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.
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. The layering also provides a great alternative for vertical fillings 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 you take a bite into the cupcakes, and then you will feel the difference with the sprinkles buttercream that is 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 are 2 types of sprinkles in these cupcakes. The first ones are the slightly long ones (made out of chocolate) which I mix into the buttercream to fill the cupcake layers. The second type is called nonpareils. These are tiny round sugar balls in a myriad of colors. These are for decoration on top of the cupcakes after the buttercream swirls. Both types of sprinkles were store-bought.
Table of contents
How to Make
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- Castor sugar
- Butter
- Eggs
- Self-raising flour + baking powder + salt
- Vanilla essence
- Milk
Frosting & Filling
- Buttercream
- Sprinkles
Mixing the 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 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
- Once the cupcakes are baked and have completely cooled down, peel of the casings. To do this, start pulling the casings from the sides.
- And then, carefully layer each cupcake into 3, horizontally.
- Starting from the bottom layer, spread some buttercream onto each layer. Each cupcake would have 2 layers of buttercream filling.
- When the filling is complete, re-stack the cupcakes like this:
- Transfer the layered cupcakes into new cupcake casings. It may not be very easy to transfer the 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.
- Once the cupcakes are all in their new casings, cover the top of each cupcake with buttercream swirls. Fill the frosting into a piping bag fitted with star piping tip 2D
. Pipe simple swirls on the cupcakes.
. Pipe simple swirls on the cupcakes. 
- And finally, add a touch of the lively bright-colored sprinkles (nonpareils) on top of the 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.
- And that's pretty much how you make layered cupcakes.
Notes
How much batter to fill each casing?
- When filling the cupcakes casings, make sure not to fill until the top. Suffice if you fill each casing 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 cupcakes paper casings instead of muffin casings?
- The reason I used muffin cups for my cupcakes is because these are stiffer. And they are able to hold the cupcake layers and not show any signs of layering.
- 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 omit the sprinkles in the buttercream?
- Yes you can. Simply leave them out from the recipe.
- You can also increase the sprinkles in you wish.
How to store?
- 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.
Like this cupcake idea? 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
- Cupcakes for Christmas - An Easy Decorating Idea
- Mini Funfetti Cupcakes
- Almond Chocolate Marshmallow Cupcakes
- Vanilla Cupcakes from Scratch
- Pinata Cupcakes - Cupcakes with Sprinkles Inside
- Chocolate Cupcakes from Scratch
Recipe (Printable)
Here is the full printable version of my layered cupcakes recipe.
Layered Cupcakes with Sprinkles
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
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
And that's my layered cupcakes recipe for you.
Happy Decorating 🙂
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