Soft, light, and fluffy, these sweet confetti cupcakes are modified from my popular funfetti cake recipe! These cupcakes are packed full of colorful sprinkles and made with a simple white cake base, then topped off with a sweet vanilla buttercream (and, of course, sprinkles!).
Taking a quick break from all of the Christmas Cookie recipes I’ve been sharing recently to share these fun confetti cupcakes!
Tomorrow is my birthday (I’ll be 28!) and while I’m definitely not making my own birthday cake (Zach’s making me a cake completely from scratch, I can’t wait to see how it turns out and tell you about it), I still thought celebrating a little bit early with some cupcakes and sprinkles wouldn’t be a bad idea.
I really don’t share nearly as many cake/cupcake recipes on this page as I do cookies, because cakes take me so, so much time to get right (but when they’re right, they’re perfect — have you tried my favorite chocolate cake or my pineapple upside-down cake?)
This recipe is a slightly modified, scaled-down version of my very popular funfetti cake, and the recipe makes about 15 cupcakes. Since traditional muffin tins only have room for 12 cupcakes, I like to make 12 regular-sized cupcakes and then use the remaining batter to make adorable mini cupcakes — you’ll be able to get about 8-10 mini cupcakes out of the leftovers, and I included baking instructions in the recipe notes.
This confetti cupcake recipe requires an extra step of whipping your egg whites to stiff peaks before folding them into your cupcake batter. This step is so important, and it is going to give you the lightest and fluffiest cupcakes possible.
Whipping egg whites isn’t hard, just make sure that you have a completely grease-free bowl (don’t use a plastic one) and beaters before you begin whipping the egg whites to stiff peaks. If you’ve made my whipped cream recipe before, you’re already familiar with stiff peaks, but if not, it just means that when you pull the beater out of the egg white mixture, the egg whites hold a stiff “peak” and don’t fold or recede back into themselves.
I’m typically not a huge fan of vanilla buttercream frosting because I find it to be a little too sweet for me, so I just topped off these cupcakes with a short, simple rosette decoration (I used my Wilton 2D tip for these). Usually I prefer to pile the frosting on (ahem, like with these chocolate cupcakes) but for these confetti cupcakes, this seemed to be the perfect amount to complement the cupcake without making it too sweet.
Oh, and don’t forget to top everything off with sprinkles!
I just used a mix of quins and nonpareils that I had on hand, as well as some edible gold stars (affiliate). Since Colt got into my stash of traditional sprinkles and ruined all of them (while managing to eat approximately 3 lbs of them… a story for a different day 😫) I had to improvise, but I actually loved how these decorations looked on top!
Just look at those soft, colorful, centers!!
Enjoy!
Confetti Cupcakes
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- ⅓ cup canola oil or vegetable oil (43g)
- 1 cup sugar (200g)
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 1/3 cup + 1 Tablespoon all-purpose flour (172g)
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup buttermilk room temperature preferred (118ml)
- 3 large egg whites room temperature
- ⅓ cup sprinkles Use jimmies or quins, do not use nonpareils as they will bleed through the batter
Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature (226g)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups powdered sugar (375g)
- 3 Tablespoons heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- sprinkles, for decorating optional
Instructions
Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350F (175C) and prepare a 12 count muffin tin* (see recipe note) with paper liners. Set aside.
- Place butter in the bowl of a stand mixer (or you may use a large bowl and an electric hand mixer) and beat until smooth and creamy.
- Add sugar and oil and beat again until ingredients are very well-combined, smooth, and creamy.
- Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and then stir in your vanilla extract.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together your flour, baking powder, and salt.
- With mixer on low speed, gradually alternate between adding the flour mixture and your buttermilk to the butter mixture, starting and ending with the flour mixture. Stir until each one is almost completely combined before adding the next. Be sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl so that all ingredients are combined.
- In separate, completely clean and grease-free bowl, combine your egg whites and, with a hand-mixer on high-speed, beat until stiff peaks form.
- Using a spatula, gently fold your egg whites and sprinkles into your batter. Take care to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl so that ingredients are well-combined, and take care not to over-mix.
- Divide batter into prepared cupcake tin, filling each liner 3/4 of the way full.
- Bake on 350F (175C) for 18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean with moist crumbs (not wet batter). For mini cupcakes, bake 14-15 minutes.
- Allow cupcakes to cool completely before frosting.
Vanilla Buttercream
- Beat butter with an electric mixer until creamy. Sprinkle salt over butter and stir again to combine.
- Gradually, about 1/2 cup at a time, add powdered sugar, waiting until each cup is completely mixed before adding more.
- With mixer on medium-low speed, add the heavy cream one Tablespoon at a time. Once ingredients are well incorporated, gradually increase speed to high and beat for about 30 seconds.
- Add vanilla extract and stir well.
- Pipe or spread frosting over cooled cupcakes (I used a Wilton 2D tip for the rosette decorations). Top with sprinkles, if desired. Cupcakes keep well in an airtight container at room temperature for several days, or refrigerated in an airtight container for a week.
Notes
Nutrition
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Barbi says
This cupcake is delicious – no complaints at all as far as your recipe goes. It’s perfect.
However, the sprinkles bled into the batter when I mixed them and the cupcakes came out rather gray with spots of color instead of that beautiful soft white with spots of color.
Is there something I can do to avoid this for the next batch?
Sam says
If you use jimmies or quins they shouldn’t bleed. Nonpareils will bleed and give you the problem you had. Hope that helps. 🙂
Barbi says
Nonpareils were the problem.
I went out and bought jimmies and had no trouble. Beautiful cupcakes. 🙂
Thank you so much!
