Inside: A super simple box cake mix upgrade, these easy funfetti vanilla cupcakes will make birthdays, parties or any other special day sweeter, with a lot less effort.
The cool weather birthday train has started in our house. We have six out of seven birthdays in three months, with four of those birthdays happening around the holidays.
I already have deeply mixed feelings about Christmas. So by the time I get through the holidays and to my youngest’s birthday towards the end of January, I’m having to shove my deeply weary “happy freaking birthday” vibes down deep.
We still keep birthdays super simple in our house, and I don’t regret it.
Our kids get their favorite foods, cake/treat of choice, and a gift or gifts totally around $50, give or take. For the extroverts, they can invite people over for cakes and simple snacks if they like.
Seeing what people spend on birthdays today, I’m seriously considering adding “keep birthdays simple” to my list of ways to save money so you can homeschool on a middle class income, but I digress.
While I lean more and more towards store bought birthday treats (hello, Costco cakes), I always offer cupcakes as a potential birthday cake option, especially as a supplement to other cakes if we’re inviting people to a birthday hang-out.
But am I making from scratch homemade cupcakes? Um, yeah, no. And so I give you these “box cake upgrade” easy funfetti vanilla cupcakes.
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Easy Funfetti Vanilla Cupcakes
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For some reason, cupcakes feel a million times easier to me than cake. In fact, I haven’t used our two round cake pans in years.
…Every time I think about decluttering those pans, I hesitate because knowing our house, the second I get rid of them, a kid will suddenly decide to take up cake baking/decorating as a hobby. So for now, they stay put shoved to the back of the cabinet over the refrigerator.
While a basic box cake mix from the store made following the directions to a tee is perfectly fine, we can do better.
For years, my kids have enjoyed THIS red velvet cupcake recipe from Nesting with Grace. So I decided it was time to swap out and rearrange ingredients for a vanilla funfetti alternative, and I’m glad I did! These are delicious.
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It’s seriously the easiest recipe ever – just the way I like it (I can count on one hand the complicated recipes that are worth the effort, THESE pumpkin cream cheese muffins being one of them). Dump everything in, mix just until dry ingredients are blended and bake.
A couple of possibly helpful notes…
1. If using store bought frosting, beat it in a bowl for 1-2 minutes before using.
I skipped this step, and I regretted it.
If you go the store bought route, make sure to beat it before “piping”. Honestly, the fanciest I get with piping is to scoop the frosting into a ziploc bag, snip off the corner and go to town.
Next time, I want to try it with THIS whipped cream frosting because buttercream and storebought buttercreams feel way too rich.
2. Distribute batter in smaller amounts to get 24 cupcakes. You can always go back around and add more.
On this time around, I used too much batter per cupcake and only got 22 cupcakes.
Definitely start with smaller amounts of batter per cupcake – less than 1/8 of a cup (I used half of a 1/4 cup, but probably 1/3 of a 1/4 cup would be better).
Related: Unpopular Opinion – Birthdays for Kids Should Be Simple
Easy Funfetti Vanilla Cupcakes
Equipment
- 1 Large Mixing Bowl
- 1 Set of Measuring Cups
- 2 12 Count Muffin Tins
- 24 Muffin Wrappers (Optional) If not using, grease muffin tins with Pam.
Ingredients
- 1 box Vanilla Cake Mix
- 1 small box (3.9 oz) Instant Vanilla Pudding
- 1 cup Sour Cream
- 1/2 cup Milk
- 1/2 cup Vegetable Oil
- 4 large Eggs
- 1 cup Sour Cream
- 1 cup Rainbow Sprinkles
- 1 Container Vanilla Frosting (or Homemade)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tins with cupcake wrappers if using. If not, spray generously with cooking spray. Dump all ingredients into a mixing bowl. Mix just until dry ingredients are combined. Do not overmix.
- Fill each cupcake with about 1/3 of a 1/4 measuring cup, a few tablespoons per cupcake.
- Bake 15-18 minutes. Cool before frosting.
- If using store bought frosting, scrape into mixing bowl and beat on medium high for 1-2 minutes before piping onto cupcakes.
