Air Fryer Cake (Baking an Easy Confetti Birthday Cake)

This Air Fryer Cake recipe is so easy to make and perfect for so many occasions! Making a birthday cake (or cake for any small party) in an air fryer is a simple way to celebrate special occasions without needing an oven. Use a cake mix and have it ready to decorate in under an hour! You're going to love this air fryer box cake recipe.

Jump to:

• Air Fryer Cake
• Video
• Can you Bake a Cake in an Air Fryer?
• Tools
• Air Fryer Birthday Cake
• Cake Ingredients:
• Frosting Ingredients:
• How to Bake a Cake in an Air Fryer
• Pro Tips
• Scaled Down Recipe
• Serving Suggestions
• Storage Directions
• More Fun Dessert Recipes
• Recipe

Air Fryer Cake

I'll be honest—my kids use our air fryer way more than I do. They love to cook frozen pizza, fish sticks, chicken nuggets, etc. You get the idea. We've also used it for cooking chicken and fish. It's very handy for all of our fast and easy savory recipes (if you can call them that)! 

But cake? or air fryer desserts? I wasn't so sure! Then again, there's a first time for everything.

Video

Can you Bake a Cake in an Air Fryer?

Turns out - yes you can! And there are lots of reasons why this is a great idea!

• It's fast! Air fryers heat up quickly, and bake time is shorter than a traditional oven, so you have a cake ready to eat in a lot less time! Easy bake oven, meet air fryer!
• A small cake. This recipe yields a smaller cake than usual so it's perfect if you only need a small serving amount or you don't trust yourself with a whole cake. Due to it's smaller size, it's the perfect cake if you're cooking for only yourself, a couple, or just a few people. Like maybe your daughter is having a slumber party and the girls want dessert? Make this!
• No hot kitchen! Don't heat up your kitchen with the oven - this is really important in summertime!

Tools

Air Fryer. Use whatever brand you have obviously, but be aware that cook time may vary and different air fryers have different temperature setting and make cook the cake at different rates, so check it often the first time you make an air fryer recipe so you can adjust accordingly the next time you make an air fryer cake.

You may have to use a lower temperature or shorter baking time. As with all new recipes, be flexible until you see what works for you and your kitchen!

Air Fryer

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Cake pan. You don't need a special air fryer cake pan for this cake. You can use a 6-inch or 7-inch round pan or springform pan (or whatever pan will fit in your air fryer). Some air fryers will even hold an 8-inch cake pan. 

Round Cake Pans

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Piping Bag with 1M Tip. This is optional but if you're making an air fryer birthday cake, you'll want to make it pretty and fun in addition to it being a delicious cake. So grab a piping bag and sprinkles!!

1M Tip

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Piping Bags

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Air Fryer Birthday Cake

For a few reasons, I decided to not only make an air fryer cake but an air fryer birthday cake. First - who doesn't love confetti? It's fun and bright and happy and you can't help but smile when you see a pretty confetti cake, right?

So I thought I'd share not only how easy it is to make an air fryer cake, but also how easy it would be to make an impressive and pretty birthday cake. No special skills required and only a couple of special tools, if you want.

This would be great for an easy smash cake or a small party with only close friends! And adding the confetti and candles (even if you don't pipe on it) makes it SO happy for a birthday cake!

Cake Ingredients:

All of these ingredients are common and easily found. You probably already have most of it in your pantry.

• Boxed Cake Mix  - I'm using Pillsbury Funfetti, but any brand and flavor of box cake mix should work! You will be mostly following the box directions (for this particular recipe, I also scaled it down so it'll all fit in an air fryer pan), but with most cake mixes, you'll need the next 3 ingredients. Just note that different brands have different quantities and some have different ingredients.
• Eggs or Egg Whites - I chose to use egg whites so the cake would be really white and the sprinkles would POP with color!
• Vegetable Oil
• Water
• Frosting - use your favorite homemade frosting or canned frosting if you like. I'll include my adapted vanilla buttercream recipe in the recipe card below.
• Sprinkles - these are optional but are so much fun with a confetti cake (or vanilla cake or chocolate cake.... okay, sprinkles go with any flavor of box mix)
• Cooking Spray - you can make a Baker's Joy substitute or just grab a cake release spray at the grocery store.

