Best Birthday Cupcakes – Homemade Funfetti Cupcakes
Every birthday party needs birthday cupcakes, and these funfetti cupcakes are the perfect choice! They are moist, delicious, and easy to make. Top birthday cupcakes with vanilla frosting and rainbow sprinkles!
Birthday cupcakes should be fun and festive and funfetti cupcakes totally acheive that. I’m excited that Beko Appliances sponsored this post to help me celebrate birthdays everywhere and the three month birthday of our new kitchen!
Tips for Making the Best Birthday Cupcakes
There are many things to consider when making birthday cupcakes:
- Make the cupcakes in advance. You don’t want to be worrying about making the cupcakes on the big day. Store them in any of these ways:
- Leave them out at room temperature for a day or two.
- Refrigerate them frosted or unfrosted for three or four days.
- Freeze them for months.
No matter which method you use, make sure that the cupcakes are in an airtight container and bring them to room temperature before serving. Also, do NOT decorate with sprinkles first if you plan to store them cupcakes in the fridge or freezer; the sprinkles will melt into the frosting and won’t look very nice. Add the sprinkles on the day of the party.
We have both frosted and unfrosted cupcakes in our Beko French 4-Door Refrigerator refrigerator. There is room for everything!
- Always ask the birthday celebrant what their favorite flavor is. While most kids and lots of adults will go crazy for these funfetti cupcakes, go with chocolate cupcakes or strawberry cupcakes if that’s what they love!
- Consider making mini cupcakes – especially if there will be other desserts served or if the party is for really little kids.
- Purchase or make cupcake toppers to make the cupcakes extra special. I purchased mine from SugarHippo on Etsy.
How to Make Funfetti Cupcakes
Funfetti cupcakes are vanilla cupcakes with rainbow sprinkles mixed into them – a cupcake version of funfetti cake.
If you are new to cupcake making, be sure to read my post on how to make cupcakes for lots of cupcake baking tips and tricks before you bake.
For perfect funfetti cupcakes, the trick is to put the batter into the oven as soon as you add the sprinkles. If the batter sits around, the sprinkles will melt into the batter and change its color and consistency.
While I normally recommend doubling the batter to make a large batch of cupcakes, I do not recommend it in this case unless you have enough oven space and cupcake tins to bake four cupcake tins at once.
We love how our Beko Dual Fuel Range has a baking drawer at the bottom so there is extra baking space! And, the mix of an electric oven and gas cooktop makes for perfect baking and cooking!
Frosting for Birthday Cupcakes
I like to use an easy-to-make classic vanilla buttercream to keep these birthday cupcakes simple. This buttercream holds up nicely so your cupcakes will still look great when it is time for dessert; keep the frosted cupcakes in a cool place away from direct sunlight until it’s time to serve them.
I use a Wilton 1M tip to make a pretty swirl. While I use disposable piping bags because they are so easy, everything else gets thrown in the dishwasher.
Our Beko dishwasher gets all of our dishes and cookware SO clean and there is no need to prewash. Plus, it’s extremely quiet!
Top the frosting with some of the same sprinkles that you used in the cupcake batter. Keep in mind that while rainbow is always in style, you can select any color of sprinkles that you like to fit your party theme.
Birthday Cupcakes
Ingredients
Cupcake Ingredients
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 3/4 cups cake flour, not self-rising
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 1/3 cup full-fat sour cream
- 1/4 cup canola oil you can also use vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract use pure, not imitation
- 2/3 cup whole milk room temperature
- 1/2 cup rainbow sprinkles
Frosting Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar add more if you want to make the frosting extra stiff
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract use vanilla bean paste for a more intense vanilla flavor
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup rainbow sprinkles
Instructions
Cupcake Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F (175 C).
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, mix together sugar, cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Add butter and mix on medium-low speed for three minutes. Because there is so little butter, you'll end up with a very fine crumb texture.
- In a small mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, sour cream, oil, and vanilla extract until smooth.
- Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and beat on medium speed until just combined.
- Slowly add milk and mix on low speed until just combined. The batter will be liquid. (Don't worry, you didn't do anything wrong. It's supposed to be that way.)
- Stir in sprinkles.
- Fill cupcake liners just over 1/2 full.
- Bake for 14 minutes and then test to see if they are done. They are done when a toothpick comes out without wet batter stuck to it. The cupcakes should appear white with specks of vanilla bean. They should not turn a golden brown. If they are not done, test again in two minutes. If they are still not done, test again in another two minutes.
- When the cupcakes are done, remove them immediately from the tins and leave them on a cooling rack (or just on your counter if you don't own a cooling rack) to cool.
Frosting Instructions
- Beat butter on high speed with an electric mixer for about three minutes until light and airy.
- Mix in powdered sugar a little bit at a time.
- Add vanilla and salt and continue to beat for another minute. If desired, add more vanilla to taste or more confectioners' sugar to make the buttercream frosting stiffer.
- Pipe onto cooled cupcakes.
- Decorate with rainbow sprinkles.
Loading comments...