Pink Funfetti Pound Cake

This pretty-in-Pink Funfetti Pound Cake gets its pink color from sanding sugar sprinkles instead of food coloring, and then gets even prettier with confetti sprinkles folded in the batter!

I'm always full of what I call 'I wonders.' As in like, 'I wonder what would happen if I put ____ in this ______.' Or like, 'I wonder how it would taste if I combined ______ and ______.' I guess that's why I like cooking and recipe development so much. I get to constantly test out my 'I wonders.'

I get to test out 'I wonders' in my classroom, too. Like when my little 2nd graders and I were doing science experiments with solids, liquids, and gases this week and we were creating a gas with vinegar and baking soda ... then watching the gas created blow up a balloon. And I had an 'I wonder' about whether or not all liquids and baking soda create a gas when they combine ... so I asked them to come up with a plan for how we could test that out.

As I had hoped, they of course came up with the plan of combining baking soda with the other liquids we had there ... water, oil, and food coloring ... to see what would happen. One team of students, however, also had an 'I wonder' about soda. They were so enthusiastic about wondering what would happen if baking soda and well, regular soda mixed together! It was so cute.

And I couldn't resist.

I just had to test out their 'I wonder.'

So I went to the vending machine, bought a soda, and we put their 'I wonder' to the test. {Hee, hee.}

And let me just tell ya, in case you're curious, ... baking soda and 'regular' soda do create a gas when they combine. Quite a strong gas, too. It exploded our balloon! And we may or may not have gotten soda all over the carpet. {Shhhhhhhh ... don't tell our principal, okay?}

And that's how this Pink Funfetti Pound Cake came to be, too.

Through an 'I wonder.'

See, I wondered if you could create a colored cake by replacing part of the granulated sugar in the recipe with a bit of colored sanding sugar.

You know, this stuff ... that we sprinkle on cookies and things as sugary glitter ...

Well, I discovered that yes, ... yes, you can!

Now I know you can simply add food coloring to batter to make things colors. But I'm never very good at achieving the color I want that way. I wanted to see if I could get a hue close to the hues I love so much in my favorite sanding sugar sprinkles by using them in the batter. And you can! The color comes out a bit lighter and not as intense as the sprinkles ... but right on line with the hue!

Love it.

And using the sanding sugar didn't change the texture of the pound cake. Which I was a little worried about. Not sure if it would work in a cake with a lighter crumb, though ... hmmmmmm, may need to check that out sometime.

Then I decided to make my pretty-in-pink pound cake one step prettier with these ...

... confetti sprinkles!

The bigger disc kind.

So they'd show up really good and pretty in the baked cake. Like bright little spots of fun!

Aren't the bright little spots of fun pretty? I think so!

So I decided to add some more spots of fun to the top of the cake. Ahhh, even prettier.

And all because of an 'I wonder.'

So, what are you 'I wondering' today?? I say go ahead and try it!! It just may work.

Pink Funfetti Pound Cake

Source: A Tracey original, based on my mother-in-law's Classic Vanilla Pound Cake

(Printable recipe)

Ingredients

2 3/4 c. granulated sugar
1/4 c. pink sanding sugar/sprinkles {substitute other colors, if desired}
1/2 lb. unsalted butter {2 sticks}
2 T. Crisco shortening
6 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 c. whole milk {2% milk also works fine}
3 T. confetti disc sprinkles
1/2 c. confectioners sugar
A little bit less than 1 T. water
Additional confetti disc sprinkles, as desired

Directions

Cream the granulated sugar, colored sanding sugar, butter, and Crisco with an electric mixer, about 3-4 minutes.
Add eggs and vanilla; beat with an electric mixer about 10-15 minutes. Be sure to beat for the full time.
Combine the flour and baking powder. With the mixer on low, add flour mixture and milk, alternately, to the creamed sugar and eggs mixture. Mix after each addition until just combined. Gently fold in 3 tablespoons confetti sprinkles.
Pour batter into a tube pan that has been generously sprayed with non-stick baking spray {or buttered & floured}. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 to 1 1/2 hours until a toothpick inserted in the top comes out clean. Cool about a 1/2 an hour in the pan; remove cake from pan.
Whisk together confectioners sugar and water until smooth. Drizzle over cake. Immediately while glaze is still wet, sprinkle with additional confetti sprinkles as desired.

Enjoy!

Enjoy these other scrumptious cakes from ...