I’ll admit, I first heard about Sprinkles Cupcakes from watching The Girls Next Door. It’s one of my guilty TV pleasures. Bridgette Marquette, Hef’s old girlfriend, is a huge fan of Sprinkles and has shown them in several episodes. Each time I thought they looked fabulous, so I visited their website to see if they did mail order. Sadly they don’t mail order cupcakes and the closest shop to me is in LA. Several hours way by plane.
Sprinkles Cupcake Mixes
They do sell their cupcake mix by mail, but at $14 a can for 12 cupcakes it seemed pricey. Compared to a grocery store boxed cake mix, it just seemed too much, and I wasn’t willing to part with that much cash unless I knew they were really worth it. I’d just tried Martha Stewart’s cupcake mix a few weeks before and it was also pricey but was available locally. Unfortunately, I didn’t think they were worth the extra cash.
These mixes are available at Williams and Sonoma
I thought I’d have to wait until my next trip south to try a Sprinkles Cupcake, which with the economy the way it is could be awhile, but I got lucky and won three cans of cupcake mix from Mom Fuse! Now if you follow me on Twitter, you know I’m a bit of a cupcake fanatic, so winning three cans of cupcake mix was fabulous!
I made the Red Velvet tonight – it was the first Red Velvet cupcake I’ve ever made or eaten. Can I just, yum! I even messed up the recipe and they were still outstanding! I did have an issue with the massive amounts of red food coloring – my kitchen looked like a crime scene when I was done and my 1970’s white Formica counter top is now pink in places, but it was totally worth it. I don’t know if I’d make them again though, just because of the food coloring.
The cream cheese frosting recipe that accompanies the mix is amazing. Both the mix and the frosting take simple ingredients; I had everything on hand. Eggs, milk, vinegar, vanilla, powdered sugar, cream cheese, and lots and lots of butter! Mine may not look as good as the store version, but I’m sure they tasted as good. The top had a bit of crispiness to it that I really enjoyed and the cake was light but dense at the same time. Hard to describe. I dropped one while hot and it deflated like a souffle would.
I’ll be making the other two cans soon as well as trying out the recipe for their strawberry cupcakes shown on the video below. The fact that everything is fresh, including the strawberries, and no artificial flavors is a plus for me.
If you make so Sprinkles cupcakes, let me know how you liked them!
- CAME
- ⅔ c whole strawberries, fresh or frozen (thawed)
- 1½ c ap flour, sifted
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¼
tsp salt - ¼ c milk, room temperature (preferably whole milk)
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- ½ c unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 c granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 2 large egg whites, room temperature
- STRAWBERRY FROSTING INGREDIENTS
- ½ cup whole fresh or frozen strawberries (thawed)
- 1 c unsalted butter, chilled slightly (firm)
- Pinch of salt
- 3½ c confectioners' sugar, sifted
- ½
tsp pure vanilla extract
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Line a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners; set aside.
- Place strawberries in a small food processor or blender and process until pureed until you have ⅓ cup of puree (save any extra for frosting); set aside
- In a medium bowl, whisk together dry ingredients - flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside.
- In a small bowl, mix together wet ingredients - milk, vanilla, and strawberry puree; set aside.
- In an electric mixer bowl, cream the butter with the paddle attachment on medium-high speed until it's light and fluffy.
- Gradually add granulated sugar and continue to on medium-high speed until well combined.
- Reduce speed to medium and add egg and egg whites slowly and mix just until blended.
- Switch mixer to low (or switch to hand mixing) and gently mix in half of the dry ingredients. Add the wet ingredients and mix just until blended.
- Add the remaining flour slowly,
scrape down the sides, and only mix until incorporated (mixing too vigorously or too long once the dry ingredients are added can ruin the texture of the cake. - Divide the batter between the 12 prepared muffin cups.
- Bake 22-25 minutes or until the tops are dry to the touch (a toothpick and finger poke test won't work for these).
- Cool 2-minutes in the cupcake tin and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- STRAWBERRY FROSTING:
- Place strawberries in the bowl of a small food processor or blender; process until pureed.
- In an electric mixer bowl, beat the butter and salt on medium speed with the paddle attachment until fluffy.
- Reduce the speed and add the confectioners' sugar slowly; beating until well combined.
