By Jehan Yusoof  |  Updated October 09, 2026  | 5 comments

Sri Lankan ribbon cake is a soft two-layer vanilla butter cake in two pastel layers, one pink and one green, sandwiched and covered with vanilla butter icing.
It’s the cake so many of us grew up with at birthdays, Christmas, Ramadan and Sinhala and Tamil New Year tables.
With step-by-step instructions and tips, you can make this moist and fluffy cake easily.
So don’t forget to bookmark this cake recipe.

★★★★★
If you try this, I’d love to know how it turned out. Just tap the stars in the recipe card; it helps other cooks find this recipe.

When to Make It and How to Plan Ahead

Ribbon cake takes a few hours to assemble, so don’t rush.
Have every ingredient weighed and ready before you begin.
If you’re making it for the first time, bake it once before you make it for a function. You’ll understand the workflow and see where mistakes creep in.
If you are busy, split the work over two days. Bake the cakes a day ahead, cool them, wrap them in cling film and refrigerate. Make the icing, assemble and frost the next day.

Tips for a soft ribbon cake

• Weigh the ingredients first
  • Weigh the ingredients exactly, and have them all at room temperature.
  • If your sugar granules are large, blitz them to a powder in a dry blender.
  • Store-bought powdered sugar only needs sifting to remove lumps.
• Baking pans to make the ribbon cake
  • Use two 8″ square pans. Line them with baking paper.
• Gently mix the batter
  • Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together so the raising agent is evenly spread.
  • Cream the butter until it turns almost white, before adding the sugar.
  • Add the eggs one at a time and mix for 10 seconds with a hand mixer for each.
  • Avoid overmixing.
  • Add the flour and milk alternately. Always finish with flour, not milk.
  • Use the mixer on low and run it only about three times around the bowl. Too much mixing gives a denser cake.
• Keep the Colours Pale
  • Use two separate bowls and spoons so the colours don’t mix.
  • For pastel shades rather than dark ones, use the same measuring spoon for both colours. I used half of a ⅛ teaspoon. A pipette makes even shades easier.
  • Once the batter is in the pans, tap them a few times and shake gently to level it.

Butter icing in a hot, humid climate or kitchen

• Heat changes the texture of butter icing: a hot, humid climate, a kitchen that holds heat, or a stove running nearby.
• Store-bought cakes keep stiff, neat icing in the heat because bakeries add shortening. You won’t, so heat of any kind affects your icing directly.
• • Keep the icing in the fridge and chill it a few times as you frost, whenever it softens too much. My kitchen is so hot and humid, with reflective windows, that I had to refrigerate the cake constantly while icing it.
• • Each time the icing comes out of the fridge, give it a quick whip to smooth it before spreading.
• Never ice a warm cake; the icing will melt.

Ingredients for making Ribbon cake

You’ll find exact quantities in the recipe card below

• For the cake batter
  • All-purpose flour
  • Baking powder
  • Salt
  • Butter: unsalted is best for the cake. In Sri Lanka, you can use a fat spread.
  • Sugar: fine sugar creams faster. You can blitz granulated sugar to a powder or use castor or powdered sugar.
  • Eggs: large, at room temperature
  • Vanilla essence
  • Milk: whole (full cream) milk at room temperature
  • Food colouring: pink and green for the layers. I used a pale yellow for the icing.
  • Icing sugar: also called powdered sugar. Always sift.
  • Edible sprinkles (optional)
• For the buttercream icing
  • Slightly cool, soft butter
  • Icing sugar(sifted)
  • A few tablespoons of fresh milk
  • Yellow food colouring for the icing (optional)
  • Edible sprinkles(optional)

What you will need in the kitchen

• Two 8-inch (20 cm) square cake pans
• A digital kitchen scale
• al kitchen scale
• A hand mixer and a large mixing bowl
• Two small bowls and spoons for colouring; pink and green gel colouring
• Baking paper, a sieve and a cooling rack
• An offset spatula and a piping bag
• A flat tray or cake board

How to make ribbon cake

PHOTO TUTORIAL

• Read the tips above first. They cover the mistakes I made the first few times I baked it.

Prep the pans and ingredients

• Take the butter, eggs and milk out of the fridge 45 minutes to 1 hour before you start.
• If your sugar granules are big, blitz it to a fine powder in a dry blender. Granulate sugar using a food processor or blender, then sift it
• Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together
• Have a medium-sized bowl ready to hold your spatula in, so it will help you avoid batter from dropping onto your workspace.
• Sift the powdered sugar.
• Brush butter around the two 8-inch (20 cm) square pans, then line them with baking paper; the butter holds the paper in place.

Make the batter

Add butter to your mixing bowl.

Cream the butter for 2 minutes on medium-high(speed 2 or 3) until pale and smooth.

Gradually add the powdered sugar(sifted first) into the butter.

Cream the butter and sugar for 2 to 3 minutes until fluffy and smooth with no sugar lumps.

Break each egg into a small bowl first, then add one at a time, mixing for 10 seconds after each.
Add vanilla and keep mixing to a minimum, two or three rounds of the mixer on low (speed 1)

How your batter will look once all 3 eggs are added, and minimal mixing is involved.

