From-Scratch Funfetti Cupcakes

I LOVE cupcakes! I love the way they look, the way they smell, the fact that they are hand-held… and I really enjoy making them. Infact, I love cupcakes so much that we had them as the main dessert at our wedding (those cupcakes were amazing but I didn’t make them myself).

Wedding cupcake yumminess

My favorite kind of boxed cupcake/cake is Pillsbury Funfetti… every year on my birthday (that’s 20-some-odd years, people) my mom has made me a Funfetti cake, complete with the frosting that has sprinkles in it. Now, I do try my best to eat healthy whole foods and admittedly, Funfetti mix is laden with a lot of ingredients that my logical brain doesn’t want anywhere near my mouth hole. Therefore, after being sorely tempted by the Halloween Funfetti cupcakes I saw on a commercial, I was more than ready to accept the challenge to make Funfetti from scratch!

From scratch amazingness

Funfetti Cupcakes (adapted from Annie’s Eats)
Makes 24 regular-sized cupcakes; more if you use mini cupcake tins

1 cup milk (I used fat-free), divided
6 large egg whites (I used Just Whites because I hate wasting yolks)
1 TBSP vanilla extract
¼ tsp almond extract
2 ¾ cups cake flour
1 ½ cup sugar
1 TBSP + 1 tsp baking powder
¾ tsp salt
12 TBSP (3/4 cup) unsalted butter at room temp.
½ cup (1 container) multi-colored sequin sprinkles

Cute cupcake tin liners

One batch of buttercream frosting (recipe below)
Extra sprinkles for pretty-making

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350* F. If you are making Halloween cupcakes, make sure to line your cupcake tins with supercute festive liners! I used three full-sized cupcake pans and one mini cupcake pan.

In a large bowl or Pyrex container, whisk together ¼ cup of the milk, the egg whites and the extracts.

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or in a big ol’ bowl if you don’t have a stand mixer) combine the cake flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Mix quickly to combine, then add the softened butter and mix on low until the mixture is the consistency of wet sand. Mix in the remaining ¾ cup of milk, then increase the speed to medium and beat for about 90 seconds. Reduce the speed to low again and add the whisked liquid mixture, little by little, in three increments. Mix in between additions and scrape down the bowl as needed!

When the batter is smooth, fold in the sprinkles by hand with a spatula.

Now, fill each of your prepared cupcake liners about 2/3rds.

Bake, rotating the pans halfway through the cooking time and check to make sure a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean at the end – 18 minutes. Be sure to let them cool completely before frosting.

You see those missing mini cupcakes? Yeah…

Buttercream Frosting (adapted from Annie’s Eats)
Makes (MORE THAN) enough to frost 2 dozen cupcakes

1 ½ cups plus 2 TBSP (3 sticks plus 2 TBSP) unsalted, room-temperature butter
3 cups powdered sugar
Pinch of salt
1 overflowing TBSP vanilla extract
2 TBSP heavy cream

Directions:
Unwrap the butter and put in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment (if you aren’t all fancy-like and have no stand mixer, use a giant bowl and a hand-mixer fitted with a whisk attachment). Whip on medium-high until smooth, about 1 minute. Add the powdered sugar and mix on medium-low until incorporated. Add in the salt. Continue to beat 2 minutes.
Add in the heavy cream and vanilla on low until just incorporated… then increase the speed and whip on high speed until fluffy. This took about 6 minutes for me!

I am not fancy enough to own a frosting piping bag, so I just put the frosting on with a knife and added sprinkles. If you are a fancy pants, pipe on the frosting!

The result with these cupcakes?

Awesome, delicious and totally taste like the Funfetti mix I so adore with only minimal extra effort. The frosting was the most laborious part of the process, and I just took care of it while the cupcakes baked. Make sure you have people who will come eat these or you will end up eating them all… I am ashamed to admit I probably ate about 10 cupcakes myself. No lie.