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Funfetti Birthday Cupcakes: Moist, classic white cupcakes speckled with funfetti sprinkles and topped with luscious, fluffy vanilla frosting.
Today is a very, very special day. One might say the day the world just got so much better.
It’s Erik’s birthday.
Erik is my… everything. Now before you roll your eyes, I have to say that I’m almost never cheesy and rarely do I state things in a dramatic way (okay, that’s an outright lie. I’m very dramatic, but only with my pen).
But the thing is, Erik is wonderful.
He’s kind, generous, has the patience of a saint and all the things. As lucky as he obviously is to have me (still fact-checking on that one, guys), I’m so much luckier to have him.
Anyway, before I make him blush like a big ol’ county fair prize-winning tomato, I just wanted to say:
Happy Birthday, Erik. ?
You da man! Haha.
Okay, enough of the feels… time for some cupcakes!
This year, when forced by whisk-point to state exactly what he wanted for his birthday cake, he asked for–wait for it…. vanilla birthday cupcakes. You see, he’s an adventurous type of guy. Heh. Heh. The thing is, I attempted (emphasis on attempted) to make a marble cake for him for YEARS. This was also way back before I knew anything about flour sifting, room temperature ingredients and, let’s face it: needing to cool a cake all the way beforefrosting it (duh?).
Needless to say, we agreed: out with the old, in with the new! So I turned to my favorite food blogger, Sally from Sally’s Baking Addiction, and went all classic on this piece. I took her gorgeous Funfetti Layer Cake recipe and changed it up to a Funfetti Birthday Cupcakes recipe. Woot woot!
Really, what’s more fun that Funfetti Birthday Cupcakes? Come on now! Rollercoasters? Double-fisting puffs of cotton candy? Bouncy houses? Eating a big bowl of homemade cream cheese frosting? Well, surely funfetti birthday cupcakes are at least on the same level as those fahmazing things. Surely.
Meanwhile, Erik had the distinct pleasure of seeing me wrestle with frosting these babies. How’s that for a birthday present? Let’s just say there was much sleeve-rolling, not-quite-breathing and perfectionism-anxiety tendencies all accompanying me during the frosting segment of this show. Oh, the things you do for your man. Alls I’m saying.
Anyway, I could never put into words how special Erik is… but I CAN make him some funfetti birthday cupcakes. Dagnabit! Happy Birthday, my love. ?
Here’s to a birthday weekend full of Chinese food, video games and funfetti birthday cupcakes (ooooooh, yeah). xo
Funfetti Birthday Cupcakes
Ingredients
CUPCAKES
Dry Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Wet Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- ½ cup + 1 tablespoon pure cane sugar
- 1 egg, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ cup buttermilk, room temperature
- 1 egg white, room temperature
- ¼ cup sprinkles + more for topping
FROSTING
- 2/3 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 2 ½ cups confectioners' sugar
- 1-2 tablespoons buttermilk
- 1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Place a cupcake liner into each of the cups of a 12-cup cupcake pan. Set aside.
- Cake Time: In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add butter and sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Start on low speed, then increase to high speed, beating the butter and sugar together until fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. On medium speed, mix in the whole egg and vanilla until well incorporated and fluffy. Scrape the bowl down as necessary.
- Set the mixer on low speed and slowly begin adding the dry ingredients in fourths, alternating each increment with a bit of buttermilk, until both are completely incorporated. Scrape down the bowl and the paddle attachment as necessary. Be careful not to overmix this batter—it will make the cupcakes tough.
- In a small bowl, energetically whisk the egg white until it’s foamy and fluffy. This will take several minutes. Carefully fold the egg white into the cupcake batter. Fold sprinkles into batter.
- Spoon batter evenly into each cupcake liner. Bake for 15-20 minutes.
- Allow cupcakes to cool on a cooling rack for 2 hours or until completely cool.
- Frosting Time: In the large bowl of a stand mixer set on medium speed with the whisk attachment, beat the butter for a few minutes until smooth. Set the mixer to low speed and slowly add in the confectioners’ sugar, buttermilk, and vanilla. Once all of the ingredients are lightly incorporated, increase the stand mixer to high speed. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat until fluffy—about 5 minutes. If your frosting is too runny, add in more sugar; if it’s too thick, add in small amounts of buttermilk.
- Cupcake Time: Once the cupcakes are completely cooled, it’s time to frost! Add frosting into a piping bag and squeeze or twist the end slightly to compact the frosting towards the tip of the bag. Attach your piping tip of choice. Starting from the center of the cupcake, squeeze the bag with even pressure as you pipe outward, in a circle. Swirl the frosting in a circle until you reach the center/top of the cupcake. Apply gentle pressure downward, stop squeezing the piping bag and pull it up to finish. It takes a couple tries, but you’ll get the hang of it!
