A pretty and pretty perfect Protein Birthday Cake made with whole wheat flour, Greek yogurt and protein powder, and topped with a simple yogurt icing. This Funfetti Protein Cake uses minimal butter, is sugar free and great for a healthy celebration dessert.

You guys this might just be the most last minute and quick recipe planning, baking and shooting I’ve ever done. All 3 in a span of 2 hours. Decided what to bake, put that recipe in my phone, baked that simple protein cake, let it cool, made the icing, set the scene and did the shoot.

And all of this at 6:30 pm!

Well the cake just turned out perfect – soft and tender and moist and with a light crumb.

And clearly very easy to make!

Ingredients for High Protein Birthday Cake Recipe:

This healthy protein birthay cake is made with just a few ingredients you probably have lying around your pantry already.

Whole Wheat Pastry Flour for a healthy and whole grain cake recipe. You can replace it with all purpose flour or gluten free baking flour if you like
Vanilla Protein Powder – this replaces the sugar in this recipe and is the key to what makes it a high protein cake. I used half ProteinWorld Slender Blend for this recipe (use the code HAYLSKITCHEN for a discount) and half Quest Nutrition’s Vanilla protein powder – it’s a whey-caesin blend.
1:1 Zero Calorie Sugar Substitute – I use Lakanto, to keep this recipe sugar free; (code HAYLSKITCHEN for a discount here too)
Non-fat Greek Yogurt another protein-packed ingredient!
Almond Milk for a slighly low calorie and healthy recipe; No buttermilk needed here
An Egg
Just a bit of softened butter
Baking Powder and Baking Soda

The Yogurt protein cake glaze:

Non-fat Greek Yogurt
1:1 Zero Calorie Powdered Sugar Substitute – I use Lakanto here, to keep this recipe sugar free; (code HAYLSKITCHEN for a discount here again)
A bit of Almond Milk
And a bit of Vanilla Extract

How to make Funfetti Protein Cake

This protein powder funfetti cake not only has simple ingredients, but is also really easy to make.

Here’s what you have to do:

Preheat your oven to 350°F and line a round 8” cake pan or 8 x 8” baking pan with parchment paper

Combine the dry ingredients in bowl: whole wheat pastry flour, half vanilla protein powder, zero calorie sweetener baking powder and baking soda.

Beat the softened butter and half protein powder in a large bowl using a hand mixer until it’s completely mixed. This should take about 30 seconds.

Add wet ingredients and beat again: Greek Yogurt, almond milk and egg

Add the dry mixture to the wet mix and fold together. DO NOT OVER-MIX the batter or the cake will be too dense at the bottom.

Pour batter into the prepared baking pan

Bake for 23-25 minutes. A tester inserted into the center should come out dry – no crumbs or batter.

For a 9 x 13” pan, double the funfetti protein cake recipe and bake for about 25-30 minutes again, but start checking early.

Tips for the perfect Birthday Cake Protein Recipe

Use softened butter
You want to be able to beat the butter and protein powder together. If you just took it out of the fridge, microwave it for about 7-10 seconds.

Use room temperature Yogurt, Milk and Eggs
Microwave these too for about 5 seconds if you took them out of the fridge, otherwise they will make the butter harden.
If the butter in the wet mix hardens, microwave it for about 5 seconds until smooth.

Don’t over-mix the batter!
Make sure you gently fold the dry mix into the wet to combine them.
If you over-mix it, the protein powder and gluten from whole wheat flour will make it tough, dense and gummy.

Taste the batter;
If it isn’t sweet enough, add some more zero calorie sweetener or stevia powder to taste. You want the perfect protein birthday cake batter.

Make ahead and Store Protein Powder Birthday Cake

Another great part about this birthday cake protein cake recipe is that you can make in advance for a party, and even store leftovers!

You can keep the funfetti protein powder cake out at room temperature (on the countertop) for a day – as long as it has no frosting. A few hours if it has the icing.

Store any leftover birthday cake in the fridge for up to 5 days in an airtight container.

To freeze this vanilla protein cake with sprinkles, slice it, wrap each piece in plastic wrap, and place the pieces in a freezer-safe zipper bag. They keep in the freezer for a few months.
You can even store the whole cake itself!

Alternate ingredients for Healthy Birthday Cake Recipe

I recommend making this healthy protein powder birthday cake using the ingredients and products listed – especially the since it gives the best results.

If you need other options for the flours and such, here’s some alternatives for this funfetti protein cake:

Whole Wheat Pastry Flour: Use all purpose flour or 1:1 Gluten Free Baking Flour for a gluten free protein cake.
Butter (in cake): Softened coconut oil or Vegan butter.
Almond Milk: Regular non-dairy milk
Greek Yogurt: Coconut Yogurt
1:1 Zero Calorie Sugar Replacement: Regular confectioners sugar or coconut sugar (this won’t be sugar free though)

For a Vegan Protein Funfetti Cake:

For a Vegan protein birthday cake, make sure you use a plant based protein powder, coconut yogurt and Vegan butter alternative. Also replace the egg with a flax egg (1 Tbsp flaxseed meal + 3 Tbsp water).

ProteinWorld has a Vegan protein blend as well (HAYLSKITCHEN for the discount here too) that could work here.

More Healthy Protein Cake Recipes:

Or some Protein Mug Cakes and Cupcakes