If you want a beautiful Easter cake that’s great for beginners, this colorful swirl cake is the perfect option! A white cake mix gets combined with a couple of additional ingredients, colored, and swirled around for a fun and unique cake that’s simple to make!
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If you’ve read much on my site you’ll know that I love two things – colors and fun! And this swirled Easter cake is both of those things.
My son’s birthday was last week, and I knew I wanted to make him a cake that was colorful, delicious, and easy. Plus, it had to have vanilla frosting and sprinkles because he’s not a chocolate fan.
I made this easy Easter cake for him (and our neighborhood kids) and I wish I’d taken a picture of the cake pan when they were done. The kids were literally spooning the crumbs out of the cake pan.
While it starts with a white cake mix, it tastes nothing like a box cake. It’s moist, flavorful, and really pretty to look at with all of the swirled pastel colors inside!
Plus, the vanilla frosting on top is pretty much amazing even though it’s a beginner frosting recipe as well!
So if you’re looking for something cute or something fancy for your Easter menu, I highly recommend trying this one out. You won’t have to do anything with fondant or decorating and still with have a fun show stopping cake to add to your other desserts! It’s the perfect easy Easter cake that everyone will love!
Serve it with some other creative Easter desserts like these mini egg cheesecakes, these Oreo Easter egg truffles, and some butterscotch haystacks (that look like Easter nests) for the ultimate Easter sweets lineup!
Why People Love This Cake
- Easy – I mentioned it already but this is cake that looks impressive that’s easy enough beginners can do it. It’s pretty much fool-proof and when you’re making a cake, you want fool-proof!
- Versatile – while I’m calling this an Easter cake, we’ve also made a 4th of July cake version and someone just commented they made it into a birthday cake. You can just switch out the colors for any holiday!
- Tasty – the combination of the semi-homemade cake plus the homemade frosting makes this cake one that people will be asking for the recipe!
Ingredients in this easter cake
Ingredient notes & Substitutions
- White cake mix – any white cake mix will work, I personally used Betty Crocker but it doesn’t matter as long as it’s white so the colors will show up.
- Clear vanilla – it’s important to use clear vanilla in the batter so that the dark color of regular vanilla doesn’t impact the coloring of the cake. You can get clear vanilla at Walmart, most grocery stores, and on Amazon here.
- Food coloring – I used blue, pink, and yellow food coloring but you could use any Easter colors you want. These pastel food colors are great but again, anything you have works – just keep the colors on the lighter side!
- Eggs – I recommend using four egg whites but if you don’t have four eggs, you can also use three whole eggs. You will have a slight yellow tint to the cake but it’ll taste fine.
- Butter – it doesn’t really matter if you use salted or unsalted for the frosting but if you do use salted, I recommend leaving out the added salt. You do want to make sure that the butter is nice and soft before you make this frosting – I like to leave it out overnight or for at least an hour.
How to make a swirled easter cake
I’ve been talking about how easy this cake is to make and now it’s time to show you! The best part about this cake is that it doesn’t have to be perfect – it’s a swirled cake that’s supposed to be messy – messy is pretty in this case!
1 – Make the Cake
Preheat your oven to 350°F and grease a 9″ x 13″ baking dish.
Combine cake mix, water, egg whites, oil, sour cream, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl or stand mixer.
Mix on low speed until ingredients are combined, then beat on medium speed for 2 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed.
P.s., I just bought this hand mixer that comes with scraping beaters and oh my gosh, it’s amazing. Best purchase I’ve made in years – no more scraping the bowl with a spatula!
Pour two cups of the cake batter into the prepared baking dish and smooth it out evenly so it covers the bottom of the baking dish.
Divide the remaining cake batter into three separate bowls. There will be about 1/2 cup batter in each bowl.
Add a different color food coloring to each bowl and mix until the color is consistent. Use more or less food coloring to get the shade you want, but I recommend starting with just 1-2 drops because color goes a long way with white cake batter!
Tip!
Use disposable bowls and spoons to mix your food coloring into your batter so that you can just throw away the mess when you’re done! Or if you don’t want to throw anything away, make sure to wash out the batter with food coloring as soon as you put the cake in the oven (if not sooner) so you can avoid stains and mess.
Use a spoon to drop dollops of each of the colored batters randomly over the white cake batter in the pan. I started with the pink batter and placed spoons full of batter all over then moved onto blue and yellow.
Next, use a butter knife and run it back and forth through the batter to swirl the colored batter into the white batter.
Continue swirling with the knife until you’ve gone from one end of the pan to the other. You want everything to be swirled together well.
Make sure you don’t overdo it or you’ll end up with one color instead of swirls.
When I swirled mine, I went up once in each swirl and then swirled again on the way back down the pan, and it was the perfect amount of swirling for swirled Easter cake colors!
Tip!
Swirl the colored batter left to right while gradually going down the pan to ensure that you don’t mix the colors together (not the look you’re going for). Repeat this pattern a couple of times to get the symmetrical swirled look.
Place the cake in the preheated oven and bake the cake until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, about 30 – 35 minutes.
Let the cake cool in the pan until completely cooled. You’ll be able to see those pretty swirls of color on top of the baked cake. But just wait until you see the inside!
2 – Make the easter cake Frosting
To make the frosting, beat the softened butter in a large mixing bowl or stand mixer until it is light and fluffy.
Now add the salt and mix (if using salted butter, skip this step).
Now slowly add the powdered sugar a little at a time, mixing on low speed until all powdered sugar is added and mixed well with the butter. You may need to scrape the sides of the bowl to make sure the butter gets mixed in well unless you’re using this cool hand mixer I mentioned earlier!
Next, add the vanilla, and two tablespoons of frosting. If you’d like to add food coloring (I didn’t), you can add it here if you want.
