream on some cartons. If you are using any milk lower in fat than heavy cream (which is everything, ha!) then start with 1 tablespoon and go from there. You won't need as much of it because any milk will be thinner than heavy cream. With the frosting, add more or less heavy cream (or other milk) to achieve the consistency you want.

Tip : To get the purest white cake possible, which will make the colored swirls show better, use only egg whites and use clear vanilla extract.

Nutrition