Name: Pinata Cupcakes
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 80 min
Ingredients: 100 g castor sugar; 100 g butter; 2 eggs; 100 g self-raising flour; ½ tsp vanilla extract; ¼ tsp baking powder; 4 tbsp milk; a pinch salt; Buttercream; Sprinkles

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Pinata cupcakes are much fun cupcakes to make. With a simple vanilla cupcakes base, these sprinkles inside cupcakes are cored in the center and filled with yummy sprinkles. The cupcake tops are then covered with frosting and decorated with more sprinkles to make delicious and fun cupcakes.

The sprinkles I have used on these pinata cupcakes are in 2 shades of blue plus some gold ones. This is a custom-created mix of sprinkles and I colored the blue ones on my own (I purchased the white ones and colored them in 2 different shades of blue. Click here to read how I colored them). The gold ones are store-bought. I mixed all three colors together for this combination of the blue-gold colors.

Cupcake cut into 2, showing showing blue sprinkles filling. — ***Piñata cupcakes*** **- Perfect cupcakes with a little fun surprise**

A note of caution with gold and silver dragees - most of these are often very hard to bite and can sometimes hurt your teeth, so choose your sprinkles wisely!

How to Make
Notes
Like this easy recipe? Here are my other posts you might want to check out
Recipe (Printable)

How to Make

Ingredients

The cupcakes are made using my butter pound cake recipe, baked in muffin casings. The ingredients are :

Butter
Granulated sugar (caster sugar)
Self-raising flour + baking powder + salt
Eggs
Milk
Vanilla Extract

The topping and filling on the other hand consists of:

Buttercream
Sprinkles – I used a combination of dark blue, light blue and gold for these cupcakes. I colored the blue ones myself, out of white (click here to learn how I colored my sprinkles). The gold ones are store-bought. I mixed all the colors together in a small bowl. The gold ones are in a lesser quantity while the blues were of equal quantity. I did not want the gold to overpower the blue color, hence I used them in a much lesser quantity.

You would also need the following tools to decorate these pinata cupcakes:

Wilton star piping tip 2D for the rosettes on top of each cupcake.
Disposable piping bags

Mixing the batter

These cupcakes are made using the creaming method, where the butter and sugar are creamed first before all the other ingredients are added in.

To start with, place the sugar in a large bowl.
Add butter and cream both until they turn light and fluffy on medium speed with an electric mixer. This should take a good 2 minutes of medium-high speed. Scrape the sides of the bowl to ensure the butter is all well creamed.
Next, add the eggs. Add them one at a time, and beat them well.
Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into the creamed mixture. Fold these dry ingredients in three batches. Alternate them with milk.
Finally, add vanilla and mix well.
Scoop the cupcake batter into prepared cupcake liners. Fill each casing until about two thirds full.
Bake the cupcakes at 170 degrees Celsius for 15 to 20 minutes.
Let the cupcakes cool completely before assembling and frosting.

Making the buttercream

Measure butter into a bowl. Cream well.
Sift in the powdered sugar and cream until the buttercream turns light and fluffy.
Add vanilla mix until well combined. If the icing is too sift, add some milk and beat well.

Assembling and decorating the cupcakes

Using a piping tip to press in the center of a cupcake.

Core the center of each cupcake. Use a corer if you have one, or simply use a butter knife or a paring knife to cut out a small hole in the center of the cupcake. You don't need a very sharp knife. If you need guide in cutting the holes, use the back of a large piping tip to mark the holes.

Once the marking is in place, remove the tip and cut out a hole using a jam knife right to the bottom (taking care not to rip the bottom of the cupcake casing with the jam knife – and this is also why I am using a jam knife instead of a kitchen knife).

A cored cupcake with buttercream filling.

Next, fill the hole with a bit of buttercream.
The idea is to just cover the bottom of the pinata cupcake, as such there is no need to pipe too much, suffice if it covers the hole at the bottom.

Next, fill the hole up with the sprinkles mix all the way to the top of the cupcake.

And then cover the hole (top of the sprinkle filling) with buttercream, along with the entire cupcake top. You can just cover the hole and not bother with the rest of the cupcake, but I prefer a flat surface to pipe my buttercream rosettes, so I covered the tops of the cupcakes with a flat layer of buttercream.

Next is the rosette swirls. Using Wilton tip #2D, pipe one large rosette swirl on each of the pinata cupcake.

White buttercream rosette top and blue sprinkles.

And for the finishing touch, decorate the top of your cupcake with the same sprinkles mix used to fill them. You don’t have to add too much or else the pretty rosette underneath will be covered. Suffice if they are sparsely dropped on the pinata cupcakes.

Notes

Why you should not fill the casings full with batter when baking?

When filling the cupcakes casings, make sure not to fill them with batter until the top. Suffice if each casing is filled about two-thirds full. The cupcakes rise well during baking, so it is important that you leave some room for the batter to rise and to avoid it from overflowing.

Can you use normal cupcake casings?

I used muffin cups to bake my cupcakes, but you can certainly use cupcake casings.
Do take note, however, that depending on the size of your cupcakes, you would need to adjust the baking time accordingly.

Choice of sprinkles

I used a combinate blue and gold sprinkles for this pinata cupcakes recipe.
You can use any other combination you like. You can use sprinkles in the theme color of your party (be it a birthday party or a baby shower party) or any other of your favorite sprinkles combination.
You can also choose to use small candies in making these pinata cupcakes. Simply add some mini M&M or even chocolate chips into the cored cupcake centers, either with a sprinkle mix or own their own.

Can you make these pinata cupcakes with other cupcakes recipe?

Yes, you can. You can use this idea on any of your favorite cupcake recipe to make your own pinata cupcakes.
Use your favorite vanilla cupcake recipe or even chocolate cupcakes recipe and pair them with your favorite vanilla frosting or even cream cheese frosting.

How to store the cupcakes?

These pinata cupcakes (without the filling and frosting) last for a good 4 to 5 days at room temperature. Keep them in an airtight container to ensure they remain moist. Assemble and decorate them right before serving to ensure the sprinkles do not bleed from contact with the frosting.
If you wish to keep the cupcakes longer, keep them refrigerated. Keep them covered to avoid them from becoming dry. Bring the cupcakes to room temperature before serving. The cupcakes are best eaten at room temperature.

Like this easy recipe? Here are my other posts you might want to check out

Recipe (Printable)

Here is the full printable version of my pinata cupcakes recipe.

Cupcake cut into half, with the center filled with blue and gold sprinkles

Pinata Cupcakes

Pretty blue pinata cupcakes with a lovely combination of blue and gold surprise sprinkles on the inside. A cool idea for baby shower cupcakes!

5 from 1 vote

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Pinata Cupcakes

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Decorating Time: 45 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Yield: 10 cupcakes

Author: Priya Maha

Metric - US Customary