- Optional: top with sprinkles. Enjoy!
Notes
- Recipe adapted from Sally's Funfetti Layer Cake.
© beamingbaker.com. All content and images are protected by copyright. Please do not use my images without my permission. If you wish to republish this recipe, please re-write the entire recipe using your own words and include a link to this post for the recipe.
You know what else is perfect for a birthday surprise? These Healthier Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies. YUM.
Or, these soul-satisfying Double Chocolate Chip Coconut Cookies (Vegan, Gluten-Free). Talk about Cookie Love.
Question of the Day
What special recipes do you pull out for a loved one’s birthday?
I can’t wait to hear your responses. ❤️ demeter
Happy Birthday to your Erik!! I”m also a Pisces :). I think you’re comments were totally sweet, not roll eyes at all. I could go on all day about my hubby so I understand. These are so super cute!!
Thanks Jessica! Happy Birthday to you, too. 🙂 Haha… yeah, I’m probably a bit too guarded and sarcastic (but I assure you, there’s a soft, probably made of marshmallow, center on the inside.) Three cheers for awesome husbands! Looking forward to getting to know you (and hearing about your lovely husband). Cheers! 🙂
These cupcakes are incredibly beautiful. Literally the prettiest vanilla funfetti cupcakes I’ve ever seen (and I’m not just saying that- I really mean it!)! The angelic-ness of the frosting was worth the sweat you put into it. The pictures are so gorgeous, and I ADORE the little candle GIF you made (did you do that on Photoshop?).
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Erik! Enjoy your fun birthday weekend!
xx Ellie
P.S. – I have to say eating chocolate is more fun than funfetti cupcakes. Sorry to rain on your funfetti-filled parade :/
Aw… thanks Ellie! 🙂 I’m so glad you liked the photos! Erik helped me make the GIF in Photoshop (as part of birthday activities… NOT. lol). I was a little too impressed with myself after, is alls I’m saying. 😉 Erik says thanks for the birthday wishes. And girl, I am all on that chocolate side with ya! Erik is the vanilla cake lover (don’t worry, I’m working on him.) Have a great weekend, El! xoxo
I’m SO impressed with both of your Photoshop abilities. I want to get Photoshop, but it’s so expensive! Is it worth it? I might splurge and get it this summer so I have a few months before school starts to work on it.
You’re welcome to Erik! Btw my brother’s name is Eric too (but spelled differently, obviously) 🙂
Have a great, chocolate-filled weekend as well! xx
Aw, thanks Ellie! I’ve been on a looooong, long journey with Adobe, so I’ve got a lot to say. Prepare yourself. Lol. Plus, things have really changed since they moved to a monthly subscription-based model.
First, I would recommend checking out some tutorials to just see if it’s for you. Especially since you have to pay monthly now.
Photoshop is a whole new way of thinking that’s not really seen anywhere else (if that makes sense). Secondly, remember that you can do a free trial for 30-days before you buy. You can do the trial + tutorials and that will give you a good feel for it.
Then, if you’re still interested, check out the Creative Cloud Photography monthly subscription ($9.99/month). I think CC Photography is best suited to your goals. It includes Photoshop and Lightroom (super, super important for editing raw images). Or, if you’re interested in the entire Adobe creative suite (with amazing apps such as Premiere for video editing), you could do the student discount package on the Creative Cloud All Apps. That one is $19.99/month for students.
Woah, who thought I would blabber on that long? Lol. Anyway, Photoshop is worth it. But honestly, since CC is on a monthly subscription (and the cost racks up fast), I think you’re better off doing tutorials and learning the ins and outs first. Then, dive in and sign up for the subscription.
Wohoo for the Eri(k/c)s! 😉 Chocolate hugs to you, Ellie. xoxo
Oh, I forgot a helpful link: https://creative.adobe.com/plans?promoid=695P7SPW&mv=other
Oh my gosh, you’re THE BEST. I will check them all out later this spring/ early summer when I have more time to play with photography and editing! What tutorials did you watch/ do you like (if you remember haha)?
Chocolate hugs right back!