Frosting Ingredients:

If you want to make homemade frosting, I've included a scaled-down, all butter recipe in the card below and the ingredients here:

• Butter - I prefer salted butter, but you can use unsalted butter if that's what you have on hand.
• Vanilla Extract - homemade vanilla or store-bought. Just please use the real stuff and not imitation vanilla
• Confectioners sugar, powdered sugar or icing sugar. Granulated white sugar cannot be used for this recipe unless you use it to make your own powdered sugar.
• Milk. I usually use whole milk but you could use 2%, heavy cream, or even water if you like. Adjust to get your desired consistency..

How to Bake a Cake in an Air Fryer

1. First thing - spray your cake pan with nonstick baking spray.
2. Prepare your cake batter in a large mixing bowl according to box instructions OR follow my scaled-down recipe below to avoid having leftover batter. 
3. Once your batter is prepared, pour it into a prepared cake pan. Do not fill the pan more than ⅔ full of batter, or the cake will cook out over the top of the pan. Also, before you fill the pan, make sure it fits in the bottom of your air fryer basket. If you don’t want the top to get too golden, you can cover it with aluminum foil and poke holes for ventilation. 
4. Air fry at 320°F for 20-30 minutes, depending on your brand of air fryer. Start checking your cake at the 15-minute mark, and check every 5 minutes until you learn the perfect time for your air fryer.
5. Let the cake cool completely on a wire rack.
6. Cut the top off, so you have a nice flat surface. 
7. While the cake is cooling, make your frosting (if you're using homemade).
8. Once cooled, flip the cake over onto a cake plate and frost your entire cake with your favorite frosting. Do not frost a warm cake or the frosting will melt and run off. It's a hot mess (literally and figuratively - trust me!)
9. If you want to be fancy for a birthday party, pipe some frosting on top of the cake around the edges. Add sprinkles and candles.
10. Serve and enjoy. A perfect cake in under an hour. 

Pro Tips

• You should always prepare your pan with nonstick baking spray but if you want extra insurance from sticking, place a round piece of parchment paper in the bottom of the pan. 
• Unless otherwise mentioned, it's always best to bake with room temperature ingredients.
• If using canned frosting, one way to give it a lighter and fluffier texture is to whip it with a hand mixer.
• You can make the whole box of cake mix using the box instructions but you will likely have too much batter for a single pan. So you may have to divide the batter and do 2 rounds of baking or freeze some of the batter for later (Yes! You can freeze unbaked cake batter).
• Add a splash of vanilla extract to the cake batter to amp up the flavor and make it taste more like a homemade cake. 
• Cooking time and temperature will vary depending on your air fryer. Check your cake after 20 minutes with a toothpick to check for doneness and bake for less time if needed.
• Check the cake for doneness by inserting a toothpick in the middle - it should come out clean. You can also use your finger to press down gently in the center of the cake. If it springs back, it's done.

Scaled Down Recipe

As I mentioned before, you can make the box mix according to the package directions, but you'll likely have too much batter for a single pan that fits in an air fryer. If you'd like a more appropriate scaled-down recipe, use these measurements:

• 2 cups boxed confetti cake mix
• 2 eggs or 4 egg whites
• ½ cup water
• ¼ cup vegetable oil

Either way, I usually fill my cake pans at least ½ full but no more than ⅔ full so that they rise to the top of a 2-inch pan but do not overflow.

Serving Suggestions

This cake is perfect for any special occasion, including a birthday party, anniversary celebration, after-school snack, a holiday, and more!

Serve it with a tall glass of milk or a hot cup of coffee! For birthday parties, punch, juice boxes, or canned sodas are also great - kids will enjoy any of them!

Storage Directions

Any leftover cake should be stored in an airtight container or wrapped in plastic wrap. It should be kept in the refrigerator for 1-2 days or in the freezer for longer.

See the recipe card below for the full instructions.

More Fun Dessert Recipes

• Super Easy Drip Cake Recipe (Canned Frosting Hack!)
• Homemade Funfetti Pancakes (Birthday Pancakes)
• The Best Blueberry Birthday Cake Recipe
• White Almond Sour Cream Cake (aka Wedding Cake)
• Instant Pot Funfetti Cheesecake

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