Confetti Cake, but Make it Tiny

One of my struggles recently has been figuring out what to do with baked goods once I've baked them. It's only Jake and me in our apartment. With no family nearby and only seeing friends very occasionally due to the pandemic, we always end up with way more than we need. This week I put a sign on our door directed at the other tenants in our building, basically begging them to come take some of the leftovers, but so far no one has responded. I've put as much as I can in the freezer, but we are quickly running out of space.

The best part of this recipe.

Part of my problem is that I don't love to scale down recipes, especially if it's my first time making one. I've always been able to share what I bake, so not having this option anymore has changed the way I feel about baking. In early quarantine I made cakes, pies, breads, cookies, etc. in their full amount and we set up a drive through bakery pickup for friends and family, but moving to a different state has made this impossible. So, when I watched Claire's newest video on Confetti Cake, I felt sad that I couldn't make it. A layer cake is not an ordinary occurrence anyway, but if I had enough people to pass it off too I could make the case for it. I shut down YouTube and filed this recipe away for another day.

This always makes me think of Fruity Pebbles? Is that just me?

In my baking slump throughout the same day, I came across a NYT Cooking article about small batch baking. It was a lot of people like me, home either alone or with one other person and no one else to share with. Serendipitously, a recipe they highlighted was for small batch confetti cake! I immediately ran to the store to buy sprinkles so I could make it.

A cake fit for two.

I loved this little cake! It was made the same way you'd make any other cake, just tinier. It reminded me a lot of Claire's recipe. With the help of a stand mixer the batter was ready and in the oven in no time. I loved watching the sprinkles swirl into the batter and was so happy to see them dotting the cake throughout when I took it out of the oven. The recipe called for an American buttercream, but I added some cream cheese to better mimic the recipe from Dessert Person, and to cut the sugar a bit. A few dots of pink food coloring and it was ready to eat!

I wish my outfits always matched my cakes.

The cake was delicious. I often hesitate to cut recipes down out of the worry I'll mess up ratios, but since this one was done for me that was taken out of the equation. My only criticism was that it was so sweet. If I make it again I'll definitely cut the amount of frosting in half. While it may not have been the three layer cake of my dreams, it satisfied my need to bake and my sweet tooth, without having to think about what I'd do with the leftover pieces. I think this might the beginning of a small batch baking journey and I couldn't be more excited!

Small Batch Confetti Cake can be found here from Hummingbird High: https://www.hummingbirdhigh.com/2020/06/small-batch-funfetti-cake.html