A sweet and simple recipe for adorable Gender Reveal Cupcakes! This recipe makes soft but sturdy vanilla cupcakes that you can fill with either pink or blue sprinkles for a fun gender reveal! Recipe includes a video tutorial!
Life lately has been hectic. Time is flying, I’m getting bigger every day (and so is baby!) and I can’t believe we have less than two months to go.
Zach and I found out the baby’s gender right after the ultrasound technician did. We were both dying to know and couldn’t even imagine waiting until the baby was born (those of you who have that kind of self-control and patience… I don’t know how you do it).
We didn’t do any kind of special gender reveal for friends or family, and we didn’t have a party. We called and texted family members on our way home from the appointment, so it was a pretty low-key sort of “reveal”.
Still, I’ve had this idea to make my piñata cupcakes into a gender reveal cupcakes for a while and couldn’t pass up the opportunity for a sweet gender reveal on the blog today.
Believe it or not (because I couldn’t believe it at first), we are having a…
BOY!
A sweet baby boy!
So many of you guessed that we would be having a girl, and I thought so too, honestly! Maybe it’s because my mom had 5 girls (and just one boy)? I’m not sure why, but I was certain we would be having a girl. Well evidently not!
Baby boy should be here before Thanksgiving and Zach and I are both so excited for his arrival.
There’s so much left to do before he gets here! We haven’t even bought a crib yet and the nursery is fairly… unassembled, for lack of a better word.
As for the blog, I’ll continue to post once he arrives but I’ve been working very hard to get ahead on recipes so that I can have a few posts scheduled out and take a little bit of a “maternity leave” when he’s born. It’s been fun, but also a little strange jumping into fall and winter recipes while it’s still summertime. I decorated Christmas cookies yesterday and it was 80 degrees (I’ll share them with you on Instagram later today)!
Gender Reveal Cupcakes
There are a lot of gender reveal cupcake ideas out there, but none that I felt were quite as fun as these (OK, I might be biased). These aren’t just fun, though, they’re also simple to make: just bake cupcakes, carve a hole in the center, and fill with sprinkles!
They might be a bit messier to bite into than some other frosting-filled or colored-cake-filled cupcakes out there, but that’s part of the fun of them. The sprinkles are a fun and colorful surprise, and the reveal is pretty unmistakable!
While I have quite a few existing cupcake recipes on the blog, I developed this one specifically for this recipe. I wanted a cupcake that was sturdier and denser than some of the others on my site, but still extremely soft, flavorful, and moist. Using egg whites that have been whipped to stiff peaks and sour cream helps make this tightly-crumbed but not at all dry cupcake possible.
This cupcake is perfect for carving into, which is exactly the point since we’ll be carving little nests into our cupcakes to hide our sprinkles (see photo above).
I topped these cupcakes off with my Swiss Meringue Buttercream from Monday, but included some of my other favorite frosting options in the recipe.
Thank you so much for letting me share the news about our baby boy with you. Maybe it’s the pregnancy hormones (probably not) but I’m just so, incredibly, overwhelmingly, grateful to every one of you reading today. Thanks for letting me share not just sweet recipes but these other sweet parts of my life 💙
More Cupcake Recipes You Might Like:
- Vanilla Cupcakes
- Funfetti Cupcakes
- Chocolate Cupcakes (these are very light and fluffy, probably too light to carve for Gender Reveal Cupcakes. If you’re looking for a chocolate cupcake variation I would recommend using my chocolate cake recipe instead and baking that as cupcakes).
- Carrot Cake Cupcakes
Let’s bake together! Follow me on my YouTube channel where I’ve already uploaded over 150 recipe videos that you can watch for free!
Gender Reveal Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 3 large egg whites, room temperature (½ cup or 122g), make sure there is not so much as a teeny tiny bit of yolk in with the egg whites or they will not whip properly.
- 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- ⅓ cup canola oil or vegetable oil (80ml)
- 1 cup sugar (200g)
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ cup sour cream (120g)
- 1 ⅓ cup + 1 Tablespoon all-purpose flour (172g)
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup pink or blue sprinkles
- 1 batch Swiss Meringue Buttercream or preferred frosting recipe (see suggestions in notes for more of my favorite frosting recipes)
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350F (175C) and prepare a 12 count cupcake tin by lining with paper liners. Set aside.
- Place your egg whites in a completely clean, dry, and grease-free bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat on high-speed until stiff peaks form.¹ Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, use an electric mixer to beat together butter, oil, and sugar. Beat until ingredients are creamy and well-combined.
- Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and then stir in your vanilla extract and sour cream, stirring until combined.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together your flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- Using a spatula and stirring by hand (don’t use your mixer or you run the risk of over-beating the batter), stir the dry ingredients into the wet (butter/sugar mixture) until completely combined. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure ingredients are well-combined. Set aside.
- Using a spatula, gently fold your egg whites into your batter. While you do not want to over-mix this batter, it is important that the egg whites are completely combined. Use a gentle hand and stir until you can’t see any streaks of egg whites in the batter.
- Divide batter evenly into prepared cupcake tin.
- Bake on 350F (175C) for 17-19 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean or with a few moist crumbs (no wet batter).
