• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to footer navigation
  • Skip to home navigation
  • Skip to privacy navigation
  • Skip to secondary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Top 10 Party Games
Facebook Instagram Pinterest Twitter

Play.Party.Plan

Adding fun and creativity to everyday life

  • Fun Ideas by Occasion
    • Baby Shower
    • Bridal Shower
    • Birthday
    • Game Night
    • Movie Night
    • Super Bowl
    • Valentine’s Day
    • St Patrick’s Day
    • Easter
    • Graduation
    • Summer
    • 4th of July
    • Back to School
    • Halloween
    • Thanksgiving
    • Christmas
    • New Year’s Eve
  • Games
    • Adult Games
    • Baby Shower
    • Bridal Shower
    • Birthday Party
    • Bingo Games
    • Board Games
    • Card Games
    • Christmas Games
    • Dice Games
    • Disney Games
    • Group Games
    • Holiday Games
    • Kid Games
    • Minute to Win It
    • Outdoor Games
    • Party Games
    • Scavenger Hunts
    • Teen Games
    • Trivia Games
  • Recipes
    • Appetizers
    • Baked Goods
    • Breakfast
    • Desserts
    • Drinks
    • Main Dishes
    • Party Food
    • Sides
    • TikTok Recipes
  • Free Printables
    • Crafts
    • Gift Tags
    • Kids Activities
    • Party Printables
    • Printable Games
  • Travel
    • Caribbean
    • Cruises
    • Disney
    • International
    • Travel Tips
    • United States
  • Popular Posts
    • Girl Baby Showers
    • Bridal Shower Games
    • Bachelorette Games
    • Diaper Cake DIY
    • DIsneyland Food
    • Dunkaroo Dip
    • Fun Math Games
    • Saran Wrap Game
    • SeaWorld San Antonio
  • About
    • About Me
    • Contact Me
    • Work With Me
    • Privacy Policy
    • Accessibility
  • Facebook Instagram Pinterest Twitter
  • Join the Free Party E-Club!
Home Recipes Cakes & Cupcakes Easy Swirled Easter Cake

Easy Swirled Easter Cake

1 hour
Jump To Recipe Print Recipe
By: Britni Vigil
4/07/2022Updated: 6/10/2022
This post may contain affiliate links. Privacy policy.
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email
swirled easter cake

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!

piece of swirled Easter cake

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 colorful 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!

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 You’ll Love This Recipe

  • Easy – unlike many of the fancy Easter cakes out there, this one is simple to make and hard to screw up!
  • Pretty – when it comes to Easter desserts, people like them to be either beautiful or cute, or both. This is both!
  • 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

ingredients for Easter cake with labels

Ingredient Notes

  • White cake mix – any white cake mix will work, I personally used Betty Crocker but it doesn’t matter.
  • 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 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.

Easter cake batter in a metal bowl

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.

white baking dish with white cake batter

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.

glass bowls with colored batter

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.

white cake batter with drops of colored cake batter

Next, use a butter knife and run it back and forth through the batter to swirl the colored batter into the white batter.

white cake batter being swirled with a knife

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.

white cake pan with a swirled Easter cake inside

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!

swirled Easter cake cooling in a baking dish

2 – Make the Frosting

To make the frosting, beat the softened butter in a large mixing bowl or stand mixer until it is light and fluffy.

metal bowl with ingredients for frosting

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.

metal bowl with buttercream frosting

Frost the cooled cake using a spatula then top with sprinkles and Easter candy (if you want).

frosted Easter cake with sprinkles on top

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!

a piece of Easter cake on a blue plate

Expert Tips

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 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.

a slice of Easter cake on a spatula

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!
Want More Goodies?

Want more delicious recipes just like this one? Enter your first name and email address in the form below to join the Play Party Plan community! You’ll receive weekly recipes and party ideas directly to your inbox!

Print Rate
5 from 2 votes

Swirled Easter Cake

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!
Prevent your screen from going dark
Prep: 25 minutes
Cook: 35 minutes
Total: 1 hour
Serves12 servings

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:

Ingredient 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. 
Tips: 
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!
 

Nutrition Info

Calories: 355kcal, Carbohydrates: 56g, Protein: 2g, Fat: 14g, Saturated Fat: 8g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 3g, Trans Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 34mg, Sodium: 416mg, Potassium: 58mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 39g, Vitamin A: 393IU, Vitamin C: 1mg, Calcium: 118mg, Iron: 1mg

Nutritional Disclaimer

Author: Britni Vigil
Course:Dessert
Cuisine:American
Did You Make This?Tag @PlayPartyPlan on Facebook and Instagram and hashtag it #playpartyplan so I can see your creations!
  • Facebook

you may also like…

  • Breakfast
    Easy Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake
  • Close horizontal picture of Snickers poke cake with a bite taken out
    Desserts
    Easy Chocolate Snickers Poke Cake
  • No Bake Desserts
    Easy No Bake Kool Aid Pie…
  • piece of Dr Pepper cake on a white plate
    Cakes & Cupcakes
    Easy Chocolate Dr Pepper Cake Recipe

Reader Interactions

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Have a question? Use the form below to submit your question or comment. I love hearing from you and seeing what you made!
rate this recipe:




text here

Previous Post
Easy Bacon Wrapped Green Beans
Next Post
Free Printable Easter Coloring Pages

Primary Sidebar

Hi! I'm
Britni

I love sweet treats, my family, games, and anything fun!

Read More

Ideas By Theme

Baby Shower Birthday Bridal Shower Disney Game Night Holiday Just For Kids Movie Night Outdoors

Popular Party Ideas

Bridal Shower Games

woman blindfolded with her hand in a plastic cup

Party Games

Kids Board Games

Blindfolded blocking is one of the best baby shower games

Baby Shower Games

Top Recipes

slice of chocolate dr pepper cake on a white plate

Best Party Foods

Wooden spoon stirring a batch of homemade Chex Mix

Homemade Chex Mix

cropped-best-buffalo-chicken-dip-recipe-11-of-14-e1609965122832.jpg

Buffalo Chicken Dip

Slice of peanut butter pie on two plates with a blue napkin

Reese's Pie

Free Party Ideas E-Club

Loading
As Featured On
connect
Facebook Instagram Pinterest Twitter
  • Play
    • Board Games
    • Kids Activities
    • Minute to Win It
    • Scavenger Hunts
  • Party
    • Food
    • Games
    • Printables
    • Themes
  • Plan
    • Disney Trips
    • Easy Meals
    • Family Travel
    • Gift Ideas

Disclaimer

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Back to Top
  • Contact
  • Work With Me
  • Privacy
  • Accessibility
© 2023 · PLAY PARTY PLAN · Site Credits Designed by Melissa Rose Design Developed by Once Coupled
Opens in a new window Opens an external site Opens an external site in a new window