Hey Ellie! Of course, I’m here to help. 🙂 As for Photoshop, the tutorials I took were from an illustration standpoint, so those won’t quite help with photography. I would actually recommend taking Lightroom tutorials. Lightroom is absolutely key in editing your raw files. Here are a couple of tutorials that I liked:
Lightroom 6 Quickstart tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bECi0ZQAB34
Adobe Lightroom 4 Tutorial (covers a lot of basics like raw v. jpeg, white balance, saturation, etc.): http://norecipes.com/adobe-lightroom-4-tutorial
Those two will get you off to a good start. Let me know if you need more help in the spring/summer. Good luck! xoxo
Happy birthday Erik! Hope he had a wonderful day (I know he had some super yummy cupcakes, so there’s that!). I usually always go for the chocolate cupcakes but I would grab a big plate of these funfetti ones and run to the nearest corner to eat them all by myself. Yeah, I don’t share well 😉 BTW, where do you live in Maine? I’m originally from So Fla but moved to New England 4 years ago, lived in Maine for a year (my Hubby’s from there and his family is still there) then moved to New Hampshire and been living there the past 3 years. Love New England but the winters, not so much 🙂
Thanks so much, Karrie! From both Erik and me. 🙂 Oh, I’m ALL about the chocolate ones too! But it’s not mah birthday. Haha. But Karrie, sharing is caring. LOL. I live in Central Maine. We actually moved here not long ago from California (and we bounced around from Boston and San Diego–yes, we’re nomads. Haha). So I would definitely not count us as experts on this area. It’s great that you moved to New Hampshire! I had a friend in college who was from NH and really, really loved it. Agreed on the winter… it is soooo long and cold. Could we just get one beach day here? 😉 It’s so nice to meet you Karrie! Looking forward to getting to know you better.
Happy Birthday Erik! And what a way to celebrate. So nice of you to whip up these awesome looking cupcakes for him! I have to make cupcakes all the time for my daughters class but I confess (I used a box!!!). I know……terrible. Will be trying these next time so I can be a cooler mom!!! Cause boxed cupcakes are icky, Speaking of my daughter, I better go get her off the bus, hehe.
Erik and I send big thanks and hugs to you Laura! 🙂 I thought it was nice too… Haha. Oh, no judgments from me on the boxed cake mixes. I can only imagine how hard it is to be a parent, let alone all of the millions of things you have to accomplish every day! So a boxed cake mix for yet another class occasion makes perfect sense. Anyway, you’re a cool mom already! But if you make these cupcakes, let me know–I would love to see how they turn out. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by, Laura. <3
Awww. I love birthdays (and my man, too). Thanks for taking a minute to tell us how special your man is. I feel the same way about mine. Those cupcakes are so much fun and my kids would go ga-ga for them. Vanilla is one of my favorite flavors so I think these are perfect. Thanks for the share!
Wohoo for birthdays and awesome men! Hehe. Thank you for listening. 🙂 Glad you enjoyed the post. It’s very nice to meet you, Kim. Thanks for stopping by!
You seriously are the cutest. My boyfriends birthday is on Saturday and I realize now I didn’t even think about a cake! Help! Anyways, love this post, and happy birthday Erik!
Thanks Viv! 🙂 Woah, their birthdays are close! I think this means great things for our friendship–after all, we found similar men, right? Haha. Gurl, it’s time to bake! What’s your bf’s favorite type of cake? Let me know and I can surely help. 🙂 Big hugs to you Viv. xoxo
I know right! Looks like we were meant to be blog buddies!
Well he doesn’t have a favourite cake, but we both loooove a cake with frosting… I’ve already done carrot cake a while ago, was thinking maybe something with lemon or lime. Hmmm. Your cakes sound pretty great too, I think cupcakes might actually be a great idea because I want to do like a “big breakfast” sort of thing and we’re going out for dinner in the evening… no room for much cake, haha!
Yes! Best blog buddies forever! Hehe. 🙂 Honestly though, it’s been such fun getting to know you. You’re so funny and honest!
No favorite cake?? What kind of person is he??? Haha. Oh, carrot cake sounds interesting! But it’s definitely a lot of work. Try the cupcakes! I made the recipe so there would be exactly 12 cupcakes. Do you really need more? Especially after the big birthday breakfast? 🙂 I am a BIG fan of breakfast. What are you guys planning on having in this special breakfast? 🙂
It has, hasn’t it?! I really like blogging but one of the best parts is meeting like-minded people. It feels like I’ve known you since forever! 🙂
Haha, well I’m Dutch and we are known to be honest. Or blunt.
Well actually the no favourite cake thing is good: we can try many different flavours! I change my mind about my favourites about every time I eat cake. But carrot cake will be an all time favourite I guess.