Beat for one minute and check consistency. If frosting is too thick, add a bit more cream and continue mixing until frosting is a good consistency for spreading. I ended up using just about three tablespoons of cream for mine, and it was perfect!
You want the frosting to be spreadable (so not piping thick) but not runny if that makes any sense.
Frost the cooled cake using a spatula then top with sprinkles and Easter candy (if you want).
Slice the cake and serve immediately or you always cover with plastic wrap (or a cake cover) and serve later!
This is great served with ice cream or just on its own!
Tips & Storage Info
Store cake in the fridge covered for up to four days. Cake can be served either chilled or at room temperature but the frosting with the heavy cream should be refrigerated.
Switch up the colors and sprinkles and make this cake work for a different holiday as well!
Use a max of three colors that are very different from each other (e.g., pink and blue, not pink and red) so that you can really see the colors and so that they don’t just combine together into a mess.
Don’t overdo the food coloring. Food coloring can give have a really strong taste if overused and you really only need a few drops to turn this white cake mix colorful!
Recipe FAQs
How do you do a swirl effect on a cake?
In order to achieve the swirl effect in this cake, you’ll start with a small layer of white cake batter than add spoonfuls of colored cake batter on top of the white cake batter. Use a butter knife and run it through the colors to create a swirl effect. When the cake bakes, the colors will bake into fun swirls throughout the batter.
Can you freeze a swirl cake?
This cake freezes beautifully unfrosted. If you know you’re planning to freeze the cake, I recommend placing a piece of parchment paper into the pan before pouring in the batter. Once the cake has baked and completely cooled, pop the cake out of the pan using parchment paper. Wrap it tightly in plastic wrap then freeze for up to three months.
When you’re ready to eat the cake, remove from the freezer and allow to thaw to room temperature then frost and decorate as instructed.
More Variations to Try
- Red and green for a Christmas cake
- Orange, green, and purple for a Halloween cake
- Team colors like red and yellow for Super Bowl
- School colors for a graduation cake
- Pink and purple for Valentine’s Day
More Easy Cake Recipes
If you want even more delicious cakes to add to your menu, try one of these yummy cake recipes!
- Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting – is there anything more fitting for Easter than carrot cake? And this one’s delicious!
- Dirt and worms cake – layers of Oreo crumbs, pudding, and of course gummy worms make this the perfect spring dessert!
- Old fashioned jello cake – a simple jello poke cake that gets topped with an incredible whipped cream frosting!
- Peach cake with peach cream frosting – a homemade yellow cake topped with fresh peaches and an amazing peach cream frosting!
- Kool Aid cake – this delicious strawberry poke cake gets its flavor from a packet of none other than Kool-Aid (kind of like this Kool-Aid pie!).
- Easter trifle – another fun and colorful Easter dessert that’s perfect to enjoy with this swirl cake!
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Easy Easter Cake with a Swirled Center
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 box white cake mix
- ¼ cup water
- 4 egg whites
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 tsp clear vanilla extract
- blue, pink, yellow food coloring (or your preferred colors)
- pastel sprinkles, Easter sprinkles or candies
Frosting
- ½ cup butter (softened)
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 2-4 TBS heavy cream
- food coloring (optional)
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat oven to 350°F and grease a 9″ x 13″ baking dish.=
- Combine cake mix, water, egg whites, oil, sour cream, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl or stand mixer. Mix on low speed until ingredients are combined, then beat on medium speed for 2 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed.1 box white cake mix, 1/4 cup water, 4 egg whites, 1/2 cup vegetable oil, 1 cup sour cream, 1 tsp clear vanilla extract
- Pour 2 cups of the cake batter into the prepared baking dish, then divide the remaining cake batter into three separate bowls. There will be about 1/2 cup batter in each bowl. Add a different color food coloring to each bowl, mix until color is consistent. Use more or less food coloring to get desired color.blue, pink, yellow food coloring
- Use a spoon to drop dollops of each of the colored batters randomly over the white cake batter in the pan then use a butter knife and run it back and forth through the batter to swirl the colored batter into the white batter. Make sure you don’t overdo it or you’ll end up with one color instead of swirls.
- Bake the cake until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, about 30 – 35 minutes. Cool completely.
- Frost the cooled cake, garnish with Easter sprinkle or Easter themed candy and enjoy!pastel sprinkles, Easter sprinkles or candies
Frosting
- Beat the butter in a large mixing bowl or stand mixer until it is light and fluffy. Add salt and mix.1/2 cup butter, 1/4 tsp salt
- Slowly add powdered sugar a little at a time, mixing on low speed until all powdered sugar is added and mixed well with the butter. Scrape the sides of the bowl to make sure the butter gets mixed in well.2 cups powdered sugar
- Next, add the vanilla, and two tablespoons of frosting. If you’d like to add food coloring (I didn’t), you can add it here if you want. Beat for one minute and check consistency. If frosting is too thick, add a bit more cream and continue mixing until frosting is a good consistency for spreading.1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, 2-4 TBS heavy cream, food coloring
Tips & Notes:
- Clear vanilla – it’s important to use clear vanilla in the batter so that the dark color of regular vanilla doesn’t impact the coloring of the cake. You can get clear vanilla at Walmart, most grocery stores, and on Amazon here.
- Eggs – I recommend using four egg whites but if you don’t have four eggs, you can also use three whole eggs. You will have a slight yellow tint to the cake but it’ll taste fine.
- Butter – it doesn’t really matter if you use salted or unsalted for the frosting but if you do use salted, I recommend leaving out the added salt. You do want to make sure that the butter is nice and soft before you make this frosting – I like to leave it out overnight or for at least an hour.
- Heavy cream – if you don’t have heavy cream, you can substitute milk but you’ll likely only need the two tablespoons since milk is thinner than cream.
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