The Best Birthday Sprinkle Cupcakes Recipe

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This Birthday Sprinkle Cupcakes recipe is super easy, quick to make, and packed with all the festive sprinkles. Boxed cake mix makes these party cupcakes great for beginning bakers who want to make them feel a little more special. Plus they’re super moist thanks to one special extra ingredient.

Six birthday cupcakes with sprinkles on a gray countertop surface. — Let’s make the best birthday sprinkle cupcakes recipe!

You’ll love these easy cupcakes with extra flair

Birthday cupcakes can be anything from plain old vanilla cupcakes to something a little fancier like Prosecco Cupcakes.

But I think sprinkle cupcakes are always the best to serve for a birthday. This recipe shows you how to use a box of yellow cake mix and stud it with fun star-shaped sprinkles.

Topped with the fluffiest vanilla frosting, and even more sprinkles, these easy cupcakes are the perfect dessert to serve no matter whose birthday you’re celebrating.

The best birthday cupcakes don’t take a ton of time, taste great and make the guest of honor smile. This recipe is sure to be your new favorite.

Ingredients

I like to use boxed cake mix as a base because it’s quick and easy and you get a consistent flavor every time. Seriously there is nothing better than cake mix desserts.

In this case, I added butter in place of the oil that was called for in the cake mix directions. It adds a nice texture and also gives it a little bit more flavor.

I added sour cream to keep the cake extra moist without thinning out the batter. It keeps the cake very tender which I love.

While I used star-shaped sprinkles, you can really use whatever sprinkles you prefer!

If you prefer homemade cake you can use your favorite recipe.

And while I prefer to use my vanilla frosting recipe, you can use store-bought to save time.

See the printable recipe card for quantities and the full recipe.

Tools needed

Large mixing bowl (I prefer to use a batter bowl)
Hand mixer
Measuring cups
Muffin tins
Cupcake liners

Instructions

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners and set aside.

A white mixing bowl filled with ingredients to make buttercream frosting next to a small bowl filled with sprinkles.

Step 2

In a medium to large bowl beat the butter until light and fluffy.

Step 3

Add half the yellow cake mix and beat until airy.

Step 4

Incorporate the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Step 5

Mix in the sour cream.

Step 6

Slowly add the remaining cake mix and beat until incorporated.

A bowl of vanilla cake mix topped with sprinkles next to a spatula on a gray countertop.

A bowl of cake mix batter and a spatula after sprinkles have been folded in.

Step 6

Add the sprinkles and fold them into the batter.

A 6-well muffin tin filled with paper liners and birthday cake batter with sprinkles ready for baking.

Step 7

Divide the batter between the cupcake liners and place in the oven.

Six baked party cupcakes in a muffin tin waiting to be frosted.

Step 8

Bake for 5 minutes at the preheated temperature of 400 degrees, then turn the oven down to 350 degrees and bake for 12 more minutes or until done.

Remove from the oven and let cool completely before frosting with the vanilla frosting.

Add don’t forget to add the extra sprinkles on top before serving these fun birthday cupcakes.

Variations

Try different flavors – You can use any light-colored cake mix. Vanilla is traditional, but other light colors like banana, lemon or white cake would work well with sprinkles too!

Add a surprise – If you don’t want to mix in the sprinkles into the batter you can hide them inside like in my Easter Pinata Cupcakes! The sprinkles spill out of the cupcakes in a really fun way.

Tips

Pick good quality sprinkles. Honestly, this is the most important tip. Good quality sprinkles hold their color and don’t bleed through the batter which is important if you don’t want to end up with a weird gray-colored cupcake.
Mix in the sprinkles at the very last minute to prevent them from bleeding. While good quality sprinkles can hold their color pretty well you don’t want to risk it by letting them sit in a wet batter for too long. Just mix them at the end right before scooping out the batter into cupcake liners.
If you’re worried about serving a boxed cake mix cupcake, use this hack! Boxed cake mix cupcakes are pretty good. When topped with store-bought frosting, they’re still pretty good. But if you make your own homemade frosting, it really levels them up! If you only have time to make one thing from scratch, make the frosting!

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best way to store cupcakes?

You can store these cupcakes in an airtight container on the countertop for a couple of days or in the refrigerator up to a week.

How many cupcakes does a cake mix make?

A regular boxed cake mix makes 24 cupcakes, but your yield will depend on the size of your muffin tin wells.

Are these the same as funfetti cupcakes or confetti cupcakes?

Some people refer to these as simply birthday cupcakes while others call them funfetti cupcakes. There are also a bunch of people that refer to them as confetti cupcakes and finally, some of us prefer to call them sprinkle cupcakes.

We are all talking about the same thing, those fluffy, sweet, tasty, filled-with-sprinkles cupcakes that seem to be popular during birthdays.

A birthday cupcake sitting in a torn off paper cupcake liner on top of a gray countertop and surrounded by more cupcakes and sprinkles.

These are the best birthday cupcakes to serve no matter if it’s for a child or an adult!

These sprinkle cupcakes are fluffy, sweet, and festive and can be made and decorated in about an hour.

More easy cupcake recipes

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