Introducing homemade funfetti cupcakes. They’re fluffy, moist, packed full of colorful sprinkles, and the perfect, shareable treat to whip up for any celebration or party. Top these sprinkle cupcakes off with a fluffy, dreamy vanilla buttercream and you’ll be in the sugary heaven of your dreams!
Happy Monday, party people. It’s time to celebrate with these tender and fluffy funfetti cupcakes AKA moist vanilla cupcakes studded with rainbow sprinkles and topped with a creamy, light as a cloud vanilla buttercream. They’re perfect for a party, a girl’s night in, or a school bake sale.
Or for breakfast on a Monday morning. No judgment.
Tips for funfetti cupcakes from scratch
I’ll just come out any say it: making cake from scratch is hard. BUT it is also so worth it. I know that it can seem so much easier to throw together a cake mix, but believe me when I tell you that you won’t regret making these homemade funfetti cupcakes.
So we’ve rounded up all the tips to make homemade cake making go as smoothly as possible before you get started:
Make sure all your ingredients are at room temperature. SO IMPORTANT. This will help everything come together smoothly and allow you to beat the air into the batter to get those fluffy cupcakes you’re looking for.
Use high quality vanilla. Rodelle Vanilla is my vanilla extract of choice and they are THE BEST. Especially in a vanilla based cake.
Don’t over mix your batter! Obviously you don’t want huge clumps of straight flour in your batter, but as soon as everything is smooth, resist the temptation to keep mixing, and trust that you’ve gotten enough air in it during the early stages.
How to make funfetti cupcakes
And just to take annnnnny guess work out of homemade funfetti cupcakes, let’s break it down step by step to ease any of those cake from scratch nerves you might have.
Step One: Beat the oil and butter together.
I cannot stress enough how crucial it is that your butter is at true room temperature. We suggest leaving the butter out the night before you make this cake for true room temperature butter.
Beat the butter and oil together with the whisk attachment until they are completely homogenous, about 3 minutes.
You’ll know this step is done when the oil and butter are a pale yellow, with no chunks of butter.
By the end of this stage, your batter should look like this:
Step Two: Add in the granulated sugar slowly.
With the mixer on medium speed slowly add in the granulated sugar. By beating the batter while adding the sugar, the individual sugar granules will aerate the oil and butter mixture, creating the perfect base for a fluffy cake. Continue to beat the batter for 3 minutes until it is very pale yellow (almost white) and fluffy!
By the end of this stage, your batter should look like this:
Step Three: Add in the eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla extract.
Make sure the eggs are at room temperature so that they do not cool down the batter.
Add in the eggs one at a time to make sure each individual egg is incorporated.
After all the eggs are in, add in that high quality vanilla (so worth it), and beat the mixture for another 3 minutes until it becomes pale yellow and you see little bubbles form on the top of the batter.
By the end of this stage, your batter should look like this:
Step Four: In a separate bowl, sift the dry ingredients together.
Sift together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Listen, I usually am NOT a devout sifter, but with cakes it is SO important to get everything evenly distributed.
Step Five: Alternate mixing the buttermilk and dry ingredients into the wet. Add the sprinkles
Alternate in this order: Flour, buttermilk, flour, buttermilk, flour.
As long as you end with the dry, you are good. Once everything has just come together and no big lumps remain, your batter is good to go!
Last add the sprinkles, just folding a few times to evenly distribute them.
Step Six: Divide the batter into 20 cupcake liners and bake for 30 minutes!
You’ll know the cupcakes are done when they lightly golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out mostly clean! Make sure you allow the cupcakes to cool completely before frosting them!
Tips for frosting funfetti cupcakes:
Funfetti cupcakes and vanilla frosting are star crossed lovers. And once you have a bite of one of these cupcakes you’ll have to agree. We have an awesome step by step tutorial on how to make vanilla buttercream for the dreamiest, fluffiest, creamiest frosting you’ll ever have.
