Funfetti “sundae” cupcakes
I sit here on my last Sunday night in Sydney feeling a bit despondent to leave such an incredible place and such a formative experience behind me, albeit for many new exciting adventures. So I thought it would be appropriate to write about funfetti cupcakes because they are the happiest kind of cupcake. (Yes, cupcakes have personalities, didn’t you know?) A few weeks ago a colleague had a birthday and I was seized with the desire to make cupcakes because I hadn’t in quite a while. Back at work in Boston, my friends constantly requested funfetti cakes for their birthdays. This does not exist in Australia but it is basically a cake mix where there are jimmies/sprinkles in the mix so the batter looks like it has confetti all through it. This is fun when you are a child, but apparently even more fun as an adult eating cake in the office. Seriously, you have no idea how much a funfetti cake would make people’s days back in Boston.
So imagine my horror when I found out funfetti apparently is not a thing in Australia. As with s’mores, obviously I had to introduce it! Funfetti batter is actually quite easy to make as long as you have a jar of sprinkles on hand to dump in at the end. Mix it all up and there’s your confetti cake. Then cover the cupcakes with some brightly coloured frosting and you have a really fun looking treat that is also delicious. The frosting technique used below actually blew my mind because typically frosting cupcakes is my least favourite part of the whole process since it ends up looking messy or I don’t pipe it out well enough, but this avoids doing all of that. See below for the frosting revolution. It might look like a bunch of steps, but as cupcakes go, these actually come together pretty quickly!
Funfetti “sundae” cupcakes (adapted from Oven Adventures)
Funfetti Cupcakes
1 1/4 c all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 c granulated sugar
6 tbs (1/4 c +2tbs) butter – room temp (I just used 100 grams)
1 egg + 1 egg white
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c milk – room temp
1/4 c rainbow jimmies / sprinkles
Frosting
Another 100 grams or so of butter (1/2 c works too), softened
3 c confectioners sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1-2 tbs milk
Topping
2 oz dark or milk chocolate – chopped (I ended up using some leftover ganache so if you happen to have that on hand, great – if not melted chocolate obviously works fine)
sprinkles
12 Smarties or M&Ms – feel free to use red to make it like a cherry or just use different colours…I used crispy M&Ms just because I felt like it
Preheat oven to 350 F / 180 C. Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners. I thought the mix would make 12 but for some reason it only made 9 for me – perhaps I filled them too much. See what happens for you.
Cream the butter sugar and together until light and fluffy. Add in the egg, egg white, and vanilla and mix in until combined. Then add in baking powder and salt. After that, alternate adding your flour and your milk, beginning and ending with the flour. (I did flour milk flour milk flour) Then add in all your sprinkles and mix it up until it’s lovely and colourful (be careful not to overmix though). Divide the batter among the cupcake liners, making them about 2/3rds full.
Bake for 18-20 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Check starting around 15 minutes. Cool on a wire rack before frosting.
For the frosting, just cream the butter in a medium sized bowl, and then add in the confectioners sugar until it’s well mixed and fluffy. Add in the vanilla and slowly add milk until you get the right consistency – it should be quite thick because these use a really cool technique to frost them.
Finally, to assemble the cupcakes: start by taking 1 1/2 – 2 tbs of frosting and roll into a ball, flatten out into a disc and place on top of your cupcake. Push frosting down to cover almost the entire top of the cupcake. Take a tsp of frosting and make a much smaller disc and place in the centre of the frosting. Repeat until all your cupcakes are covered. Place cupcakes in the freezer while melting your chocolate. You want the frosting firm. (so let it sit in there at least 5 minutes) For me, I actually had the icing in the fridge for a bit before I made these cool little disks. That way they are easier to handle.
While the cupcakes are firming up, melt the chocolate in the microwave and let it cool for a couple minutes. Pour the chocolate over the smaller disc of frosting directly on the top. Smooth out chocolate with the back of your spoon so it covers the smaller disc and starts to fall onto the larger frosting disc. Holding your cupcake over a large bowl cover chocolate with sprinkles. Place an M&M on the top in the centre and voila, they are ready to go!
Creaming butter and sugar
Adding in flour
Adding in sprinkles to finished batter for homemade funfetti goodness
Batter before putting it in the oven
Making the frosting – I decided to colour mine green because why not
Completed cupcakes
And frosted with the cool little disks
And drizzled with chocolate and sprinkles for the final touch!
If you want to get all fancy you can put them in a box with candles. Yes, one is missing from the original nine. Obviously I ate it.
Without a doubt the coolest thing about these cupcakes is the nifty way of frosting them. I’ve never tried frosting cupcakes like this but it really worked like a charm and produced a very neat looking cupcake. The cake itself was also delicious. Yes, there are multiple components, but all in all I am really behind this cupcake recipe because each component is really easy to make and put together, so it’s not nearly as time intensive as some cupcakes I’ve made in the past. And most importantly, they are delicious while also looking really cute. I certainly plan to make them for more birthday occasions!
One year ago: Warm quinoa veggie salad
merrifood 