Happy 4th of July:: From Scratch Funfetti Cupcakes & Vanilla Buttercream

Sprinkles!! Can you guess what I did with them?

Cupcakes, of course!
First, you have to get some festive sprinkles for the holidays (I found these at Homegoods).

Bake your cupcakes and then whip up some frosting!

Here’s how I chose to frost mine: Using an offset spatula, throw a slab of frosting onto your cupcake.

Then spread it to the rim. Don’t worry if it gets all over the place, you just need to cover your top.

Holding your offset spatula at an angle against your frosting, spin the cupcake around so you get a slanted side, as so:

Dump some sprinkles out onto a plate (make sure they don’t jump all over the place!)

And roll the side of the cupcake in the plate:

Voi-la! A much easier decorating method than piping (maybe not as pretty, but oh well, they all end up in the same place).

Peel and eat!

Happy 4th of July, everyone! I’ll be spending mine bbq’ing by the pool in my red, white, and blue. What do you guys have planned?

With any party/get together, I’m expected to bake something. I decided to go all out and do what I hate doing… decorate cupcakes. Plus, I saw these sprinkles at HomeGoods and needed an excuse to buy them. I used jimmies to throw into the batter and nonpareils to decorate the tops. I decorated the cupcakes the lazy way, and provided a step by step on what to do (Is that something you guys would like more of— step by step photos?). Hopefully that helps the decorator haters out there like me!

The cupcake itself was extremely moist and fluffy. It was a little on the sweet side for me, so I’d reduce the amount of sugar next time I make them. The buttercream frosting was actually good— and I don’t normally like buttercream. Though, I must admit that I added probably another 2 tablespoons of milk or so to tone down the powdered sugar taste. Frosting’s forgiving.. add a little more milk and balance out with a little more powdered sugar until you get the taste you desire.

This recipe is slightly adapted from How Sweet It Is, which makes approximately 12 cupcakes. Have a safe 4th, everyone!

• 1/2 cup softened butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/3 cup buttermilk
• 1/3 cup assorted brightly colored sprinkles + more for top of frosting

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Cream together the butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until combined.
3. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Add half of the dry ingredients, mixing until just combined. Add the milk. Once mixed, add remaining dry ingredients. Fold in assorted sprinkles.
4. Pour into cupcake tins and fill 2/3 of the way full. Bake for 18-20 minutes. Cool completely before frosting.

Vanilla Buttercream

• 2 sticks of butter, softened
• 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon of milk, if needed

1. Cream butter until it is completely smooth. 
2. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add in the powdered sugar, one cup at a time.
3. Beat in the vanilla for 2-3 minutes.
4. If the frosting is too thick, add milk 1 teaspoon at a time until the desired consistency is reached. If it’s too thin, add a little more sugar until it thickens.