Easy Confetti Cupcakes with Strawberry Frosting Recipe

This one-bowl vanilla cupcake recipe gets funky with sprinkles in the batter and a sweet strawberry frosting. These Confetti Cupcakes are for celebrating.

We were supposed to go to graduations this spring — three of them. There was supposed to be meets and recitals and birthday celebrations too. And we were supposed to travel.

None of that happened.

But the end of school came anyway. The accolades were achieved and awarded. And those graduates graduated, even if there wasn’t any pomp and circumstance.

As for birthdays? They happen whether there’s a big party or not.

All of these moments deserve celebrating – regardless of the size or scope of the celebration.

And these easy Confetti Cupcakes with Strawberry Frosting are decidedly for celebrating. They are also a quick and easy recipe made in just one bowl. Fun doesn’t have to be complicated, after all.

How to make confetti cupcakes

For this recipe, you start by making the vanilla cupcake batter. It’s a one-bowl cupcake recipe, so you will only need a single bowl for the whole thing.

The best thing about one-bowl cupcakes is that there’s less mess. With only one bowl needed, you have less to clean up and the process is simplified. In fact, you use the same one-bowl to make the frosting too. It’ll need to be washed after the batter is made, of course.

But first, the batter. Whisk together the ingredients (I use a stand mixer) in the order prescribed. Once you’ve made the vanilla cupcake batter, stir in sprinkles. Now, you have Confetti Cupcakes batter.

Then it’s time to fill the cupcake papers. I like to use a large cookie scoop for this. It holds just the right amount of batter and releases it easily into the tin.

This method makes it virtually drip, dribble and mess-free!

Once baked, these confetti cupcakes need to cool before you frost them. This is a good time to wash that bowl.

Go on. We’ll wait.

The frosting is flavored with strawberry extract, which also tints them pink. It’s fun, festive and funky!

Finally, sprinkle the cupcakes with some more sprinkles to make them even more fun.

And then, enjoy them!

What sprinkles should I use?

That’s a great question! There are so many different types of sprinkles out there. The best sprinkles for cupcakes are the ones you have.

But for best results, you should use ones that aren’t hard to chew and are big enough to remain visible once baked. For this reason, nonpareils aren’t ideal and big, harder ones aren’t either.

Shaped ones (like the sharks, fish and dinosaurs seen in the images for this post) and colorful jimmies are my favorites to use. But if you do use shaped ones, don’t expect to find little dinos in the cupcakes. They will be colorful but not shaped once baked.

Time to celebrate!

Serve these for a celebration or just because. And whatever you do, don’t stop celebrating — even if it isn’t the celebration you anticipated.