It’s been a while since I’ve shared a recipe, so I’m making it up to you with these festive cupcakes. Birthdays are always a great excuse to bake. With a friend’s 25th approaching, he put in a request for ‘Funfetti’ cupcakes. Because I’d never buy boxed cake mix, I decided to create the perfect vanilla cupcake then turn them to Funfetti myself!
The combination of moist, vanilla cupcake with the added excitement of sprinkles makes these the perfect birthday cupcake.
The Tips
- Tie dye is inevitable. These cupcakes are tricky to make from scratch because once the nonpareils sprinkles hit the cake batter, the color begins to ‘bleed’. Work quickly to gently fold the sprinkles into the batter. This should be done by hand with a rubber spatula, not in the stand mixer you’ll make the batter in. The quicker/gentler you fold, the less tie dyed and more ‘funfettied’ your cupcakes will be.
- Cookie scoops aren’t just for cookies. I use a medium automatic cookie scoop to place the batter into the pan before baking. This makes it easier to distribute the batter, plus each cupcake will be the same size. With the medium-sized scoop, each cupcake gets about 1 1/2 scoops of batter.
- Transporting the cupcakes. If you’re not inviting people to your house to enjoy these delicious treats, you’ll need an easy way to transport them. Michael’s craft store has a ton of Wilton baking products, one of them being a disposable cupcake box. One day I should invest in a reusable plastic cupcake carrier, but the disposable version is perfect in the meantime.
- Icing tips (literally). While you’re at Michael’s buying your adorable cupcake box, check out the icing tips. I get a ton of questions on how I ice/decorate my cupcakes – it’s all about the tip! I look for wider tips to help give the icing more volume, instead of spreading a thin layer with a knife. I used a large round tip to ice these cupcakes but feel free to use a different shape. While it’s worth it to spend money on fancy icing tips, avoid spending on icing bags. A gallon-sized Ziploc (or store brand) bag will do the trick, plus you won’t need to clean/store it. I am all for saving the environment, but it’s worth tossing the bag out once you’ve used up the icing to save yourself another thing to clean.
The Recipe