Add the flour and milk alternately. Your last addition should be flour and not milk.
Mix each addition for about 5 seconds on low. Always finish with flour, not milk.
Once the last cup of flour is added.
Use minimum mixing and low speed for 10 seconds.
If the batter still isn’t smooth, put the mixer down and fold with a spatula in a wide arc, in one direction.

Your ribbon cake batter should look light and airy.

Separate and add colour

Have the two bowls and spoons to be used close to the batter.
Divide the batter equally between two bowls, using a measuring cup or your scale.
Tint one bowl pink and one green, with separate spoons.
Once you have the two bowls of batter, it’s time to add the colours.
If you do have a pipette, then use it to add equal drops of colouring.
I used my 1/8 teaspoon and only filled it halfway to get a pale but brighter green and pink colour.
Don’t mix the separate coloured batter with the same spoon. Mix well until you have a smooth green and milk batter.
At the same time, preheat the oven to 170°C (340°F)

Bake and cool

Spread each batter into its pan and smooth the top, cleaning the spatula between colours. Shake gently to level, then tap the pans to release air bubbles.

Bake for 25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Ovens and altitude vary, so watch the last minute.
Insert a toothpick into the baked cake; if the toothpick comes out clean, the cake is baked through.

Cool the cakes in the pans for 12 minutes, then turn them out onto a rack to cool completely.

Don’t have the time to assemble on the same day?
Then here’s what you do.
Once completely cool, wrap both cakes in cling film and refrigerate for a few hours or overnight.

Make the butter icing

• Beat the butter until pale. Add the sifted icing sugar gradually and beat for a few minutes on high.
• Add the vanilla and mix for 20 seconds, then the milk, and mix for 30 seconds more until thick and smooth.
• If you’re not using it straight away, keep it in the fridge. Make the icing before you take the cakes out of the fridge, so you can assemble without stopping.

Level and stack the cake

Place the pink and green cake side by side on a flat surface and slice off the domed top so it’s level.
Now, stack the cakes and trim all four sides so you have two equal squares.
For a top-only iced finish: avoid trimming all 4 sides. Trim after decorating for a neater finish.

Crumb coat the cake

Put a dollop of icing on your tray or cake board, set the pink cake on it and press to stick.
Mix one cup of the icing in a separate bowl for a few seconds and spread a thick layer over the pink cake.
Use the spatula to spread it evenly, as this layer will be the filling between the two cakes.
Now, set the green cake on top, line it up with the bottom cake and press lightly.
Any icing that squeezes out becomes part of the crumb coat.
Spread a few tablespoons of icing over the top and a thin coat over all the sides with an offset spatula, catching every crumb.
Chill for 30 minutes to 1 hour, until the crumb coat sets

Icing the cake

Once the crumb coat sets, pipe lines of icing over the top and around the sides, then spread and smooth with the spatula.
For a top-only finish: avoid piping the sides if you are only going to frost the top; once the top is decorated, trim the sides neatly.

Finishing

Again, use a frosting spatula to spread and smooth out this layer of icing to give it a good finish. Chill for 30 to 45 minutes.
While the ribbon cake is in the fridge, tint the remaining icing pale yellow.
For a pale and light yellow frosting, a line of colouring from a toothpick should do.
Pipe and smooth the yellow icing over the cake, then chill for 20 minutes.

Once the icing is firm, run a fork through the icing in opposite directions all over the cake to give it a little decorative texture.
Wipe around the cake to remove any stray icing drops.

And then add sprinkles(optional). Refrigerate again to set for 20 minutes and then serve.

For the top-only finish: trim all four sides now to show the pink and green layers.
This gives a slightly sweeter and more balanced taste of icing and cake to enjoy.

Frequently asked questions about Ribbon cake

• Can I Use Astra or Margarine Instead of Butter?
  • Yes. I’ve used Astra for both the cake and the icing.
    Keep the fat-spread icing in the fridge until you need it; in hot weather it softens quickly and can turn runny.
• Why Did My Butter Icing Melt or Turn Runny?
  • Hot and humid weather, the kitchen or a nearby stove.
    Bakery icing stays stiff because it contains shortening. This recipe doesn’t.
    Chill the icing and the cake between coats, and whip the icing briefly each time it comes out of the fridge.
• Why Is My Ribbon Cake Dense?
  • Usually overmixing after the flour goes in. Mix on low only until the flour disappears, and always finish with flour rather than milk.

How to store Ribbon cake

Keep the iced cake covered in the fridge, especially in hot weather. Let slices sit out for 5 minutes before serving so the cake softens.

More cake recipes

• Chocolate cake (one layer of 9-inch cake)
• Passion fruit cake (single layer cake)
• Moist lemon cake (single-layer cake)
• Pink marble cake (Neapolitan cake)
• Soft and fluffy butter cake
• Chocolate loaf cake
• Almond butter cake

Watch more Sri Lankan recipes on my YouTube channel

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
JEHAN
Recipe creator. Food Blogger. Video creator
I’ve been cooking and sharing Sri Lankan recipes, along with other dishes I love making at home on Island Smile since 2015. I’ve tested every recipe on this site more than once in my own kitchen before it goes on the blog.
I grew up eating this food, and I still cook it the same way my family taught me, just written down clearly enough that you can follow it too.
If a recipe doesn’t work the way I say it will, tell me in the comments; I read every one, and I’ll help you fix it.