Sam says
Glad we were able to figure out the problem! I just went and added a clarifying note about the sprinkles so that hopefully no one else runs into the same problem. Thank you, Barbi, I’m glad they ultimately turned out well for you! 🙂
Crystal says
Hi!! Attempting this today! Hoping this one batch is enough for 24 mini cupcakes!
Sam says
Hi, Crystal! I haven’t tried it in mini cupcake form, but it makes 15 full sized cupcakes so it should make more than 24 minis. I hope you loved them! 🙂
Alexa says
Amazing cupcakes very tasty. I was very happy with the result, ate them all in a day!
Sam says
So glad you enjoyed them, Alexa! 🙂
Janice says
Hi Sam!
I’m going to be using this recipe tomorrow to make a small cake for a birthday dinner! What would be your recommended baking time for two 6” pans?
Thanks in advance!
Sam says
I’m really sorry I haven’t made these in 6″ pans before so I don’t know. 😔
Jill says
Hi can we do the egg whites first and put them aside if we have a kitchen aid but no hand mixer
Sam says
I would worry about the egg whites starting to deflate while they sit. What I would recommend is making the batter, setting that aside, cleaning and drying your bowl VERY well and then beating the eggs whites. Then you can proceed to fold the egg whites in by hand as instructed. ☺️
Areliza says
Heyy !! I’ve made these cupcakes and they came out AMAZINGGGG!! However, I was wondering if I could make this recipe into a cake. It’s my friend’s birthday and would love to make him a cake with this same recipe
Sam says
Hi Areliza! This recipe would work as a cake. Enjoy! 😃
Grace says
Is milk an option to butter milk? Thanks!
Sam says
It will work in this recipe. You can also try out my Buttermilk Substitute if you’d like!
Mrs CJ says
Hello Sam,
Would you happen to know if coconut oil would be a decent substitute for the vegetable/canola oil asked for in this recipe?
Sam says
Hi! I have never used coconut oil but I think that would be completely fine, it would just need to be liquid so I would recommend melting the coconut oil but allowing it to cool a bit before using. I hope you love the cupcakes!
Sarah says
Hi Sam,
I’m excited to use your Confetti Cupcake recipe for my daughters first birthday. Her birthday party is Saturday and I’d like to make these cupcakes on Friday night. Do you think they’d do well in the fridge overnight and if so, what temp would you suggest I set the fridge at? I do not have much experience with buttercream, is it okay to sit out on display during her party without hurting the consistency? Sorry for the plethora of questions, first time mom here and hoping my cupcakes look half as delicious as yours.
Sincerely,
Sarah
Sam says
Hi Sarah!
Unless you live in a particularly humid climate I would probably just leave these at room temperature (store them in an airtight container like a Tupperware), I’d suggest doing that if “room temperature” for you is below 72 degrees or so.
I find that the fridge tends to dry out cakes/cupcakes a bit, but if you want to/need to refrigerate you can instead keep them in an airtight container in the fridge (whatever temp your fridge is normally set to should be fine) and they will be fine. The buttercream will be fine out out on display (again, so long as it’s not too warm — if it’s too hot the frosting could melt).
I hope that helps and I really hope that you love the cupcakes!! <3
Jessica says
I am excited to try your recipes but need to decide which type of cake (and icing) to make for my daughter’s birthday this weekend. I am curious about the slight difference in the vanilla cake and confetti cake recipes. They use the same ingredients except for the eggs (and sprinkles of course). The confetti cake uses the beaten egg whites which you say is to make the cake really fluffy. I guess what I am asking is why don’t they both use that method if it makes the cake fluffier? Thanks!
Sam says
Hi Jessica! The confetti cake is a white cake, which doesn’t use yolks so the egg whites are beaten to give the cake the desired texture while keeping the right color. They are just different cakes with different techniques, I really think you can’t go wrong with either 🙂
RobinMarie Timpone says
Hi if I wanted to make 30 should I double up the recipe and cook them in two batches or make one recipe cook them and make the batter again. I guess I just want to know if the cupcakes would rise if you left the batter sitting between batches lol
Sam says
You can double the recipe I’ve done it without problem 🙂
Maricela Gutierrez says
hi, you say double recipe but in two batches or one?
Sam says
You can double it in one batch so you don’t have to do everything twice. ☺️
Komalaashok says
Belated happy birthday sam god bless u thank u for all u r recipes
Sam says
Thank you so much!! I appreciate it, and thank you for following along with my blog!! <3
Valerie L. says
Happy Birthday, Sam! And Happy Birthday to a fellow Sagittarian, because my birthday is on December 12. These cupcakes look so festive and pretty and would be great to make for any kind of a party, but especially for someone’s birthday, so I’m very anxious to try them. Please let us know what kind of a cake Zach made you for your birthday.
Sam says
Thank you so much, Valerie! And Happy (almost) Birthday to you, too!! 🙂
I hope you love the cupcakes when you try them, and here is the cake that Zach made me: https://www.lifeloveandsugar.com/2017/04/05/berry-mascarpone-layer-cake/
It’s literally one of the best cakes I ever tasted, I just finished off the last slice and am so sad that it’s gone!
Deb says
Happy Birthday, Sam!! I hope you have great day tomorrow!! These funfetti cupcakes look so light and delicious! Thanks for all the recipes you share with us!
Sam says
Thank you so much, Deb!! I’m glad you enjoy the recipes 🙂
Stephanie says
Do you have a brand of sprinkles you like?
Sam says
I buy mine in bulk from Country Kitchen USA’s website and mix together my own blends of colors. I hope that helps! 🙂
Stephanie says
Yes!!! Thank you!