4.92 from 46 votes

Confetti Cupcakes

Name: Confetti Cupcakes
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 17 min
Total time: 37 min
Ingredients: 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter (softened); ¾ cup granulated sugar; ¼ cup avocado oil ((may substitute canola or vegetable oil, or other neutral cooking oil)); 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract; ¼ teaspoon almond extract ((optional but recommended)); 1 ½ cups cake flour; ¾ teaspoon baking powder; ¼ teaspoon baking soda; ½ teaspoon table salt; ½ cup buttermilk (room temperature preferred ); 3 large egg whites ((room temperature preferred)); ⅓ cup colored sprinkles ((use jimmies/standard sprinkles or quins, do not use nonpareils)); Vanilla frosting ((or your preferred frosting, see note))

By Sam MerrittUpdated Apr 09, 2025

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223 Comments

Servings: 12 cupcakes

37 mins

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Like a party in cupcake form, these sweet confetti cupcakes are flecked with plenty of fun and colorful sprinkles. My from-scratch version has a nostalgic taste and soft, fluffy texture you’ll love. Recipe includes a how-to video!

Confetti cupcakes topped with buttercream swirls and sprinkles on a cooling rack.

Confetti Cupcakes From-Scratch

After several of you ran into issues with my original recipe, I went back to the drawing board to tweak these confetti cupcakes to perfection. My goal was to ensure they turned out beautifully no matter the kitchen, so I took a few notes from my well-loved white cupcake recipe. We kept the recipe similar–it already had a beautiful light color and fluffy, moist texture–but added sprinkles for fun color (of course!).

The result? Perfectly portioned, incredibly tender, colorful, and nostalgic cupcakes ready for parties or the occasional pick-me-up. You’re going to love them!

Why You Should Make Them

Super light and fluffy texture thanks to a very important ingredient: whipped egg whites!
Very customizable for any special occasion. Use holiday sprinkles for Easter, Halloween, or Christmas, color the frosting for your favorite sports team, or keep them classic for a celebratory birthday dessert.
You can use just about any frosting, so pick your favorite! My vanilla frosting, classic buttercream frosting recipe, or strawberry buttercream is my favorite, but I provide several pairing suggestions below.
Pretty cupcake shape, which you wouldn’t get if you were to make my classic funfetti cake recipe as cupcakes. Many of you have asked about using that recipe for cupcakes–while I’ve had success doing so in the past, some people have experienced the cupcakes sinking in on themselves and so this new version is the one I recommend!

Ingredients

Just a few ingredients today (plus whatever you need for your frosting)! I’ll review them briefly before we get into the recipe itself.

Cake flour. A key ingredient for the softest, lightest confetti cupcakes. If you don’t keep this on hand, I highly recommend you start as it will be major game changer for your cakes and cupcakes (it’s a good ingredient to keep on hand if you enjoy making my gourmet cookies or my Lofthouse cookies, I use it in those too!).
Eggs. Specifically the whites of the eggs only. Be very careful to get not even a tiny drop of yolk in with the whites. Also, make sure you are placing your whites in a clean, dry, grease-free bowl that is made from either metal or glass. All of this will ensure your eggs whip up into fluffy perfection!
Buttermilk. If you don’t have buttermilk on hand, the best substitute is my easy buttermilk substitute (but admittedly the results aren’t quite as tender, flavorful or moist).
Butter & oil. This combination is a staple in many of my cake and cupcake recipes (like my vanilla cake recipe)! It ensures that our confetti cupcakes will have a rich flavor (thanks to the butter) while also maintaining a moist and tender texture (thanks to oil!).
Sprinkles. Of course! I like a mix of quins and jimmies as well as some edible gold stars (affiliate). Whatever you do, do NOT use nonpareils, as they will bleed into your batter/frosting. Save them for sprinkle cookies instead!

SAM’S TIP: Add a splash (¼ teaspoon) of almond extract in with the vanilla extract. It mimics that classic boxed Funfetti cake flavor!

Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!

How to Make Confetti Cupcakes

Cream the fats & sugars

Hand mixer mixing fats and sugar until creamy.

Beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until well combined, then stir in the oil and extracts. Mix again until the mixture is smooth and creamy. You’ll still see some grit from the granulated sugar–this is okay!

Add the dry ingredients & buttermilk

Overhead view of buttermilk being poured into a cupcake batter.

Whisk together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then measure your buttermilk.

Alternate folding the dry ingredients and buttermilk into the butter mixture; I usually like to do this with three rounds of the flour mixture and two rounds of the buttermilk (start and end with the dry ingredients!).

It is very important that you use a spatula for this step–do NOT use a mixer! Over-mixing at this point can create dry, dense cupcakes that taste like cornbread. If that was what we wanted, we would just make corn muffins!

Whip the eggs

I know this extra step can seem intimidating (and no one loves an extra bowl to wash), but I promise it isn’t hard. The most important thing is to use a completely grease-free bowl (don’t use a plastic one) and beaters.

Overhead view of egg whites that have been whipped to stiff peaks.

If you’ve made my whipped cream recipe or meringue cookies before, you’re already familiar with the concept of stiff peaks. If not, this just means that when you pull the beater out of the eggs, they hold a stiff “peak” without folding or receding back into themselves.

Place the egg whites in a separate clean, dry, grease free bowl (I know, yet another bowl 😅). Beat with a mixer until the they have greatly increased in volume, then keep beating until they reach stiff peaks.

Fold in the sprinkles

Whipped egg whites and sprinkles being folded into a cupcake batter.

Gently fold in the whipped eggs until halfway combined. Add the sprinkles and keep folding until you have a uniform batter. Be gentle and take care to not overly deflate the eggs, as their fluffy texture is key to the fluffy texture of the cupcakes!

Bake & cool

Overhead view of unfrosted confetti cupcakes on a cooling rack.

Portion the batter into your lined muffin pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs. The tops of the cupcakes will be pretty pale–that’s totally fine! If you wait until they are golden, you’ll likely over-bake them.

Once cooled, frost with your favorite frosting (suggestions below!), and don’t forget some extra sprinkles on top too!

SAM’S TIP: Remove the cupcakes from the tin after a few minutes to keep them from getting oily on the bottoms. I like to use a butter knife to gently lift each one from the pan.

Cupcake that's been cut in half on a plate to show its sprinkle flecked interior.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use liquid egg whites?

I don’t recommend it. Liquid egg whites (the kind from a carton) tend to provide inconsistent results, and the last thing I want is for you to waste time and ingredients on confetti cupcakes that bake up flat and gummy.

Instead, separate your own eggs and follow my tips throughout this post for protecting your egg whites so they whip up nicely.

If you don’t want to waste your egg yolks, I have several recipes you can use them in including my lemon crumb bars, fruit tart, key lime cheesecake, german chocolate cookies, or lemon cheesecake. All of them use exactly three egg yolks!

What if I don’t have cake flour?

While you can substitute all-purpose flour (instructions below), I really recommend investing in a box of cake flour if you want stellar results. Cake flour has a much lower level of protein compared to all-purpose flour, which means your cupcakes will have a much softer, lighter texture when made with cake flour. To me, it’s well worth it for exceptional confetti cupcakes!

Also, if you’re at all concerned that you won’t have a use for a whole box–don’t be! I have plenty of recipes to help you use it up, whether it’s my blueberry muffin cookies, coffee cake cookies, or my birthday crumb cake.

Can I use this recipe for a cake?

I recommend my funfetti cake recipe instead–it’s one of my top recipes (and has been for years) and has even been featured on TV 🤩

Cupcake made with sprinkles in the batter and on top of the frosting.

More frosting suggestions:

Enjoy!

Let’s bake together! Subscribe to my newsletter to be notified of all the newest recipes, and find my free recipe tutorials on YouTube 💜

I originally published this recipe in December of 2017, but after several people had issues with the cupcakes sinking on themselves I updated the recipe to ensure it was successful in every kitchen. If you’re looking for the original recipe you can find it linked in the recipe card (above).