Name: Funfetti Easter Cupcakes
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 40 min
Ingredients: 1 box Funfetti Cake Mix (15.25 oz); 1 box Vanilla Pudding Mix (3.4 oz box); 1/2 cup vanilla Greek yogurt; 1/2 cup milk; 3 eggs; 1/2 cup vegetable oil; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; 1 1/2 cups salted butter (softened); 4 cups powdered sugar; 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract; 1-2 Tablespoons milk; Easter sprinkles

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These semi-homemade Funfetti cupcakes are a delightful treat, perfect for Easter celebrations or any spring occasion. Made using a spring Funfetti cake mix as the base, they’re light, fluffy, and speckled with colorful bursts of confetti sprinkles and are topped off with homemade buttercream frosting.

While I love making a good homemade cupcake sometimes I like to use a cake mix to make a semi-homemade treat. Over the years I’ve found that if I use a cake mix for the cupcake but put homemade frosting on top of them people barely notice that the cake is from a box.

Now there are a few tips to doctoring up a cake mix to make it taste homemade. I rarely make my cupcake according to the directions on the box. I add in a few ingredients to make them taste homemade.

How to Doctor a boxed cake mix:

Substitute milk for the water. You will be doing a 1:1 substitution. Use regular milk or a plant based version.
Add an extra egg to the batter. Most box cake mixes use 3 eggs so add in a fourth egg.
Use melted butter in place of the oil.
Add in a box of pudding mix. Trust me on this, it will enhance the flavor. Choose a flavors that pairs well with your cake mix flavor.
Use vanilla yogurt or sour cream in place of half of the water in the recipe.
Add vanilla or almond extract to give the cake additional flavor.

In this recipe I used a box of Funfetti cake mix which is almost always a white cake or vanilla cake mix. I added in a box of vanilla pudding mix to enhance the vanilla flavor in the cake.

In place of the water I added half a cup of Greek vanilla yogurt and half a cup of milk. I did leave the eggs at three because I’ve found when I add a fourth egg the cupcakes can become too dense.

I left the oil in the cupcakes because I knew I was making a buttercream frosting so I was already using a ton of butter in this recipe. You can use one or two of the substitutions above or use them all!

Popular flavor combinations:

Chocolate cake mix: chocolate pudding, chocolate mint pudding, chocolate fudge pudding.
White cake mix: Lemon pudding, vanilla pudding, butterscotch pudding, french vanilla pudding, coconut cream pudding, pistachio pudding.
Funfetti Cake Mix: Vanilla pudding, butterscotch pudding, coconut cream pudding, or lemon pudding.
Yellow cake mix: vanilla pudding, coconut cream pudding, white chocolate pudding.
Strawberry Cake Mix: vanilla pudding, white chocolate pudding, cheesecake pudding.

I topped the cupcakes off with my classic buttercream frosting. Then I used some fun Easter sprinkles from Foliay. They are so cute and they have so many different holiday sprinkles.

Ingredients:

Funfetti Cake Mix (I used a spring funfetti mix but you can use the original)
Vanilla Pudding Mix (or choose a complimentary flavor from above)
Vanilla Greek Yogurt (you can also use plain Greek yogurt)
Whole Milk (you can also use plant based milk in this recipe)
eggs
Vegetable Oil
Vanilla Extract
Powdered Sugar
Salted Butter (or unsalted if you prefer)
Easter Sprinkles

To make the cupcakes preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 20 muffin cups with cupcake liners. While the box says it makes 24 cupcakes I’ve found the smaller cake mixes only make 20-22 cupcakes.

In a large bowl combine the cake mix and pudding mix. Add in the yogurt, milk, eggs, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract. Mix until smooth.

Using a 1/4 cup cookie scoop, scoop the cake batter into 20 muffin cups. Bake for 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack then decorate.

These cupcakes ended up looking so cute! I used bright and festive cupcake liners which worked well with the vanilla cupcakes studded with pastel Easter funfetti pieces.

The frosting was vanilla buttercream and I sprinkled a flavored sanding sugar over the top along with the festive Easter sprinkles. You could color the frosting too if you prefer a pastel color instead of plain white.

Can I use canned Frosting?

Can you? Yes. Should you? No. Please make homemade frosting if you are using a cake mix as your cupcake base. Not only does canned frosting have an after taste, it also is made with oil which can coat your teeth. Do yourself (and your loved ones) a favor and make this easy and delicious buttercream frosting for the top of the cupcakes.

I took these cupcakes to work and no one could tell that the cake base was a mix. Several people came to tell me just how good they were. I really think that the homemade frosting makes the cupcakes but doctoring them up also helps.

You can easily make these cupcakes for any occasion. Simply buy a box of Funfetti mix in original colors or holiday specific and then tint your frosting in the color you desire. Sprinkle with holiday sprinkles or colored sprinkles that match your event.

How do you store these cupcakes?

Store the cupcakes in an air tight container on the counter for 4-5 days. They can also be stored in the refrigerator but remove them for 20 minutes prior to eating.

If you’ve tried my Funfetti Easter Cupcakes or any other recipe on Hezzi-D’s Recipe Box please take a minute to rate the recipe and leave a comment letting me know how you liked it. I love hearing from you! You can FOLLOW ME on:

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