- Add the vanilla and 3
Tbls strawberry puree; mix until just blended. - Be careful not to overmix the frosting or it will incorporate too much air. Your frosting should be dense and creamy, like ice cream
- Store in an airtight container in a cool location.
- 10 oz good quality bittersweet chocolate, chopped
- 1 lb unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 lb plus 8 oz confectioners sugar
- ⅛ tsp salt
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- ½ c sour cream
- Melt the chocolate over a double boiler. Allow to cool until just slightly warm.
- In a mixing bowl, on medium-high speed, beat butter until light and fluffy.
- Turn the mixer to low and add the powdered sugar gradually.
- Add the salt, vanilla and sour cream and mix until smooth.
- By hand, fold in the slightly warm chocolate and mix until just incorporated (scraping the sides). Don't overmix, the frosting should be rich and dense like icecream.
- 6 oz butter (chilled slightly)
- pinch of salt
- 2½ c. confectioner's sugar, sifted
- ¼ tsp pure vanilla extract
- 3 oz good quality bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled
- In a mixing bowl on medium-high speed, beat butter and salt until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes).
- Reduce the speed to low and gradually add the sugar, mixing until incorporated (stopping the mixer to scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally).
- By hand, fold in the vanilla and slightly warm chocolate and mix until combined. It should be rich and dense like ice cream. Be careful not to overmix and make it too light (it will collapse).
- Store in a cool location in an airtight container
- 8 oz cream cheese,j ust slightly softened (not room temperature)
- 4 oz unsalted butter (chilled)
- ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
- ⅛ tsp salt
- 3-3/4 c confectioner's sugar, sifted
- In a mixing bowl on medium-high speed, cream the butter, cream cheese, vanilla, and salt until light and fluffy (scrape sides)
- Slowly add the sugar and mix just until incorporated. Be careful not to over mix and incorporate too much air or the frosting's consistency will be wrong. It should be thick and creamy like ice cream.
- 1 c butter, chilled
- ⅛ tsp salt
- 3½ c confectioners' sugar
- 1 tsp milk
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- In a mixing bowl on medium-high speed, cream the butter until light and fluffy.
- Turn the mixer to low and gradually add the sugar just until incorporated (don't overmix)
- Add the milk and vanilla and continue to mix for an additional 3 to 5 minutes or until it is the consistency of ice cream (creamy and rich)
- 2 c sifted cake flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- ⅔ c milk (whole milk preferably)
- ¾ tsp pure vanilla extract
- ¾ tsp coconut extract
- ¾ c unsalted butter
- 1-1/3 c granulated sugar
- 2 large egg whites, plus 1 whole large egg
- Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting
- Makes about 2½ cups
- 8 oz cream cheese (chilled)
- ¼ c butter (chilled)
- ⅛ tsp salt
- 3-3/4 c sifted powdered sugar
- ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
- ½ tsp coconut extract
- ½ c sweetened coconut shavings
- All cupcake ingredients should be at room temperature.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
- Prepare two standard muffin pans with cupcake liners.
- In a large bowl, whisk the dry ingredients by hand: flour, baking powder and salt; set aside
- In a small bowl, combine the wet ingredients: milk and extracts; set aside.
- In an electric mixer bowl on medium-high, cream the butter until light and fluffy.
- Reduce the speed to low and slowly add the sugar.
- Increase the speed to medium-high and gradually add the egg whites and the egg and mix until they are combined.
- By hand or on low, mix in half of the flour mixture and mix just until it is combined (scrape down the sides).
- Add the wet ingredients slowly and mix until incorporated.
- Add the remaining dry mixture and mix carefully until just combined.
- Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans (fill wrappers about two-thirds full)
- Bake about 20 to 25 minutes, or until the top fo the cupcake is dry to the touch and the cake springs back when pressed lightly.
- Allow to cool 2 minutes in the pan and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting
- In the bowl of an electric mixer on low, mix the cream cheese, butter and salt until combined and fluffy.
- Slowly add the powdered sugar and scrape down sides.
- Add the extracts and mix just until incorporated. The consistency should be creamy and dense like ice cream.
- Frost each cooled cupcake with about 2 tbls of frosting and immediately top with 1 tsp of sweetened coconut shavings.
