Pink Funfetti Birthday Cupcakes

With my birthday this week (see my reflections and goals here), I thought it would be fun to bake celebratory cupcakes. I was originally intending to bake plain ‘ol vanilla cupcakes with a bright pink frosting, but then I realized that everything is better with sprinkles, right?! So as a fun variation on my traditional vanilla cupcake recipe, I added a handful of sprinkles to make an insanely sweet funfetti batter. I then added bright pink buttercream frosting and topped each with a generous pinch of my favorite confetti sprinkles and a candle to blow out. These cupcakes are seriously so fun! And they’d be perfect for any birthday or celebration you have going on this summer–just change the color of the frosting to the birthday girl’s/boy’s favorite color and voila! Go ahead! You definitely deserve one (in honor of my birthday 😉 )! I hope you enjoy them as much as we did!

 

Recipe

Cupcakes Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 8 tbs unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 2 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups whole milk, at room temperature
• ~1-2 oz rainbow sprinkles

Frosting Ingredients:

• 16 tbs unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 4 cups confectioner sugar, sifted
• 1 tsp whole milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/8 tsp salt
• ~28 drops of pink gel food coloring
• confetti sprinkles

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a standard cupcake pan with paper baking cups.
2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer or in a bowl with a handheld electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar at medium speed for 3 to 5 minutes, or until light and fluffy.
4. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing slowly after each addition.
5. Combine the vanilla extract and milk in a large liquid measuring cup.
6. Add one third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, followed by one third of the milk, and mix. Repeat. Stop to scrape down the bowl as needed. Add the last third of the flour, followed by the last third of the milk, and mix until just combined.
7. Add rainbow sprinkles to the batter for a fun, colorful birthday twist! I added about 1/2 a bottle of sprinkles to maximize my color, but it’s up to you how much you add.
8. Using a standard-size ice cream scoop, scoop the batter into a cupcake pan so each well is two thirds full. Bake for 16 to 18 minutes (start checking at 15 minutes) or until a toothpick comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool completely.
9. For the frosting, place all the ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat until well combined. Be sure to beat on high speed at the very end for at least 2 minutes to ensure that the frosting is light and fluffy. For the bright pink color, add a few drops of gel food coloring at a time until the desired intensity is reached.
10. Top each cupcake with a swirl of bright pink frosting and a generous pinch of confetti sprinkles!

Original recipe here.