Homemade Funfetti Cupcakes (from scratch!)
Believe it or not, I had no idea what funfetti was until about seven years ago. Once I started to read food blogs, I discovered this phenomenon, which is basically a boxed white or yellow cake with flecks of rainbow colors baked right in. Not surprisingly, these cakes, cupcakes and cookies are extremely popular with kids and a lot of people have fond memories of enjoying them at childhood birthday parties. I probably missed this whole trend for a variety of reasons: (1) my mom always ordered our birthday cakes from the same bakery, year after year; (2) I was never a fan of cakes, so once I was old enough to realize there were options outside of traditional birthday cakes, I started requesting ice cream cakes and cheesecakes for my birthday; (3) I don’t remember my mom ever baking a cake from a box mix. Like, ever. Maybe she did and I just don’t remember it, but I don’t think they were really on her radar, either.
I can see why the funfetti concept is so popular – who doesn’t love bright colors and sprinkles?! It’s so festive and fun and totally appropriate for any birthday party (kids or adults, I say). I’ve never had the box mix version, but was all-in on creating a homemade version. Sprinkle fun!
Truth is, funfetti are totally easy to make right at home, all you need is a basic vanilla cupcake recipe and some rainbow sprinkles. I’ve been trying out some different vanilla cupcake recipes and really love this one that I stumbled upon over at Cookies and Cups. Shelly adapted it from the Back in the Day Bakery cookbook, and I think they’re fabulous. They have a really distinct butter flavor (score!) and are nice and moist. The only thing that could make them better? Sprinkles!
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Once the cupcakes were baked and cooled, I topped them with my favorite vanilla buttercream frosting and more sprinkles, of course.
Whether you’re celebrating a birthday, or just another special kind of day, I can’t think of anything more fun and cheerful than these. I also love that they kind of look like ice cream cones with sprinkles on top :)
One year ago: Vanilla Cream-Filled Doughnuts
Two years ago: Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes and Broccoli Cheese Soup
Three years ago: Traditional Mardi Gras King Cake
Four years ago: Asiago Bagels
Five years ago: Baked Oatmeal
Six years ago: Royal Crown’s Tortano
Funfetti Cupcakes (from scratch!)
Ingredients
For the Cupcakes:
- 1¾ cups (218.75 g) cake flour
- 1¼ cups (156.25 g) all-purpose flour
- 1¾ cups (350 g) granulated sugar
- 2½ teaspoons (2.5 teaspoons) baking powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup (227 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into ½-inch cubes
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup (244 ml) whole milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ cup (80 g) rainbow sprinkles
For the Vanilla Buttercream Frosting:
- 2 cups (454 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 5 cups (600 g) powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
- Rainbow sprinkles, for decorating
Instructions
- Make the Cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cupcake pan with paper liners; set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the flours, sugar, baking powder and salt, and mix together on low speed for 1 minute. With the mixer on low, add the butter, a few cubes at a time, continuing until all the butter has been added and the mixture resembles coarse sand.
- Keeping the mixer on low speed, add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl between additions. Slowly pour in the milk and vanilla and mix until combined. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes, until batter is smooth, scraping the sides of bowl as needed. Using a rubber spatula, gently stir in the sprinkles.
- Fill the liners two-thirds full (about ¼ cup of batter) and bake for 15-20 minutes, until the centers are set and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.
- Make the Frosting: Using the wire whisk attachment of your stand mixer, whip the butter on medium-high speed for 5 minutes, stopping to scrape the bowl once or twice. Reduce the speed to low and gradually add the powdered sugar. Once all of the powdered sugar is incorporated, increase the speed to medium-high and add the vanilla, mixing until incorporated. Whip at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping the bowl as needed.
- Frost the cupcakes as desired (I used the Ateco #808 decorating tip) and garnish with additional sprinkles. Frosted cupcakes can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @thebrowneyedbaker on Instagram so I can see it!
