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    Home » Designs & Tutorials » Cupcakes

    Layered Cupcakes with Sprinkles

    Published: Sep 6, 2020 · Modified: Jun 30, 2022 by Priya Maha

    Jump to Recipe
    A cupcake with its casing peeled off, and topped with buttercream and sprinkles

    These layered cupcakes are literally cupcakes that are layered horizontally and filled with buttercream and sprinkles. Each cupcake is individually sliced into 3 layers and filled with sprinkles mixed buttercream. 

    A cupcake with its casing peeled off, and topped with buttercream and sprinkles

    Layered cupcakes with sprinkles

    The cupcakes may be a little time consuming to assemble but the end result is definitely worth it. They leave people wondering how the cupcakes were layered in the first place and the layering also provides a great alternative for filling cupcakes that are otherwise filled in the centers vertically rather than horizontal layers.

    From the outside, the cupcakes look like any other typical cupcakes, with buttercream swirls on top and a touch of colorful sprinkles. But wait until a bite goes into the cupcakes, and then the difference can be felt with the sprinkles filled buttercream that is spread in layers in the cupcake!

    I used my butter pound cake recipe for the cupcakes. And they were baked in paper muffin cups. The filling and frosting is my buttercream recipe in soft consistency. The consistency was soft enough for the piped swirls on the cupcakes to fall into soft pleats on top of each layer.

    There were 2 types of sprinkles used in these cupcakes. The first ones are the slightly long ones (made out of chocolate) which I used to mix into the buttercream to fill the cupcake layers. The second type is called nonpareils. These are tiny round sugar balls coated in a myriad of colors. These were used as decoration on top of the cupcakes after the buttercream swirls. Both types of sprinkles were store-bought.


    How to Make Sprinkles Layered Cupcakes

    Ingredients

    Cupcakes

    • Castor sugar
    • Butter
    • Eggs
    • Self-raising flour + baking powder + salt
    • Vanilla essence
    • Milk

    Frosting & Filling

    • Buttercream
    • Sprinkles

    Mixing the cupcakes batter

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

    • Start by measuring the sugar into a medium-sized bowl.
    • Add butter and cream both until light and fluffy. This should take about 2 minutes on medium-high speed. Scrape the sides of the bowl to make sure there is no butter left on the sides of the bowl.
    • Next, add the eggs. Do this one at a time. And each time, beat until the traces of the egg are no longer visible.
    • Sift in the flour, baking powder, and salt in three batches into the creamed mixture. Alternate these dry ingredients with milk.
    • Finally, fold in the vanilla essence.
    • Scoop the cupcake batter into prepared muffin casings.
    • Bake the cupcakes at 170 degrees Celsius for 15 to 20 minutes until done.
    • Remove cupcakes from the oven and let them cool completely before frosting.

    Making the buttercream

    • Cream butter until light and fluffy.
    • Sift in icing sugar and continue beating until the mixture turns creamy. Add some milk if the consistency is too stiff.
    • Stir in the sprinkles until they are well combined.

    Layering and frosting the cupcakes

    • Once the cupcakes are baked and have completely cooled down, peel of the casings. To do this, start pulling the casings from the sides.
    A cupcake with its casing peeled off
    • And then, carefully layer each cupcake into 3, horizontally.
    A cupcake layered into 3
    • Starting from the bottom layer, spread some buttercream onto each layer. Each cupcake would have 2 layers of buttercream filling.
    Buttercream with sprinkles in a plate
    A layer of cupcake with buttercream on top
    • When the filling is done, this was how the re-stacked layered cupcake would look like. 
    A 3 layered cupcake with buttercream filling
    • Transfer the layered cupcakes into new cupcake casings. It may not be very easy to transfer the layered cupcakes back into casings because of the layers of buttercream.
    • An easier way to do this would be to turn the cupcakes upside down and then cover them with the cupcake casings. Then, hold the casing (with the cupcake inside in an upside-down position) and quickly turn it over.
    An empty white muffin casing
    A plain cupcake in a white muffin casing
    • Once the cupcakes are all in their new casings, cover the top of each layered cupcake with buttercream swirls. Fill the buttercream into a piping bag fitted with star piping tip 2D. Pipe simple buttercream swirls on the cupcakes.
    A cupcake topped with buttercream swirl in white

    Layered cupcakes with buttercream frosting

    • And finally, add a touch of the lively bright-colored sprinkles (nonpareils) on top of the buttercream swirls. I used these sparsely, they look pretty that way on the buttercream swirls.
    • You can leave the sprinkles out if you wish, or replace them with any other kind of sprinkles.
    A cupcake in white casing, topped with buttercream and sprinkles

    Layered cupcakes with sprinkles

    • And that's pretty much how you make layered cupcakes.
    A layered cupcake, filled and topped with buttercream, cut into half

    Layered cupcakes with sprinkles


    Notes

    How much batter to fill each cupcake casing?

