Piñata Cupcakes with rainbow coloured vanilla buttercream icing are the ultimate party treat. Made from a simple vanilla cupcake recipe with the centres stuffed with surprise sprinkles - the kids are going to love them!
For this Piñata Cupcake recipe, you will need: plain flour, caster sugar, baking powder, salt, unsalted butter, whole milk, eggs, vanilla extract, icing sugar, gel food colouring and sprinkles.
Summer holidays are here at last.
For us, that means just over 8 weeks of summer fun. And although I relish the idea of not having to set an alarm clock (as if I need one!) have no school runs or emergency mad dashes home to fetch forgotten swimming kit, PE kit, art projects...you get the gist - it is a long amount of time to fill.
This morning I stood in front of my notice board, dry marker in one hand and a strong coffee in the other to micromanage my youngest daughter. I successfully booked in various dance and gymnastics boot camps, MAD Science club and as many playdates as I could bear.
I have set days where I have to work, hence all the clubs but I've also set aside loads of time for us to hang out at home doing the things we love.
Holiday clubs are a Godsend but fun activities in the kitchen for families - like ours and yours - are the best times.
A recent survey conducted by Belling shows that the kitchen really is the heart of the home and I couldn't agree more.
BELLING SUMMER HOLIDAY CLUB
This summer we've teamed up with Belling and devised a really fun recipe for you to try at home. Think of it as your very own Summer Holiday Club in your kitchen.
Inside every great home is a Belling oven and Belling really celebrates the joys of cooking making family life so much easier.
Belling have been helping families create tasty and nutritious meals since 1912. That's more than a century of trusted home cooking.
And Belling ovens are also great for baking treats too, I wonder how many cupcakes have been produced in Belling ovens over the last hundred years. I'm guessing it's a lot!
I wanted to come up with a fun and happy recipe that will make you and your children smile and piñata cupcakes with rainbow icing were the obvious choice.
WHAT MAKES THESE PIÑATA CUPCAKES SO GREAT?
- Bright and colourful
- Buttery soft melt in the mouth cupcakes
- Simple vanilla flavour that everyone enjoys
- Super easy to make
- Sprinkle surprise in the centre
- Beautiful rainbow icing
How many of you have bought a cardboard Piñata and filled it with sweets for a kid's party? The look of delight on their faces as they take turns thrashing and bashing it until all the sweets tumble out is a picture, am I right?
Imagine how thrilled your kids will be to make their own individual Piñata cupcakes!
This is such a kid-friendly activity and I promise you'll love it as much as the children do.
For the Piñata cupcakes, I have used my go-to basic vanilla cupcake recipe. The cupcakes are soft, light and deliciously springy.
I cored the centres of the cupcakes and poured in oodles of sprinkles to make the piñata effect. I went with a standard vanilla buttercream icing which I've tinted different shades to get the rainbow effect. It's really easy and I'll show you how to easily make swirls of rainbow icing.
AN OVEN TO BAKE THE PERFECT CUPCAKES
Belling understands what busy families want and need from their kitchen appliances and a Belling oven will help you produce beautiful baked goods, just like these piñata cupcakes.
As you know, I do a lot of cooking and baking so I need an oven that produces amazing results. My preference is a gas hob with an electric oven. I find cooking on a gas hob is easy to control whereas having an electric convection (fan) oven to bake cupcakes in is ideal.
Belling's dedication to quality, choice, reliability and service remains constant. Whether that means having the oven space to cook a roast dinner and dessert simultaneously, baking perfect cupcakes or the functions of base heating pizzas and grilling cauliflower cheese, there's a Belling oven to suit your needs.
PIÑATA CUPCAKE BATTER
You can make these cupcakes by hand but I use a stand mixer for speed and convenience.
The trick to getting light cupcakes is not to overmix the batter so if you do use an electric or stand mixer don't go crazy with the mixing!
Another point worth mentioning is the batter for these cupcakes is supposed to be runny. Don't be tempted to add more flour to thicken up the mixture and don't overbake them.
We'll go over each step below so you know exactly what you're looking for.
HOW TO MAKE PIÑATA CUPCAKES WITH SURPRISE SPRINKLES.
Once your cupcakes are baked and completely cool it's really easy to fill the centres with sprinkles.
