Party people! Are we ready to say hello to a new year? Let’s do it with cupcakes that literally burst with confetti.
I’ve gotten a few email requests for a cupcake recipe like this over the past year. Piñata cake in cupcake form. Usually it’s for gender reveal showers and parties—wouldn’t these be so fun for that with pink or blue sprinkles!!!—but, for my blog, I wanted to share a version that could be used for virtually any holiday or event. And I saved the recipe idea to share before New Years Eve because… rainbow sprinkles.
When you bite into one and discover the surprise sprinkles/candies inside, you can’t help but smile. And while these piñata cupcakes may look tricky and complicated, trust me when I say they don’t require any special talents. If you know how to carve a hole in a cupcake and pour sprinkles inside, you can make party piñata cupcakes.
We’re going to start the recipe with a basic vanilla cupcake. My recent favorite, simply perfect vanilla cupcakes, have secured their spot as my go-to vanilla cupcake. They’re fluffy and soft, sweet and light, moist and buttery all in one. We owe all of this magic to 4 power ingredients:
And honestly, every time I make them I can’t get over how fluffy they are. These homemade vanilla cupcakes are as fluffy and moist as box mix cupcakes, but are packed with the freshness and quality of homemade. That’s hard to come by with a from-scratch cupcake.
The only difference today is that I left out the vanilla bean. I ran out! But the extra vanilla flavor wasn’t missed because of all the sweet sprinkles packed inside.
One thing to remember: fill your cupcake liners only 2/3 full. Less is more. 2/3 full isn’t a lot. In fact, you might even question yourself and be tempted to add more. Don’t succumb to the pressure! Don’t overfill those liners! You’ll end up with mushroom looking oddballs, complete with flat tops and crisp edges. Quite the opposite of the soft and fluffy cupcake goal.
Once the vanilla cupcakes are baked and cooled, we’ll carve a hole into the centers, fill with sprinkles, and place the carved section back on top. Some detail:
These cupcakes are about 1.5 inches tall. You’ll want to carve a 1 inch deep section of cupcake out. This can be roughly 1 inch, a little less is perfectly fine. The section of cupcake you remove will be the shape of a cone (see above). I slice off a little of the narrow end of the cone because it won’t fit back on top with all the sprinkles inside. Does this make sense?
When you frost the piñata cupcakes, you won’t be able to tell that there’s anything inside. You can use any frosting—vanilla frosting, chocolate frosting, strawberry buttercream frosting, you name it. For these, I used my basic vanilla frosting.. Working with this particular piping tip is very easy. All I do is start in the center of the cupcake, apply pressure to squeeze the frosting out, and slowly lift straight up. No swirling around the cupcake; just start on the center and lift straight up.
When I use the Wilton #12 tip (used and explained in my peanut butter and jelly cupcakes recipe), I do the same thing. Center of cupcake, lift straight up. These are 2 extremely simple piping tips to work with.
And for the surprise piñata filling?! I used Sweetapolita “Luxury Sweet Twinkle Sprinkle Medley” sprinkles. You can use any sprinkles or even fill with a mix of mini M&Ms, mini chocolate chips, chopped nuts, other tiny candies, etc. Those larger sprinkles are like Nerd candies and the silver balls are chocolate!!
Party piñata cupcakes filled with sprinkles are easy to make and ready for any celebration!