    • When filling the cupcakes casings, make sure not to fill 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 the cupcakes be baked in normal cupcakes paper casings?

    • The reason I used muffin cups for my cupcakes is because these are stiffer. And they are able to hold the layered cupcakes and not show any signs that the cupcakes are not baked in them.
    • Cupcake casings might not be able to do that. If you still need to use cupcake casings to bake your cupcakes, you have an option not to place the cupcakes into any casings after the layering.

    Can you layer each cupcake into 2 instead of 3?

    • Yes, you certainly can. In fact, the number of layers would depend on the height of your cupcakes. If they are not very high, layering them into 3 would not be a good option.

    Can you omit the sprinkles in the buttercream?

    • Yes you can. Simply leave them out from the buttercream recipe.
    • You can also increase the sprinkles in you wish.

    How to store the layered cupcakes

    • These cupcakes last for a good 4 to 5 days at room temperature. Keep them in an airtight container to ensure they remain moist.
    • 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.


    Layered Cupcakes With Sprinkles - Recipe

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

    A cupcake with its casing peeled off, and topped with buttercream and sprinkles

    Layered Cupcakes with Sprinkles

    These sprinkles layered cupcakes are literally cupcakes layered with yummy sprinkles-filled buttercream. Read on to learn how to make these pretty treats!
    5 from 1 vote
    Print Pin Rate
    Course: Dessert
    Cuisine: American
    Keyword: Layered 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
    Prevent your screen from going dark
    Metric - US Customary

    Ingredients

    Cupcakes

    • 100 g castor sugar
    • 100 g butter
    • 2 eggs
    • 100 g self-raising flour
    • ½ teaspoon vanilla essence
    • ¼ teaspoon baking powder
    • 4 tablespoon milk
    • a pinch salt

    Frosting & Filling

    • Buttercream
    • Sprinkles
    Metric - US Customary

    Instructions

    • Preheat oven to 170 °Celsius.
    • Beat butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
    • In a separate bowl, sift flour, salt and baking powder. Fold in the sifted ingredients into the creamed mixture alternately with milk, starting and ending with flour.
    • Fold in the vanilla essence and give the batter a good mix.
    • Pour batter into baking cups until they are about two thirds full.
    • Bake the cupcakes for 15 to 20 minutes (depending on the size of the casing you use) or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcakes comes out without any wet batter sticking to it.
    • Remove the cupcakes from oven and let them cool completely before decorating.
    • To decorate the cupcakes, peel them off their casings.
    • Layer each cupcake into 3.
    • Mix some sprinkles into buttercream and spread the buttercream onto the first layer of the cupcake. Top with the second layer of cupcake, spread more sprinkles buttercream onto the second layer and top with the final layer of the cupcake.
    • Lift the layered cupcake into a new cupcake casing.
    • Pipe simple buttercream swirls on each cupcake and top them with more sprinkles.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 163.4kcal | Carbohydrates: 17.7g | Protein: 2.6g | Fat: 9.3g | Saturated Fat: 5.5g | Trans Fat: 0.3g | Cholesterol: 54.8mg | Sodium: 97.4mg | Potassium: 33mg | Fiber: 0.2g | Sugar: 10.4g | Vitamin A: 307.3IU | Calcium: 21.6mg | Iron: 0.3mg
    Tried this recipe?Mention @decorated_treats or tag #decoratedtreats!

    And that's my layered cupcakes recipe for you.

    A cupcake with its casing peeled off, and topped with buttercream and sprinkles

    Layered cupcakes with sprinkles

    Here are my other posts you might want to check out:

    • Sprinkles Cupcakes Decorating Ideas
    • How to Color Sprinkles the Easy Way
    • How to Level and Layer Cakes - Easy Tips & Techniques

    Happy Decorating 🙂

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