The funfetti cake from Hail Mary restaurant in Brooklyn has become very popular, with many tables ordering multiple slices. The restaurant's owner, Sohla El-Waylly, has fond childhood memories of making and eating funfetti cake every day. She now bakes a three-tiered version with homemade rosewater sprinkles, salted caramel buttercream frosting, and more sugar than flour for a light texture. The detailed recipe includes instructions for making the sprinkles, caramel, and buttercream.

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F O O D + D R I N K | R E C I P E
SINCE THE UPSCALE diner Hail Mary opened
on Greenpoint Avenue in May, its funfetti cake
has become the single most ordered item on
the menu. “Every table gets one, sometimes
more than one, and a lot of people come just
for cake,” said Sohla El-Waylly, who runs
the restaurant with her husband, Ham. It’s no
wonder—the three-tiered masterpiece is like
a Proustian madeleine for those of us who
grew up eating the sprinkle-filled cakes on our
birthday.
“When I was little—I don’t remember this,
but everyone told me about this—there was
a year in my life when I made box mix everyday
and I would sing happy birthday to myself and
blow out the candles,” Sohla said. “It’s one of
those things that everyone brings up when they
see me and they make fun of me and ask, are
you still making birthday cake everyday? And
it’s funny because now I am!” Needless to say,
whenever people come into the restaurant for
a birthday, they make a really big deal of it.
Hail Mary’s interpretation of the classic is a
vanilla cake with salted caramel buttercream
frosting and handmade rosewater sprinkles. It
has more sugar than flour, so the key to getting
the right texture is to mix it a lot more than you
would mix a normal cake. And don’t add too
many sprinkles to the batter—they can affect the
acidity level. Now go forth and bake! ♦
B Y / L A U R A I T Z K O W I T T Z
P H O T O S / J A N E B R U C E
C H E F S E L E C T S
FUNFETTI CAKE
2 Sticks softened butter
3 c sugar
1 T salt
5 whole eggs
2 egg yolks
4½ c flour
2 T baking powder
1 t baking powder
2½ c buttermilk
1 T vanilla extract
1 T birthday cake extract
½ c store bought sprinkles
Cream together butter, sugar, and salt until fluffy. Add
one egg at a time, creaming for two minutes after
each egg. Combine together the flour and baking pow-
der and set aside. Combine together the buttermilk
and extracts and set aside.
Add half the flour mixture to the creamed butter
and eggs and mix for one minute. Slowly add half the
buttermilk mixture. Repeat with the remaining flour
and buttermilk. Finish the batter by stirring in the
sprinkles.
Divide the batter evenly between three 8-inch pans,
which have been lined with parchment and butter. Tap
the pans firmly against the table to get rid of any large
air bubbles. Bake at 350 for 50 minutes, or until the
center of the cake bounces back when pressed firmly.
(We bake our cakes in a Combi oven with a little
steam to keep the cakes extra moist, you can mimic
this in a home oven by placing a pan of boiling water
on the shelf below the cakes when baking.)
HOME-MADE SPRINKLES
4 c powdered sugar
2 egg whites
1 t vanilla
2 T rose water
1 t salt
Mix everything together until smooth. Divide icing into
several bowls and add desired food coloring to each
bowl. Put tinted icing into a pastry bag and snip off
a tiny corner to get desired sprinkle width.Pipe icing
onto a parchment lined sheet tray in short lines about
one inch long.
Leave overnight to dry. Once dry gently lift sprinkles
off parchment using an offset spatula or thin knife.
SALTED CARAMEL BUTTERCREAM
FOR THE CARAMEL
1¼ c sugar
¼ c water
½ c cream
2 T salt
1 vanilla bean
In a medium saucepan combine the sugar and water.
Cook over medium heat without stirring with a lid
until all the sugar has dissolved. Remove the lid and
increase the heat to high. Split and scrape the vanilla
bean and add the seeds and pod to the caramel. Con-
tinue cooking on high until almost burnt. When the
sugar is smoking and almost black, deglaze with the
cream. Be careful, because it will sputter and spit.
(This is why it’s important to always use a larger pot
than you think) Finish with the salt and set aside.
FOR THE BUTTERCREAM
6 whole eggs
1 c sugar
¼ c water
1½ softened butter
Whip the eggs on high in a stand mixer. While eggs
are whipping, combine water and sugar in a small
saucepan and cook until it reaches 235 F. The eggs
should triple in volume. Slowly pour the hot sugar into
the whipped eggs. Continue whipping until the base
of the mixing bowl is no longer warm. This can take
up to 30 minutes. Once the bowl is cool to the touch,
add the softened butter a tablespoon at a time. (The
butter must be perfectly soft, we usually pull it out
of the fridge the night before, and it’s perfect in the
morning) After all the butter is added, the eggs will
lose a lot of volume, but if you continue mixing you will
regain some of that volume. Finish by whipping in the
cooled caramel.
H AV E Y O U R F U N F E T T I C A K E
A N D E AT I T T O O