Birthday Cupcakes with Sprinkles. The cupcakes have sprinkles in the batter. Frosted with Italian Meringue Buttercream. Topped with a Sprinkles Cookie White Chocolate Truffle. And of course, more sprinkles!
200gramsegg whites at room temperature5 egg whites, 7 oz
1/4teaspoonfine sea salt
453gramsunsalted butter2 cups, 16 oz
200gramsgranulated sugar sugar1 cup, 7 oz. divided
56gramswater1/4 cup, 2 oz
3teaspoonsvanilla extract
Instructions
Sprinkles Cupcakes
Pre-heat oven to 350F.
Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. Set aside.
Whisk eggs with a wire whisk for about 1 minute. They will become frothy and lightened in color. Add oil and whisk until combined.
Add sugar and whisk for about 1 minute. You can use a mixer to do this, or simply a whisk. I usually go with just a whisk.
Add vanilla extract.
Add half of the flour, whisk briefly until just combined.
Now, add half of the buttermilk, and whisk until incorporated.
Add the other half of the dry ingredients and whisk gently.
Finally, add rest of the buttermilk. Make sure to just whisk the mixture until combined.
Don’t overmix it!
Add sprinkles to the batter and gently fold just until combined.
Pour batter evenly into a cupcake pan lined with cupcake liners, or buttered and floured.
Bake for 10-12 minutes, checking in between to rotate pans.
Remove from the oven once cupcakes are lightly golden brown and puffed, and spring back when you touch them.
Italian meringue buttercream
Place egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer.
Mix water and 3/4 cup sugar in a small saucepan. Bring it to a boil over medium heat, stirring until sugar melts.
Once sugar melts and syrup starts to boil, stop stirring and insert a candy thermometer in the pan.
When that happens, start whipping egg whites on medium speed. When whites reach soft peaks, add 1/4 cup sugar and salt to it. Keep whipping on medium-high until it reaches stiff peaks, about 3 minutes. Meanwhile, keep an eye on your syrup that is still cooking.
Allow syrup to cook until it reaches softball stage (235-240F)
Once syrup reaches softball stage, remove from heat and slowly pour into stiff egg whites, with mixer running on medium-low.
Once all syrup has been poured into whites, turn speed up to high and keep whipping for several minutes until bowl isn’t so hot to the touch anymore.
This may take as long as 10-15 minutes sometimes.
Slowly start to add butter pieces with mixer running.
Add vanilla extract.
The meringue will slowly cream up and firm up.
A little trick is to place soft butter in the fridge right before you start making the meringue, this way butter will be a bit colder but not too cold, which will help tremendously to achieve the perfect meringue consistency.
Another little trick, if your buttercream is soupy and doesn’t seem to be firming up, place the bowl in the freezer for about 5-8 minutes. Remove from freezer and start whipping again. This will probably happen when you don't wait for the meringue to cool down enough before starting to add the butter
STORAGE: You can store the Italian Meringue Buttercream for up to 1 day at room temperature. It will keep great in the fridge for up to 5 days. Or, you may store any leftovers in the freezer for up to 2 months. If you kept your buttercream in the freezer, or fridge, let it come to room temperature and whip it with a mixer to restore the fluffiness before using it again.
To assemble
Frost Sprinkles Cupcakes with Italian Meringue Buttercream. Top with a Sprinkles Truffle.
Recipe for the Sprinkles Truffles can be found here.