These are my most favorite ‘go-to’ cupcakes, and they have been regularly requested by friends and family for almost 3 years now. They ALWAYS come out perfectly, kids and adults alike love them, and…they’re just delicious! Customize srinkle colors for different events/holidays, and just have fun with them!
Made these for my son’s 1 year birthday party and they are seriously fantastic. Forget other recipes for funfetti cupcakes, these are the best and the quality is like what you would get from a professional bakery. It must be the reverse creaming method that made this so good? I’m not a terribly experienced baker, but I followed the recipe exactly as it told me – it was simple, didn’t take much time, and in the end after tasting one I was shocked that I was capable of making a cupcake like this. Will be bookmarking and making again!
how many cupcakes do I get to bake with this recipe ? :D
Hi Kaveen, 24 cupcakes – it is listed under “yield” in the recipe box.
man this tastes like cornbread
I agree!
I’m not a baker and am wondering if these cupcakes will remain moist if made a day in advance?
Hi Alyce, Yes, definitely! Just store them in an airtight container and you’ll be good to go!
Can I half the ingredients to make 12?
Hi Josie, Yes, I’ve doe it without a problem!
Hi, can I use some of your pictures on this website on mine? Thanks.
Wow, these cupcakes look great! Interested in trying them for an upcoming birthday ;) is cake flour necessary, or can you use normal flour?
Hi Nicole, I recommend using the cake flour.
Hello. I’m currently making these great looking cupcakes. I was wondering if there was a way to make them chocolate. I’d like to use most of the same ingredients and perhaps exchange some flour for coco powder. I’m not sure. I still plan on using the same frosting recipe. Thank you.
Hi Steve, I generally don’t like to try to morph vanilla products into chocolate, and vice versa. They each need special treatment to be great, in my opinion. I’d recommend these chocolate cupcakes (you can simply omit the ganache filling for a more basic chocolate cupcake): https://www.browneyedbaker.com/best-chocolate-cupcakes-recipe/
Thank you for this recipe! I made them for my daughter’s first birthday party and subbed in applesauce for the eggs (she has an egg allergy) and used pink sprinkles. They were delicious!! Just wanted to let anyone in the same egg allergy boat know that these are still fabulous without eggs (maybe a little more dense, but so good)!! Also, I used the same icing tip you did, and people thought they were professionally done! Thanks so much!!
Hello,
I made these cupcakes and they were delicious, but how do you get the cupcake batter to remain whiter with sprinkles. Mine turned red due to the dye in the sprinkles. Any thoughts to get them whiter with sprinkles.
Hi Jessica, You might want to try a different brand of sprinkles? Mine didn’t really bleed very much (I just got them in bulk from my grocery store).
Hi!
I want to use this recipe to make a birthday cake this weekend – I am using the top two tiers of the wilton wedding cake pan set, so I will need 11c of batter total.
How many times do you suggest I multiply the recipe by?
Hi Sam, I didn’t measure the amount of batter used for these cupcakes, so unfortunately I don’t have an answer :(
Hello,
I’ll be making these tomorrow.
Can you please tell me if I can use the following cake flour – “Presto”.
My understanding is that it already has salt and baking powder so I shouldn’t add my own. ……
Thanks!
Hi Serenity, I am not aware of that brand, but I would not recommend using a product that has leavening and salt already added; that would alter the final product. I recommend using plain cake flour with nothing added.
I tried this recipe as a cake on Saturday for my youngest’s birthday party.
It looks very tasty
I made these to take in to school for my son’s birthday. They’re adorable!
I used 5 cups of sugar ultimately, but I really loved the way the frosting tasted with 4 cups– such melt-in-your-mouth bliss it was scary. ! I set the temp on my convection oven to 345 and they started browning way before the middles were cooked. I tried not to panic, and lowered it to 335 to let them bake through. Some were lost, but most were good. Next time I’ll try the temp at 340 and see what happens. Thanks for posting the recipe!
Made this yesterday for a bake-sale at the school. Absolutely delicious!
