Spring Birthday Cake Pastel (Printable)

Tender vanilla cake with creamy pastel buttercream and delicate floral decorations ideal for spring gatherings.

# What You’ll Need:

→ Cake

01 - 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
02 - 2 ½ 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 - 1 ½ 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

# How-To:

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 3–4 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 without overmixing.
06 - Divide batter evenly among prepared pans and smooth the tops.
07 - Bake for 25–30 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
08 - Allow cakes to cool in pans for 10 minutes, then transfer to 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 for 3–4 minutes.
10 - Divide buttercream into separate bowls and tint each with desired pastel gel food coloring.
11 - Place one cake layer on serving plate and spread buttercream on top. Repeat with remaining layers.
12 - Apply thin layer of buttercream over entire cake and 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 15–20 minutes before serving to set the buttercream.

# Expert Advice:

01 -
  • The cake itself is impossibly tender and moist, the kind that makes people close their eyes when they take a bite.
  • Pastel buttercream feels fancy but tastes like pure comfort, and you get to play with color in a way that feels creative without being intimidating.
  • It looks like you spent hours at a bakery counter, but the actual hands-on decorating time is shorter than you'd think.
02 -
  • Room temperature ingredients are not a suggestion—cold butter won't cream properly, and cold eggs won't emulsify, both of which lead to a dense, grainy cake instead of the tender crumb you're after.
  • Overmixing the batter after you add the flour develops gluten and toughens the cake, so mix only until you don't see dry flour anymore and then stop.
  • Gel food coloring is worth seeking out because liquid dyes will thin your buttercream and make it impossible to work with, while gel stays thick and spreadable.
03 -
  • Chill your cake pans in the freezer for five minutes before pouring in batter so the cakes rise evenly and release cleanly after baking.
  • Use an oven thermometer to verify your oven temperature because many ovens run hot or cold, which changes bake time and can result in over-baked or sunken cakes.
  • If you only have two cake pans, you can bake one layer, let the pan cool for just five minutes, turn the cake out, wipe the pan clean, and bake the next batch—you'll have three layers in about 45 minutes total.
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