How to Make Sprinkle-Filled Valentine’s Day Cupcakes

Valentine’s Day is a holiday with a lot of sweets associated with it. I don’t need an excuse to enjoy some dessert, but it never hurts to have a reason and I love getting some holiday flair into a recipe. These Sprinkle-Filled Valentine’s Day Cupcakes are guaranteed to be more impressive than your average box of chocolates. The cupcakes are packed with colorful sprinkles that pour out when you take a bite or cut into the cake.

I used a vanilla cupcake recipe for the base of these cupcakes. While you can use any kind of cupcake recipe to make this style of cupcake, the white cake really lets the colors of the sprinkles shine. The cake has a dense, tender crumb and just the right sweetness. I used both vanilla and almond extracts to give the cake a traditional “white cake” flavor. Once the cupcakes are baked, you will need to let them cool before you can fill them.

How to Fill The Cupcakes with Sprinkles

1. First, cut a cone out of the top of the cake using a sharp paring knife. The cone should be about 1-inch down.
2. Pull out the cake cone and cut off the tip, but save the top to serve as a lid later.
3. If you want a bigger cavity (for more sprinkles), use a melon baller to open up the interior of the cake.
4. Fill with sprinkles, leaving room to replace the lid of the cupcake. Then frost as desired.

The only downside to this recipe is that you’re going to need a fair amount of sprinkles if you want to have them bursting out of the cupcake like the one in the photo above. If you want to fill your cupcakes more conservatively (which does, in fairness, make them a bit less messy to eat), you won’t need quite as many. Buy extra sprinkles so you have them on hand if you need them. I like pink jimmies and colored sugars, personally. The pearl-shaped sprinkles are gorgeous to look at, but are a little less easy to eat, so I tend to only include a few of those. Customize your mix any way you like!

The cupcakes should be filled the day that they are served. If the cupcakes are stored for too long with the sprinkles inside, a little of the color from the sprinkles may start to bleed into the cupcake. You won’t see this until you take a bite, of course, but it’s just a better look if you serve them the day they are assembled.

Sprinkle-Filled Valentine’s Day Cupcakes
2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/3 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
1/2 cup milk
approx 2/3 cup mixed pink, red and white sprinkles
vanilla frosting (recipe below)

Preheat oven to 350F. Place 12 cupcake liners in the cavities of a muffin tin.
In a medium bowl, whisk together all purpose flour, baking powder and salt
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, vanilla extract and almond extract until well-combined. Blend in half of the flour mixture, followed by the milk. Stir in remaining flour mixture, mixing just until no streaks of dry ingredients remain. Divide evenly into prepared cupcake liners.
Bake for 17-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cupcake comes out clean. Turn cupcakes out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Assembly: Using a small paring knife, cut a 1-inch diameter cone out of the top of each cupcake. Cut off the points of the cones, leaving a flat “lid” of cake. If desired, use a melon baller to increase the size of the cavities.
Fill cupcake cavities with sprinkle mix, leaving about 1/4-inch of room at the top for the “lid” from each cupcake to be put back into place.
Once the cupcakes are filled and the “lids” are in place, frost the cupcakes with vanilla buttercream and serve.

Makes 12.

Easy Vanilla Buttercream
1 cup butter, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
3-4 tbsp milk
1/8 tsp salt
3-4 cups confectioners’ sugar

In a large bowl, beat together butter, vanilla, milk, salt and 2 cups confectioners’ sugar until smooth. Gradually blend in remaining confectioners’ sugar until frosting is thick and creamy.

Makes frosting for 12+ cupcakes.

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