birthday cake bread with crumb topping
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even if it’s not your birthday, this birthday cake bread is loaded with sprinkles and can make any day just a little bit brighter
My birthday is this weekend. I don’t usually bake anything special for my birthday; Stella loves to plan the entire day from breakfast to dessert. Sometimes we go out, sometimes we grill at home. Either way, my family always makes it fun.
Last week at the market I spotted this bread on the cover of bake from scratch magazine. I passed up the magazine, but thought about those sprinkles for days, so I finally went back to get it. I am a sucker for anything cake batter, and well you already know bread is my favorite food group. With my birthday coming up this loaf just had to bet baked.
It’s definitely more cake than bread, but when you bake a cake in a loaf pan and call it bread, it is more acceptable to eat it for breakfast. Or maybe that’s just me. My taste tester loved it SO much, she ate three pieces right after the photos we done. Chances are there won’t be even a sprinkle left by the time my birthday actually gets here.
I guess that means we’ll have to bake another loaf.

birthday cake bread with crumb topping
Ingredients:
- 1 cup of butter, softened at room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 4 eggs
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp almond extract (optional)
- 1 tsp butter flavored extract (optional)
- 2 cups of flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/3 cup rainbow sprinkles
Directions:
- preheat the oven to 325 degrees
- spray a loaf pan with non-stick baking spray (line pan with parchment to make removing the loaf easier)
- cream together the butter and sugar, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl, until light and fluffy (about 4 minutes)
- add egg yolk and whole eggs, one at a time, stopping to scrape the bowl in between additions
- add extracts, stir 1 miute, and then add flour and salt
- gently stir in the sprinkles, and pour into the prepared pan
- for the crumb topping combine 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup flour, and using your fingers, rub in 2 Tbsp cold butter until it is evenly distributed (texture should be like wet sand) stir in 1/4 cup sprinkles
- sprinkle the crumb topping evenly over the cake batter loaf
- bake 70 minutes and check for doneness (a pick inserted in the center should come out with just a few moist crumbs) my loaf took an extra 10 minutes
- when done, cool in pan 10 minutes, and then remove to a rack to finish cooling (bread slices much easier when completely cool)
I used a combination of Wilton jimmie sprinkles and nonpareil sprinkles. I prefer the color of the nonpareils but didn’t have enough, and jimmies tend to hold up better when being mixed into batter. There is less color bleeding, but I ended up loving the combination of both. Use whatever sprinkles you prefer.
To get cake batter flavor in the bread I added almond and butter flavored extracts along with the vanilla.
Again, that is my preference. I simply LOVE that boxed mix cake batter flavor. To leave it out, just add an extra 2 teaspoons of vanilla.
Every day is a good day for rainbow sprinkles, birthday or not. This birthday cake bread is sure to put a smile on your face.
enjoy!
I have to make this for my sons birthday Sunday! I would even if it wasn’t his birthday! The vanilla along with the almond and butter extracts are good together, my poppyseed bread recipe calls for all 3. That makes 3 loaves and is my sons favorite, all 3 are gone in 2 days! It cost me $20 to ship 4 loaves to Florida, I had to share them with my youngest lol. This a recipe looks amazing thank you for sharing it!
thank you so much! I LOVE using all three flavors 🙂
Kim, could you give me the poppyseed bread recipe? Sounds sooooo good.
Happiest of birthdays! It is my birthday this weekend too, so we need this at our house.
thank you and happy birthday to you 🙂
Today was my son’s 18th birthday and I made the sprinkle scones from the same issue of Bake From Scratch. The recipe called for clear imitation vanilla (I used Wilton brand) and almond extract. They really had that cake batter flavor.
they are next on my must bake list…great issue for sure
Sprinkles! What a fun cake for your birthday. Happy Birthday!
thank you so much!
That looks so fun and festive, great pictures as well.
thank you megan
Happy birthday from one sprinkle lover to another! This cake/bread is the perfect way to celebrate!
thank you so much!! it’s hard not to love the sprinkles 🙂
I love this. So, so, so, sososososo much!!! It is just so happy. Birthdays are the best!
thank you SO much!! we loved it too 🙂
This looks awesome! It’s next on my list 🙂
Quick question, are the ingredients used for the crumb topping in addition to the ingredients already listed?
Thanks!
the ingredients for the crumb topping are listed in the directions (for the crumb topping combine 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup flour, and using your fingers, rub in 2 Tbsp cold butter until it is evenly distributed (texture should be like wet sand) stir in 1/4 cup sprinkles – sorry for the confusion
How does this cake rise? I do not see a leavening agent like baking powder in the recipe.
there is no need for a leavening agent, you get a slight rise from creaming the butter – but is is more dense like a pound cake than airy like a bread recipe
Did you use a standard 9×5 loaf pan?
Thanks.
yes I did
🎉I made this festive birthday cake bread last week. It was no one’s birthday, but no seemed to notice! Yum!🎈
you definitely do not need a birthday to enjoy this bread 🙂 thanks so much
This is a truly delightful cake recipe, Heather! Can’t wait for my next birthday to come! 😉
thank you so much! we’re making one this week for a family birthday 🙂
How pretty! Looks as tasty as it is colorful. Pinning for later!
thank you so much!
This looks delicious! I want it for my birthday! 😛
thank you!
OMG and holy sprinkles! And that’s all I have to say about that. Except, you have my address, right? So pinning this!
you are SO sweet!! thanks 🙂
So fun!! Happy Birthday! Megan
thanks so much
Hi! I’ve made this loaf twice and it keeps coming out very hard on the outside. Seems the inside takes forever to get done. I kept a piece of foil over it for the last 30 minutes, but it’s still like a brick. Do you have any suggestions? Thanks!
you may be over mixing, but i really can not be sure
I made this after wanting to try this recipe for so long. I was disappointed, after using so many quality expensive ingredients, the batter spilled over the pan while baking, all over my oven! It was a disaster. I checked to make sure that I had the right size pan, and noticed now that there is no measurements regarding the pan size (only to use a loaf pan). Most standard loaf pans are 9 x 5, and that is what I used. If anyone makes this recipe, you will need a larger size loaf pan. I continued baking it, by putting it onto a sheet pan, and it continued spilling over, throughout the baking process. I wanted to cook it through to see how it would taste and the flavor was good! although it was sunken in the middle (probably from all the times I had to open the oven to clean the spillage. I have an oven thermometer and therefore my oven temperature was correct and I followed the recipe as written. I feel it was ruined just because of an issue with the pan size. In addition, like some reviewers here, I found it took forever for the center of the cake to be done, while the outside was getting very brown (I did use foil towards the end). This may also be the reason the center kept oozing out over the pan. Not sure why this cake was cooking this way..
i did use a pullman pan, but the original recipe i adapted from was baked in a standard pan, and did not spill over at all