Confetti Cupcakes

When I first discovered confetti cake, I was still in elementary school and could manage to bake a cake from a boxed mix, which I often did when the occasion arose to do so. I almost always opted for white cake because I liked the color and the vanilla flavor, but when I found that the store stocked white cakes with multi-colored splashes in the batter, I forgot my old allegiance to the plain cake and opted for its colorful counterpart more times than I can remember.

Confetti cakes get their name from the confetti-like splashes of color throughout. These splashes are produced by stirring rainbow sprinkles into the batter. The sugary jimmies melt as the cake bakes, leaving behind color and no trace of what was once a sprinkle.

For these cupcakes, I opted not to use a mix (not really surprising, I know), but to use a classic white cake recipe. The resulting cupcakes have the familiar flavor of vanilla and a hint of almond, as well as a clean white interior that sets off the colors of the sprinkles. The crumb is very tender, but not so delicate that the cake crumbles before it gets into your mouth, and quite moist. This is achieved through a slightly unconventional – for cupcakes, anyway – mixing process, where the butter is cut into the dry ingredients and the eggs and other liquids are added at the end.

I topped them with a marshmallow frosting, which I used before when baking Peanut Butter Banana Cupcakes.

If you don’t have rainbow sprinkles, you can use chocolate jimmies or simply skip the “confetti” and leave these white. But it might be worth that extra trip to the store because colorful cupcakes are just a little bit more fun.

Funfetti Cupcakes
1/2 cup milk
3 large egg whites
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
6 tbsp butter, soft
2 tbsp rainbow sprinkles

Preheat oven to 350F.
Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.
In a measuring cup, whisk together milk, egg whites and extracts. Set aside
In the bowl of an electric mixer (or a large bowl if you prefer to work by hand), combine flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Stir to combine. Cut in butter with the paddle attachment at low speed (or cut in by hand), until mixture is coarse and sandy. Add milk mixture and beat at medium speed for 1 1/2 minutes. Scrape sides of bowl and continue beating for 20-30 seconds. Stir in sprinkles.
Divide batter evenly into prepared tin. Bake for for 15 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.
Remove from pan and cool completely on a wire cooling rack before frosting.
Makes 12.

Marshmallow Frosting
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large egg whites
1/3 cup water
2 teaspoons light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Whisk sugar, egg whites, 1/3 cup water, light corn syrup, and cream of tartar in large metal bowl to blend. Set bowl over saucepan of barely simmering water (do not allow bottom of bowl to touch simmering water). Using handheld electric mixer, beat on medium speed until mixture resembles soft marshmallow fluff, about 4 minutes.
Increase mixer speed to high and beat until mixture is very thick, about 3 minutes longer. Remove bowl from over simmering water. Add vanilla extract and continue beating until marshmallow frosting is completely cool, about 5 minutes longer.

When cool, frost cupcakes and add more sprinkles, if desired.