Only found pastel sprinkles (maybe because of Easter?) so the colors are not great but everything else was just perfect.
Will make them again soon!
Thanks for the recipe!
I was wondering, have you ever made the funfetti cupcakes two days before serving them or made them and froze them? It will be impossible for me to make them either the day I need them or the day before. My kids just love these cupcakes. I’ve made them the day I’ve served them and they were delicious!
Hi Saralee, Aww so glad your kids love these! I have eaten these leftover two days later, and I think they were just fine! If you wanted to make them earlier than that, then I would freeze them without frosting them.
I have been searching for a great cupcake with buttercream icing and this recipe surpassed all expectations. I could not stop eating or talking about how good they were. They cupcake was so light and fluffy and the icing is so creamy. The perfect mixture. Thank you brown eyed baker for sharing this delicious cupcake recipe!
I tried this recipe as a cake on Saturday for my youngest’s birthday party. I think it took 40 minutes to bake, but it came out great. I didn’t have any more sprinkles last night, but I didn’t need them for the cupcakes I’m bringing to school today. I admit that I used buttermilk both times, and I didn’t have anymore vanilla, so the cupcakes got lemon extract. In any case, I’m excited to have a cake recipe (that isn’t chocolate) that tastes great. Thank you for sharing!
These were sooo good! We made them for Halloween! Thanks my son said they were the best cupcakes ever!
Can these be made with just all purpose flour or does it need to be cake and AP flour???
Hi Chelsea, I highly recommend making the recipe as written with cake and all-purpose flours.
WOWWWWWAAAA!!! So I recently made another funfetti recipe as a trial run for my baby’s 1st birthday and they were not good! I was so disappointed, what did I do wrong?? After some research on how to get the best, fluffy, moist cupcake, I decided to give this one a go (I love the mix of AP and cake flour, Oh and NO baking soda which I read can dry things out). I was on a mission to find the perfect funfetti cupcakes. I just finished baking these and they are AMAZING :D :D Only thing I did differently was sift the dry ingredients and added a little heavy cream to the milk (which I won’t do next time because I had to thin out the batter a little with non-fat milk lol :P). Very yummy, A MUST TRY!!!
Going to try this recipe but curious. how is this adapted from cookies and cups? Looks like exact same recipe. just saying ;)
I tried this recipe for my friend’s birthday and it was A HIT:D
However i want to use it this time to make a Funfetti cake. I need to bake one 8 inch round cake and one 10 inch round cake , each one 5 inch high . Can you please advise me asap how many cake batches i should make for each cake and what it the baking time? Thank you:D
This recipe as-is will make two 8-inch or 9-inch layers. (Each layer being 2 inches high) I’m not sure if you need a single layer that’s 5 inches high, or if you’re counting on stacking. This site might help you figure out how much more batter you will need based on your requirements: http://www.bakedecoratecelebrate.com/techniques/amountbakingguide.cfm
I made these yesterday and found them a bit dry, not sure if I over mixed? I tried using simple syrup to help moisten them but it didn’t seem to work. Unfortunately, they are the main attraction for my granddaughter’s birthday party. I had such hopes for these vanilla cupcakes!
I made these twice – once for my sons birthday party and again for his class party. They are really easy to make and turned out perfectly both times. My only complaint is that I don’t like the taste that the sprinkles (or jimmies) give them – they taste store-bought to me.
These are amazing!! Just made them for my daughter’s first birthday and they were a hit!!
Omg I made these tonight to bring to work tomorrow and sampled one for dessert…. They are SO good!!! Thank you thank you for posting this recipe, will be a staple for me now! Definitely 5 stars all around!!!! :)
This recipe is amazing! Used the cake and frosting recipe to make a two layered birthday cake. It was enough batter for two 8×8 pans. Only change I made was substituting 1/4 of the milk for plain yogurt but I’m sure even without that change it would be very good. The cake was a huge success. Thanks for posting! Saving this recipe forever :)