These Funfetti Pancakes will make a birthday shine or give an ordinary day a special start. A cake mix gives it that well-loved cake batter flavor, but these still have a wonderful pancake texture. And don’t forget the buttercream glaze on top!
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Today’s a special day in our house. It’s Kinslee’s birthday! Her official birthday, anyway. She’s actually had three celebrations already, but this day is still special to her. In our house, no birthday is complete without SPRINKLES. I love starting the day with a healthy breakfast, but on birthdays all bets are off. The sugar comes out in full force.
This stack of Funfetti Pancakes were a huge hit at Kinslee’s birthday sleepover last week. The girls loved the colorful sprinkles inside. This giggly group of breakdancers were more than happy to be my taste testers.
“They taste like wedding cake!” Success #1.
“The frosting is soooooo good! It melts in my mouth!” Success #2.
“Can I have more?” Success #3.
These pancakes are made with a box of Pillsbury Funfetti cake mix. Now we’ve showed you how to make a cake mix pancake recipe before and they’ve been a favorite ever since. Why change a good thing, you ask? For these Funfetti Pancakes, I wanted more of a pancake texture instead of a cupcake texture. A little firmer, not as “cakey”, but still super soft and fluffy.
To get the texture I wanted, I started with my favorite pancake recipe, Amish Griddle Cakes. I adjusted the ratio of the ingredients just a bit, then added in a Funfetti cake mix. After a couple test pancakes and adjustments, I had my perfect pancake texture.
Don’t forget the melt-in-your mouth vanilla buttercream glaze on top. It’s your classic vanilla buttercream turned into a fantastically sweet drizzle to spoon over your freshly made pancakes. For my little pink-loving, ballerina, happy-go-lucky, newly 9-year old, it doesn’t get much better than that.
If you’re looking for super cute birthday cake ideas for boys, you can find 112 cake ideas here on Spaceships & Laser Beams!
Q: What is the one thing you always celebrate with on your birthdays?
Funfetti Pancakes
Ingredients
- 1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 box Pillsbury Funfetti cake mix
- 1/3 cup canola oil
- 3 large eggs
- 2 1/3 cups milk
- 1/3 cup sprinkles
Frosting:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons butter softened
- 2 tablespoons half & half cream
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and cake mix. Set aside.
- In another small bowl, mix together the oil, eggs and milk.
- Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Fold in the sprinkles. Batter will be thick. (If you'd like thinner pancakes, you can add a bit more milk.)
- Heat a griddle to about 250-275 degrees (low heat so the pancakes do not burn). Spray the griddle with cooking spray.
- Ladle the pancake batter onto the hot pan and cook the pancakes for about 1-2 minutes or until bubbles start forming in the batter. Flip the pancake and cook for an additional minute or until cooked through.
- This recipes makes about 22 5" pancakes.
For the Frosting
- In a small bowl, stir together the powdered sugar, softened butter, cream and vanilla. This frosting will be at a spreadable consistency.
- If you'd like to drizzle the frosting, microwave the frosting for about 10 seconds and stir, then drizzle over the pancakes.
- Double the frosting recipe, if desired.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Averie @ Averie Cooks says
August 4, 2014 at 1:07 amAdorable, awesome & pinned 🙂
Janet says
August 4, 2014 at 8:48 amHappy Birthday! How festive and fun. No birthdays but we will be having a bridal shower this month for my daughter. Thanks for the recipe.
Cindy Eikenberg says
August 5, 2014 at 6:18 amLove these – what a delicious and pretty dish to wake up to on a birthday morning! Pinning and sharing! Have a happy Tuesday!
Jamie @ Love Bakes Good Cakes says
August 5, 2014 at 11:52 amWe do special breakfasts for birthdays too! 🙂 This would be awesome any time, but especially for a borthday! Happy belated birthday to Kinslee!
Jamie @ Love Bakes Good Cakes says
August 5, 2014 at 11:53 ambirthday …. I need more coffee!! 😀
Lizzy T says
August 5, 2014 at 2:02 pmBirthday breakfasts are the best! 🙂
Anita says
August 5, 2014 at 6:58 pmThe Birthday Pancakes are really festive. Nice photos.
Claire @ The Simple, Sweet Life says
August 6, 2014 at 1:43 pmThese pancakes look fantastic! I love pretty much everything funfetti related, so I will definitely be pinning these to try later! 🙂
Lizzy T says
August 8, 2014 at 5:19 pmThanks for pinning, Claire! They were so good!