- Allow cupcakes to cool completely before carving and frosting:
Assembly
- Once cupcakes have cooled completely, use a small knife to cut a hole about 1” in diameter and 1” deep into a cupcake (do NOT cut all the way down to the bottom, you are making a little nest for your sprinkles). Try to make the top of the hole slightly larger than the bottom. Remove this core/plug piece of your cupcake and then slice off the bottom so that only the surface of your cupcake (about ¼” thick) remains (see photo in post or video below for visual). Save this piece with the cupcake that you cut it out of so you can easily match each piece when you go to fill your cupcakes. Repeat with all remaining cupcakes.
- Fill each cupcake cavity with sprinkles, filling just below the surface of each cupcake. Top with your cupcake plug that you reserved and gently press down.
- Top cupcakes with frosting.
- Feel free to use your favorite frosting with this recipe! I used my Swiss Meringue Buttercream for the cupcakes in these pictures (piped with an Ateco 848 tip) but will include more options below in the notes section.
Notes
MORE FROSTING OPTIONS:
Nutrition
Treat yourself to a FREE E-BOOK!
Zar
Congratulations Sam!!! Brings back fond memories when I had mine, TWICE 😉 … you’ll make a great mum! Father and children always love a baker/chef wife and mum ;-)…don’t sweat about things that’s not ready, baby just wants you!! and you’ll give up anything for him….so its a win-win situation 😉 Enjoy motherhood…it’s gonna be a fun journey. Everyday is like a XXXX Reveal cake….daily surprises! Looking forward to those recipes…..
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you so much! I appreciate it! Definitely looking forward to it all. 🙂
Joanne
So happy and excited for you both!! I can’t wait until you show your readers a picture of your baby boy later on.
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you so much, Joanne! 🙂
Vicki
Congratulations 🍾🎉🎈. So happy for you both!
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you so much, Vicki! 🙂
Barb
Congrats Sam- baby boys are so sweet! Mine is 34 and just came home from California to visit- the problem with this is we will miss him more when he goes back! Boys love their moms and that love only grows stronger when they become men. You and Zach have a lot to look forward to- enjoy every precious moment!
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you so much, Barb! We are really looking forward to it. 🙂
Debbie in California
HA! VERY EXCITING…CONGRATULATIONS !
I was definitely getting BABY BOY VIBES for you….THANK YOU for sharing your lovely news with us!.
( and..LOVE the darling gender reveal cakes and how generous you always are with the delicious frosting !)
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you so much, Debbie! We are excited to welcome a little boy for sure. I appreciate your kind words. 🙂
Megan
Congratulations!! Wishing you all the very best!
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you so much, Megan!
Joanna
CONGRATULATIONS!!! Excited for you!!!
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you so much, Joanna! 🙂
Maxine Lauer
YEA!! That is so exciting. Being a mom of boys, I want you to know I am a bit partial, even though I now have granddaughters and grandsons. (psst, boys are easier) but I did not say that. Honestly, the most important thing is to have a healthy baby, gender is secondary. Wishing you and Zach the best, and don’t forget to take care of yourself. I LOVE and use so many of your recipes, THANKS.
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you so much, Maxine! I am excited to welcome a little boy to our family. I have heard that they are easier. Lol. Thank you for your kind words and support over the years. I appreciate it! 🙂
Jesse
YAY!!! Congrats to u and Zach on your sweet lil 👼🏻boy!!! You have been so kind to share so much of your self on this blog and I am sending you guys nothing but best wishes and blessings on your son. As a mom of 2 sons and 1 grandson, and including my hubby…I’m the only girl in my family and can tell you first hand B-O-Y-s are tons of fun and loads of energy (taking nothing away from girls) just speaking from my own experiences. Do take time the off for you and your family (although I will miss all of your yummy recipes) but I’m sure you’ll be back with new stories (and recipes) to share soon enough! God Bless you and your family! 😀
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you so much, Jesse! I appreciate your words of wisdom and kind words. 🙂
Josalyn
CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Since I don’t have anyone to make these beautiful gender reveal cupcakes for, I’ll be perfecting my techniques until they’re needed! 🙂 Congratulations again!!
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you so much, Josalyn! 🙂
Selah Howard
Oh my! This is amazing!! I am so happy for you! I have many nieces and 2 nephews, and let me tell you, the boys are just as much a blessing as the girls! My oldest nephew is 3 and he is as sweet as sweet can be, gives the best hugs and loves cuddles! You are truly blessed! I am not partial to boy nor girl, but can’t help but imagine you and your little boy baking together! So sweet! And so happy for you guys!! Love the way you have announced it! Waiting to know the gender is definitely a rough process! ;P Wishing you well!
Sugar Spun Run
Selah, thank you so very much! I am so excited to welcome a sweet little boy into our family and can’t wake to bake with him! 🙂
Selah Howard
You’re welcome! That is so wonderful to hear!
Mikaru86
Congratulations!
Make sure to take plenty of time off for yourself (and your family) once the baby arrives. Personal time and the wellbeing of the kid are more important than new blog content 🙂
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you so much, I really appreciate it! 🙂
Dana Frelix
Big congratulations to you! God bless you and God bless baby!🌺🌺
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you so much, Dana! I really appreciate it! 🙂
Julie
Yeah!! Congratulations!!
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you so much, Julie! 🙂
Rebekah
Congratulations! I’ve been on your site using your recipes so often and for so long I feel like I kind of know you! So happy for you!
Sugar Spun Run
Rebekah, thank you so much! I appreciate your support over the years and am happy to know that you enjoy my recipes! Thanks again! 🙂