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!
Yum…made these cupcakes for my daughters..30th birthday….they are delicious! The icing is to die for…you are never too old to have sprinkle cupcakes!! This recipe will be made again and again!
Thank you❤️
The cupcake texture came out lovely, they were very fluffy and light. However, it was very bland tasting. I understand they are vanilla, but maybe next time I will add more vanilla or even almond extract. The icing is very buttery, almost overpowering. Overall though, the instructions are very easy to follow and it’s a solid basic cupcake.
I want to make these for my daughter’s birthday. She wants emoji cupcakes. If I used yellow food coloring in the frosting would it alter taste?
Hi Cindy, No it shouldn’t matter! Enjoy! :)
What type of cake flour?
Hi Karyme, I usually buy Swan’s Down.
I made these cupcakes today for my daughter’s birthday party. I tried one after baking and they are so light and fluffy and delicious! I have found so many scratch cupcake recipes on the web to be very dense, so I was relly happy with these. The icing was also fluffy and great. Both recipes are simple to execute as well which is key. Definitely making again in the future. Thanks!
I love this recipe! Comes out perfect every time. Thanks for sharing.😊
Doesn’t it have to be whole milk, or can I use 1%?
Hi Lauren, You need the fat from the whole milk; I wouldn’t use 1%.
This recipe is my go-to for vanilla cupcakes, I just leave out the sprinkles if I don’t want funfetti. Always perfect. Always makes closer to 30 cupcakes for me (once I doubled it and got 64). Great flavor and rises well. I’ve never had an issue with this recipe.
Was very quick and easy but final product was not at all like the picture and it did not rise. It also only made 18 not 24.
These were so good! I followed the instructions exactly as written (except I made a two-layer cake and baked for about 38 minutes) and the cake was light, moist, and fluffy. The icing was a bit too sweet for my liking, but that’s buttercream for you!
I painstakingly covered the entire thing in sprinkles…it looked amazing, but I’m still finding sprinkles absolutely everywhere in my house.
How long can I keep them in the refrigerator ??
Hi Maria, These don’t need to be stored in the refrigerator (that can tend to dry out cakes), but can be kept at room temperature for up to 3 or 4 days.
They are just perfect. Made these cupcakes about 5 times now for my schools bake sale and kids love them. Never had left overs 😍😍❤️
I’ve made this cupcakes before to much delight in my house. However, my second time of making them, I had an issue. I prepared the batter as instructed above using King Arthur Cake Flour and King Arthur All-Purpose flour. All was well until the alarm went off on the oven at 20 minutes. The cupcakes were flat across the top and still uncooked. I stuck a toothpick into be sure, which came out with uncooked batter stuck to it. Not thinking much of it, I put the timer on for another 5 minutes expecting them to be golden and more circular. Five minutes past, I checked on them again. Yes, they were golden as I remembered they were in the past, but they were still flat as a pancake across the top. Huh. I took them out and let them cool in the pan for 10 minutes. During this time, I noticed a significant depression in the tops of the flat cupcakes. When I tried to take them out of the pan, they crumbled into my hands. Sadly, I had to toss most of them into the trash as they were a lost cause. I’m not sure if the combination of Cake Flour and All-purpose flour was the cause of the issue. Has anyone else had this problem before? If so, what were remedies?
Hi Alie, If you made them before without an issue, but the second time made a flour substitution, it’s a pretty good hypothesis that doing so caused the cupcakes to be dense and sunken (all-purpose flour has more gluten and is, by nature, heavier than cake flour).
Could i use a hand mixer to make these? or is a Stand mixer required?
Hi Amanda, I’ve made these with a hand mixer without any issues. Enjoy!
Hi! How would you change this recipe to do mini cupcakes? Just adjust baking time? Ideas? Thoughts?
Hi Laura, Just adjust baking time, I would start checking around 8 minutes and go from there.
This is my kids new favourite treat to make. I too haven’t had any issues with the texture of the cupcakes or icing. They are delicious
Nice recipe, but mine came out tasting more like muffins. Kind of like cornbread consistency.
I have yet to find a white cupcake recipe that is truly light and fluffy cake.
Can sea salt be used instead of kosher salt? I can’t get it where I live
Yes, that should be fine!
These cupcakes look so good! Definitely will be using this recipe soon!
These turned out amazing! Perfect light and moist texture. Will definitely be making again.
This is a great recipe – so fun to make! I followed the recipe exactly and didn’t have the issues with texture that other reviewers have posted. The frosting is fantastic. This whole cupcake is very light and gets raves from my friends!
One other note – the recipe yielded more than what was noted. I increased the recipe by 50%, looking to get 36 cupcakes, and ended up with 42. This was with me scooping the batter into the cups using a 1/4 cup measure. For those 42 cupcakes, I made 1.25 x the frosting recipe and it came out perfect.
Great recipe! I’ve used it several times without issue.
If I wanted to use this recipe to make a cake instead of cupcakes, would doubling the recipe give me 2 nice layers for a 9X13 cake? Thanks so much!
Hi Ali, I haven’t made this into an actual cake, but if you wanted two 9×13-inch cakes, then yes, you would need to double the recipe.
Hi there! How far in advance can I make these? I need them for Wednesday and was thinking of doing the cupcakes today (Saturday) and freezing…then taking them out Tuesday morning…making the frosting Monday night and frosting the cupcakes on Tuesday night. Thoughts?
Hi Carolyn, I think that would work just fine! Enjoy! :)
Awesome…thank you!
The sprinkles i added into the cake melted. There was not trace of them, not even a hint of colour. What did i do wrong? is there a particular brand i should use?
Hi Zena, My gosh that’s crazy! I’ve never heard of that happening! I just buy sprinkles from the bulk section of my local grocery store.
Hi
Please tell me is there a substitute for all purpose flour. Could I add 1 and a quarter cups of extra cake flour to the recipe instead?
Hi Annie, I have not tried making these with cake flour, so I couldn’t say how it might affect the recipe.
Yes! It was the texture of cornbread for me too. Very dense and not fluffy and moist like a box cake would have been. For all that effort, I would not make this again.
I thought thes cakes were way to dense. Not good. The icing was worse. I couldn’t tell if it was all the butter or sugar but not a fan. Will for go any other receipe from here.
party pooper
Hi Brown Eyed Baker. I wanted to make these for a girlfriend of mine for her baby shower, but I have a couple of questions. I need to make enough for at least 30 people and I read that the recipe only makes about 24. So, How much would I need to increase the ingredients to make 30 cupcakes? Also, What sprinkles should I use? I have read that some sprinkles bleed too quickly into the mix and become more of a tie die cupcake, which I don’t want. Any suggestions? I have to buy all of the ingredients 2/06/17 or the latest by 02/07/17. Please help!!!!
Stacy
Hi Stacy, I would probably just increase the ingredients by 1.5 to make 36 cupcakes. Much easier than trying to do the math for exactly 30 cupcakes. As for the sprinkles, I just bought them from the bulk bin at my local grocery store. I have no idea what brand they are!
The cupcakes are delicious, they look beautiful, and have a wonderful cakey texture. All the ingredient measurements worked perfectly to create 24 cupcakes. As delightfully sinful as the icing is, next time I would make 1/2 the amount and use less per cupcake…a little overkill on the sweetness scale. Love the sprinkles in the cake and on top of the icing. All in all a delicious cupcake that I will make again!