Make sure your cupcakes are completely cool before topping them with frosting. You can use an offset spatula or a spoon to make big swirly, frosted cupcakes or a pastry bag fit with a start tip for something a little more gourmet. Whatever you choose, top it off with some rainbow sprinkles!
Now time to go tackle those homemade cupcakes, loves! Let us know if you have any question–here to help 🙂
These homemade funfetti cupcakes are fluffy, moist, and packed full of sprinkles. Top this funfetti cupcake recipe with vanilla frosting for a sweet treat!
These homemade funfetti cupcakes are fluffy, moist, and packed full of sprinkles. Top this funfetti cupcake recipe with vanilla frosting for a sweet treat!
Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease and line 20 cupcake tins with liners. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the softened butter and oil together until they become homogenous, about 3 minutes. This will not work if your butter is not completely room temperature.
Slowly add the granulated sugar to the oil and butter, beating on high until the mixture is light and fluffy and turns a very pale yellow, about 3 minutes.
Add the eggs in one at time, scraping down the bowl in between each addition. Add the vanilla extract. Beat the mixture on high for 3 minutes more to incorporate as much air as possible.
In separate bowl sift together the cake flour, salt, and baking powder. Alternate mixing in the dry ingredients and the buttermilk in 4 batches, starting with the buttermilk and ending with the dry ingredients. Fold in the sprinkles until well mixed. It’s okay if the batter still has a few lumps in it–you don’t want to over mix it.
Use a large cookie scoop or a 1/4 cup measuring cup to split the batter evenly into the prepared cupcake tins and bake for 20-30 minutes or until the cupcakes are lightly golden brown and spring back when pressed. Take out of the oven and transfer to a cooling rack. Let the cupcakes cool completely and frost with your favorite frosting!
for the frosting
In a stand mixer, beat the softened butter and powdered sugar together until fluffy, about 2 minutes.
Add in the vanilla, salt and a tablespoon of milk one at a time. If the frosting seems to be getting too runny, stop adding milk. Beat for 3 minutes, or until light and fluffy
Transfer the frosting to a pastry bag fit with a large star tip and frost the cooled cupcakes. Top with rainbow sprinkles or leave plain. Enjoy!
Hi there! I made these today and they had a delicious flavour but turned out dense and not fluffy. Any recommendations on how to not have them turn out dense? Thanks!
Hi Shanna! If your cupcakes were dense you might have not beat the butter, sugar and eggs long enough or overmixed the flour once you added in the dry ingredients!
Hi there! I will be baking these cupcakes today for an event on Sunday as I don’t have time that day. Baking today and frosting tomorrow. Will they stay fresh for Sunday and how should they be stored?
Also, what size eggs, I seem to only have large, does that work? Thank you!
I struggle to find a recipe with the right balance of sweetness, fluffiness, moisture… This one was flawless and had SO much flavor! In Europe buttermilk doesn’t exist but yoghurt is a great sub. Pair that with vanilla bean paste instead of extract, remember the salt and just go to heaven.
Leave a comment and rate this recipe!
Hi there! I made these today and they had a delicious flavour but turned out dense and not fluffy. Any recommendations on how to not have them turn out dense? Thanks!
Hi Shanna! If your cupcakes were dense you might have not beat the butter, sugar and eggs long enough or overmixed the flour once you added in the dry ingredients!
Hi there! I will be baking these cupcakes today for an event on Sunday as I don’t have time that day. Baking today and frosting tomorrow. Will they stay fresh for Sunday and how should they be stored?
Also, what size eggs, I seem to only have large, does that work? Thank you!
Hi Raneem! We always used large eggs! If making these more than a day in advance, I recommend freezing them so they stay super soft and moist!
I struggle to find a recipe with the right balance of sweetness, fluffiness, moisture… This one was flawless and had SO much flavor! In Europe buttermilk doesn’t exist but yoghurt is a great sub. Pair that with vanilla bean paste instead of extract, remember the salt and just go to heaven.
★★★★★
Made these for my daughters first birthday. They were amazing, my new favourite cupcake recipe!
★★★★★
what kind of oil should be put in?
★★★★★
Any neutral oil works!