Shannon {Cozy Country Living} says
August 6, 2014 at 3:16 pmThese are so fun! My children would just love them:) Pinned! Thanks so much for linking up at the Project Parade Party!
Pauline Molinari says
August 6, 2014 at 7:05 pmThese look delicious! Thanks again for linking up to the Monday Funday Party!
Cate @ Chez CateyLou says
August 6, 2014 at 8:15 pmI love your house rule of sprinkles for birthdays!! These pancakes are so cute, and they sound absolutely delicious! Hope Kinslee had a great birthday!
Lizzy T says
August 8, 2014 at 5:20 pmThanks, Cate! She did have a great birthday! 🙂
Karen @ a house full of sunshine says
August 8, 2014 at 7:35 amOh, yum!! My kids would love these!
Virginia Fynes says
August 14, 2014 at 6:22 amYES PLEASE!! These look Super yummy!
J says
February 18, 2015 at 6:15 pmThese were delicious! Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Lizzy T says
February 19, 2015 at 8:27 amI’m glad you enjoyed them!
Gini says
April 27, 2015 at 11:51 amIn love with this recipe! My boyfriend woke up to these yummy pancakes on his birthday and he loved them. Raved about em and asked how i made these taste like cake. He wanted more the next day :)! He is a veryyy picky eater and i was happy to see him enjoy these so much. Thanks for sharing!!
Lizzy T says
April 28, 2015 at 6:09 pmThat’s great! Thank you so much for the feedback. I’m glad you enjoyed them!
jessi says
July 13, 2015 at 12:34 amCan I use heavy whipping cream rather than half & half? I’m trying to keep from going to the store. I cannot wait to try these
Lizzy T says
July 13, 2015 at 3:03 pmYou can use heavy whipping cream, but you’ll need to add a little more than the recipe calls for or melt the butter to get it drizzling consistency. We actually made these this morning using the heavy whipping cream for the glaze. 🙂 The kids devoured them!
TT says
September 14, 2018 at 8:15 pmHi, Same question about the heavy cream are you saying to add a little more or little less here? These look to be about the best recipe i have found and there are LOTS of them out there! Thanks.
Julie Clark says
September 15, 2018 at 7:09 pmSorry about that!! Use a little more heavy whipping cream since it is thicker.
Elizabeth says
September 17, 2015 at 9:03 amI would like to make this as my daughters actual birthday cake so my question is… Will it be fine to make overnight and frost as well? Or is made to eat warm?
Julie Clark says
September 17, 2015 at 9:50 amI’ve never eaten them cold, but I think it could work! I’d definitely store them in the fridge overnight. Sounds so fun!
Jenny says
November 7, 2015 at 5:41 pmElizabeth /Julie, did you ever try these cold? Outcome? I’d like to make the day before a coworkers birthday and we do cake at lunch. Or, if I have to reheat at work, how long in microwave and are they still as good?
Julie Clark says
November 8, 2015 at 8:06 amI have never tried them cold, but with the glaze it may be good! My kids like them warmed in the microwave. Time will depend on the strength of the microwave. I’d start a small stack at 30 seconds and go from there.
Anonymous says
January 14, 2016 at 6:27 pmShould the temp be changed if making these in a mini muffin tin?
Julie Clark says
January 15, 2016 at 5:50 amI would try baking them at 350. I’ve never done it this way so can’t say for sure on how long to bake them.
Amy says
April 26, 2016 at 10:30 pmOh, these look delicious!!! I’d love to make them tomorrow for dinner (breakfast for dinner is my fav!). I don’t have funfetti cake mix on hand but I have a box of yellow cake mix. Will that work just as well?
Julie Clark says
April 27, 2016 at 5:17 amYes! That should work!
Amanda says
March 5, 2017 at 1:04 pmDelicious! Huge hit, especially the frosting! Used this as the birthday cake for our breakfast get together! Definitely double the icing, you’ll want it.
Julie Clark says
March 5, 2017 at 4:52 pmI like your double the frosting recipe.
Christine says
July 27, 2017 at 9:59 amI just made these for a birthday breakfast and they turned out wonderfully! The kids and adults loved them. I splashed a little more milk into the frosting to make it more “pourable” but other than that I followed the recipe exactly and it was perfect!
Jessica Wilshusen says
March 3, 2019 at 12:45 amCan you tell me the recipe without using a cake mix? Or can you point me to someone who can develop this recipe without using a store bought shortcut? I want to make these from scratch. Thankss
Julie Clark says
March 18, 2019 at 8:16 amYou could just add sprinkles to a traditional pancake recipe if you’d like. It would be similar.