Yes, cupcakes sounds quite perfect actually! I might make six cupcakes, that should be enough for a birthday weekend…
I was planning on nice bread and eggs and a fruit salad and one of those cupcakes.. But he’s currently next to me peeking every once in a while so I cant elaborate. Haha!
Yay! Yeah, I totally feel super comfortable with you too. 🙂 I didn’t know that about the Dutch… haha. Good point about the not having a favorite cake. 🙂 There really are such a huge, wonderful variety of cakes out there. Carrot’s your fave? How interesting! I haven’t met too many people who’s fav cake is carrot. Just my sister, Jenny.
Six cupcakes would be absolutely perfect. Not too much, not too little.
Oooh! Bread, eggs and fruit sound amazing! Okay, I won’t ask for more details in case he’s still there. 😉 Have a wonderful weekend celebrating his birthday! Tell him I said happy birthday! 🙂 Big hugs to you, Viv! xoxoxo
That’s so sweet of you to say!
I know right, and there are sooo many cakes to try! I think we are a bit behind here, and ever since I started following blogs like yours I’ve learned so many new variates that I absolutely HAVE to try…. It’s good that I’m not on a diet!
Yeah I want to do croissants and this lovely fresh bread that we sometimes buy and some fruits and eggs and of course, cupcakes… Because he’s on an internship now he barely has time to eat in the morning before leaving so any breakfast will be great for him!
I will tell him, and you have a wonderful weekend too! I hope Eriks birthday was a fun one.
See you around! XX
Girl, I am right there with you! Everyday, you see new and amazing recipes that you’ve never heard of! It’s amazing how creative people are. 🙂 No diets here! Hehe. Just being happy and healthy. 😉
Croissants?!?!? Ahhh… I’m drooling!
Oh, sounds like he’s working hard. Yeah, quick foods would certainly be more convenient. What’s his internship for?
Will do! It’s gonna be Chinese food, pizza, sleeping and video games for us. Haha.
xoxo
Thank you soooo much! 😀 I seriously can’t believe how amazing these cupcakes are, and how amazing you are. Totally the best birthday ever! 🙂
Muah! Extra frosting for you! And NOT just because it’s your birthday. Let’s call off the rest of the work week and celebrate, m’kay? 143.
Happy Birthday, Erik!
Demeter, it’s so lovely to read your sweet words about him. I think it’s totally okay to be cheesy sometimes, hey, you love him, so why not!
The cupcakes look super duper cute, Erik is a lucky guy 🙂
Thank you so much Evi. 🙂 From both Erik and me. <3
I'm learning how to open up and such... awkward! lol. But Erik is just so wonderful that it isn't hard. Basically, I agree with how you phrased it when talking about your guy the other day. I won the lottery. 🙂 Thank you for your kind and thoughtful words, Evi. Three cheers for amazing partners in life. <3
These cupcakes are absolutely gorgeous! I love that you jazzed up a vanilla cupcake with funfetti. I would definitely request the vanilla kind over chocolate, but that’s just me! 🙂 These are so perfect for birthdays, too. Wish I had one (or three) of these for breakfast today!
Thank you so much Gayle! Sometimes we have to just switch things up here on the blog and mix in some vanilla. Hehe. I’m a certified chocoholic, so these vanilla cupcakes were definitely a change. The things you do for your man’s birthday… 😉 So nice to meet you Gayle! Sending you virtual cupcakes by the dozen. xo
Well Haaaaappy Birthday, Erik! I totally understand your sentiment about your man… I don’t like to be all mushy either, but when it comes to his special day, I will go out of my way to make him feel, well, special! 😉 LOVE these cupcakes, Demeter! These beauties couldn’t be more perfect! Vanilla cupcakes are totally my jam (because that whole dang cocoa allergy), so you KNOW I am drooling all over my keyboard for these ‘nilla-tastic babies! Plus funfetti everything makes me all sorts of school girl giddy! I’m totally going to pretend this weekend is my birthday, whip myself together some of these delicious cupcakes and face plant into ohhhhhh about a dozen of them. Pinned! Cheers, sweets! Have a wonderful weekend celebrating with your beau! XO
Aww… thanks Cheyanne! It’s hard for us tough cookies to be softies. Haha. But then we lucked out with these fine men, so we have no choice but to do so. 😉 It’s so sweet of you to go out of your way for your guy. 🙂 After that eel sauce proposal though, I can totally understand why! <3 YES! You can finally eat something off of my blog. Woot woot! I shall never forget that you have a cocoa allergy! Pretend birthday, here we come. 🙂 Big hugs to ya, Cheyanne. xoxoxo