I use an icing tip to core the centre of the cupcakes but you could easily carve a section from the middle using a knife or apple corer. When baking with children let this be the grown up's job and then allow them to go wild when it's time to fill the cupcakes with sprinkles.
Simply carve out the middle of the cupcake to make a hole then fill the space with as many sprinkles as you like.
HOW TO MAKE RAINBOW BUTTERCREAM ICING
I know you're probably thinking that colouring icing like this is some sort of fancy icing technique but there's really nothing to it.
First, make a batch of vanilla buttercream then divide the buttercream into 5 (or however many colours you want) bowls.
Colour the buttercream with just a smidge of gel food colouring and give them a really good stir. Children love this part and really enjoy watching the icing change from white to rainbow colours.
Once you've coloured all the icing you'll need to transfer each colour to its own piping bag but don't worry about fitting them with icing tips. We're going to be piping a line of each colour icing into one piping bag.
Take a clean empty piping bag fitted with an icing tip. I used a Wilton 1M.
Pipe lines of coloured icing along the length of the piping bag, alternating colours until you run out of space.
Now you can go ahead and pipe swirls on top of the piñata cupcakes and you will get the rainbow icing effect.
No two cupcakes will look the same but that's all part of the fun and charm.
Decorate the piñata cupcakes with more sprinkles and that's all there is to it.
Enjoy the look on people's faces as they bite into the cupcakes and the surprise piñata sprinkles come tumbling out!
MORE CUPCAKE RECIPES
I hope you and your little ones enjoy making these Piñata Cupcakes with Rainbow Icing as much as we did.
Have a wonderful summer filled with baking fun!
To catch more Summer Holiday Club content, including recipes and activities to do with the kids over the summer holidays, visit https://www.belling.co.uk/
If you enjoyed this recipe I would really appreciate it if you’d leave me a 5-star rating below and leave a comment.
*This recipe was sponsored by Belling. Thank you for supporting the brands that help make this blog possible.
Piñata Cupcakes with Rainbow Icing
Vanilla piñata cupcakes filled with sprinkles and topped with rainbow coloured icing - the kids will love these!
Ingredients
- 290 g plain flour, 1 ¾ cups
- 330 g caster sugar, 1 ½ cups
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 0.5 tsp salt
- 110 g unsalted butter, at room temperature, 1 stick or ½ cup
- 240 ml whole milk
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 18 tsp sprinkles
For the Rainbow Buttercream
- 600 g icing sugar
- 225 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 60 ml whole milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- gel food colouring in various colours
- sprinkles to decorate
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 175ºC/ 160ºC Fan/ Gas 4
- Add the flour, caster sugar, baking powder, salt and butter to a large mixing bowl and beat slowly for a few minutes until the consistency turns to sand.
- Pour in half the milk and mix briefly.
- In a separate bowl whisk the eggs, vanilla extract and remaining milk. Pour the milky mixture into the flour mixture and beat for a couple of minutes until just mixed. Scrape down the bowl a couple of times during this process. Remember not to overmix.
- Divide the batter between 18 cupcake cases filling them half full.
- Bake for 18 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. The cupcakes will be browned and should spring back when touched in the centre with your finger. Leave the cupcakes to completely cool.
- Once cool, core the centres of the cupcakes and fill them up with sprinkles.
To make the Rainbow Buttercream Icing
- Add the butter to a stand mixer and beat for 3-4 minutes until creamy. This can be done with an electric handheld mixer or by hand but it will take longer.
- Add the icing sugar to the butter a few tablespoons at a time until fully incorporated.
- On low speed, add the milk and vanilla extract then turn the speed up to high and beat for several minutes until the buttercream is light and fluffy.
- Divide the buttercream icing between 5 bowls and colour each bowl with a smidge of gel food colouring.
- Transfer the icing into disposable piping bags (without tips).
- Fit your main piping bag with a piping tip and pipe lines of each coloured icing into it until you run out of space.
- Pipe swirls of rainbow icing on top of the piñata cupcakes and decorate the tops of the cupcakes with a few more sprinkles.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 18 Serving Size: 1 gramsAmount Per Serving: Calories: 432Total Fat: 17gSaturated Fat: 10gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 62mgSodium: 77mgCarbohydrates: 70gFiber: 1gSugar: 56gProtein: 3g
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