Christmas Funfetti Pinata Cupcakes
These festive Christmas funfetti pinata cupcakes are such a fun and unique holiday treat recipe! The funfetti cake is DELICIOUS and stays moist for days!
If you’re looking for something fun & different to make for a Christmas party or gathering this season, these Christmas funfetti pinata cupcakes might just be the perfect recipe for you to try!
With a steady hand and a little bit of time, you can make these ADORABLE cupcakes and be the talk of the town when you show up with them to your Christmas festivity.
These fiesta-inspired cupcake toppers make for a really simple way to make a cupcake look even more detailed…with hardly any extra work. (The cupcake toppers are super easy to assemble – I’ll show you how towards the bottom of the post.)
The different toppers include:
- A Christmas tree
- A Christmas cactus
- A fiesta-inspired stocking
- A llama
- “Feliz Navidad”
- And a reindeer pinata
Be sure to check out the bottom of the post for the free printable + simple assembly instructions!
Why you’ll love this cupcake recipe:
- The funfetti recipe produces VERY flavorful & moist cupcakes, and they taste good for days!! The combo of the butter + oil gives it great flavor & keeps the cake moist vs. dry & crumbly.
- They’re fun to make. Put on some Christmas music or a Christmas movie in the background, and have fun!
- I mean, they’re just SUPER cute. These are unique & festive cupcakes that everyone will just absolutely love!
Ingredients for the funfetti cupcakes:
- 1 stick unsalted butter, softened (at room temp, or you can very slightly soften in the microwave for about 5-8 seconds)
- granulated sugar
- vanilla extract – For all of my baked goods, I always use Mexican vanilla from a local small grocery store, but you can use any good-quality vanilla extract.
- almond extract – For extra flavor, but if you need to accommodate a nut allergy, you can leave it out
- egg whites (from large eggs)
- sour cream – helps keep the cake moist
- all-purpose flour
- baking soda
- baking powder
- salt
- buttermilk (I always just make my own buttermilk for baking – whole milk + about a tsp of distilled vinegar; allow it to sit for about 5 minutes and it turns into buttermilk)
- vegetable or canola oil
- Christmas sprinkles – jimmies or large circles; don’t use the granulated sugar-like sprinkles. The larger sprinkles will give you that funfetti look you’re going for!
The combo of butter + oil for this cake gives it some great flavor and moisture. Cakes made with only butter can often (not always, but often) be a little dry, but then cakes with oil don’t have the advantage of that yummy, buttery taste. With this recipe, you’ll get both!
Ingredients for the buttercream frosting:
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
- 4 c powdered sugar
- 1/4 c heavy cream
- Dash of salt
- Gel food coloring
Tips for making the buttercream frosting:
- Cream the butter & sugar together for 2-3 minutes (don’t skimp on this step!) – this helps whip in air and give the frosting some lift
- Use gel food coloring (vs. liquid) if you’re able – it’ll produce a slightly richer color. Liquid food coloring can sometimes cause frosting to separate, too, so I always prefer to use gel.
To frost the cupcakes:
The process is pretty simple – I’ll show ya!
Create 4 colors
But make sure to leave some white leftover!
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Put colors into piping bags with Wilton tip #21
If you don’t have 5 of those piping tips, you can use couplers and just transfer the tip from one icing bag to the other. If you do have to do this, Just pipe one color for the middle of all the cupcakes, then pipe another for the 2nd circle, etc. Then you don’t have to go back and forth too much with transferring the tips.
You can use any kind of piping bags, but my cousin introduced these piping bags to me, and I like them better than the Wilton ones I had been using from Hobby Lobby for years.
Set out your cupcakes and get started!
Start piping circles
Just start with 3 dots in the middle of each cupcake.
Then use a different color for the 2nd circle.
And keep going until you’ve used 5 colors & reached the edge of the cupcake.
And then finish up the cupcakes. Look how cute!
To make the Christmas fiesta cupcake toppers:
- Click here to download the free cupcake topper printable
- Print on white cardstock. (For best results, tell your printer to print on “high” or “best” quality.)
- Cut out graphics, leaving a white border around each graphic.
- Hot glue a lollipop stick (or you can use toothpicks if you prefer) to the back.
Then just insert into your cupcakes and you’re good to go!
Store your cupcakes in an airtight container for about 4 days at room temp, or for up to 7 days in the fridge. These cupcakes still taste GREAT days after you make them!! (I just ate one to test it out; I made this batch I photographed about 4 days ago, and WOW, they’re still fantastic! 😜)
Have so much fun making & sharing these Christmas fiesta cupcakes! Everyone is going to LOVE them!
Christmas Funfetti Pinata Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 1 stick unsalted butter softened (room temp)
- 1 1/2 c granulated sugar
- 3 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp almond extract*
- 3 egg whites from large eggs
- 1/2 c sour cream
- 2 c all-purpose flour see note
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 c buttermilk**
- 1/2 c vegetable or canola oil
- 1/3 c Christmas sprinkles jimmies or circles - don't use the granulated sugar-like sprinkles
For the buttercream frosting
- 2 sticks unsalted butter room temperature
- 4 c powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 c heavy cream***
- Dash of salt
- Gel food coloring
Instructions
To make the cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350.
- Using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, cream together softened butter (room temp) + granulated sugar for 2 minutes on medium speed.
- Add in extracts + egg whites and continue to mix for about 30 seconds or until everything is incorporated. Mix in sour cream & scrape the sides of the bowl.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
- Gradually mix in the dry ingredients with the wet, mixing on low & scraping the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Slowly pour in buttermilk & oil and mix together on low just until everything is fully incorporated.
- Turn off mixer and use spatula to scrape sides of the bowl and ensure that the batter is evenly mixed.
- Stir in sprinkles.
- Pour batter into 12 cupcake liners in a cupcake pan. Fill the liners up about 2/3-3/4 of the way to the top.
- Place pan in oven for 18 minutes, check with a toothpick, and if it doesn't come out clean, put in the oven for another couple of minutes.
- Allow cupcakes to cool for 5-10 minutes in a pan before transferring them to a cooling rack. Allow pan to completely cool and then add more cupcake liners and repeat process with remaining batter. (This recipe makes about 18-20 cupcakes.)
To make the buttercream frosting:
- Using a hand or a stand mixer (with paddle attachment), cream softened butter for 2-3 minutes on medium speed.
- Pour in vanilla extract & salt, and then gradually add in powdered sugar with the mixer on low.
- Once the sugar is fully incorporated into the butter, cream the two together on medium speed for a minute or so.
- Pour in heavy cream (on low speed) and continue to mix (on medium speed) until frosting is light and fluffy - about another minute.
- Separate icing out into 4 small bowls (leaving some white leftover in the large bowl) and use gel food coloring to tint your icings - I made 2 shades of green and 2 shades of pink/red.
- Transfer to piping bags with Wilton star tip #21 (see notes).
- Once cupcakes are completely cool, start piping pinata look by piping 3 small stars in the center of the cupcake. Then use another color to pipe around those, and keep going until you have 5 circles on your cupcake with 5 different colors. (See photos in post for details)
- Store cupcakes in an airtight container for up to 4 days at room temp or in the fridge for a week. This recipe stays really moist for a while!