Easy Dairy-Free Funfetti Cupcakes is a simple recipe for soft, fluffy vanilla confetti cupcakes loaded with colorful sprinkles, made without milk or butter, using oil.
Easy Dairy-Free Funfetti Cupcakes are soft, fluffy, and loaded with colorful sprinkles, made entirely without milk or butter using oil.
Perfect for birthday parties, classroom celebrations, or any festive occasion.
Otherwise known as confetti cupcakes, they are a guaranteed crowd-pleaser for kids and adults alike.
And they’re versatile—you can easily top them with your favorite dairy-free frosting!
Like cake?
Try this dairy-free funfetti cake recipe!
Tips for baking
Preparing the batter
As obvious as that may sound (except to people like me), following instructions when baking is important.
It seems that all too often, bloggers will add extra steps or add extra ingredients, unnecessarily complicating the recipes.
Nonetheless, sometimes what seems unnecessary can be helpful.
That noted, the best way to start, unless directed otherwise, is by putting the dry ingredients in the bowl first and combining them together, and then adding the wet ingredients.
I haven’t found that it matters much what order ingredients are put in the bowl when it comes to dough, however, with batter, it can make a difference, and it is a good practice to add the wet ingredients, one at a time, blending lightly in between, mixing slowly and thoroughly.
Dumping all of the ingredients in before mixing can leave flour clumps, which may not dissolve while baking and mixing too quickly will add air bubbles, which can create air gaps in the cake
Flour clumps, especially the larger ones, may not bake into your cake, and you may find them in your slices. If you have them, remove as many as you can before baking. Using a strainer helps. (Yes, this has happened to me.)
If you find you do have a lot of little air bubbles, gently tap the side of the bowl with your fingers before you pour into the pan (you can do this with the pan if you didn’t notice the bubbles until you already poured the batter).
The tapping will pop them (you can actually see this). You may not get rid of them all, but the bigger ones are more important to pop. The bubbles seem to be more of a problem with thinner batter and with thicker batter.
The batter
Before you pour the batter into the pan(s), make sure to coat well with something to help prevent your final products from sticking.
There are various ways to do this, depending on your preference. You can use some type of fat, such as oil or cooking spray, margarine, or butter, with or without sprinkling flour as well. Or you can use baking paper.
My personal preference is to place baking paper on the bottom of the pan(s) and then coat with cooking spray, or vice versa. Baking paper can come in individual sheets or in rolls. For round pans, you can buy a suitable size that will fit right on the bottom of the pan. OR you can place the pan on top of the baking paper, trace around the bottom of the pan, and cut to size.
If you use baking paper, you might find that it won’t stay at the bottom of the pan properly while you are trying to pour the batter in, and there are a couple of tricks I use to help. One is to cut the paper so it fits in the pan like a lining, and the other is to wet it so it sticks (the latter is quicker, so I normally use that one).
When making cupcakes or muffins, you can coat or you can use cupcake paper. I have found that with some brands, however, while the paper won’t stick to the pan, it will stick to the cupcake, so you might want to lightly spray the paper before you pour in the batter.
If you are making a layer cake, separate the batter equally into both pans. The best way to do this is to weigh the pans with batter to make sure they are even. Personally, I just eyeball it (which is probably not the best idea unless you have a good eye).
Baking
Ovens often vary in how they spread heat, something that can cause uneven baking. This can cause a variety of problems in baking, such as lopsided cakes, raw middles, over-baked sides, etc.
One way to help prevent this is to turn your pan around on the shelf in the middle of baking to help ensure it will bake more evenly.
Another reason for uneven baking, where the item comes out fine on the top and burnt on the bottom, is if a crumb or a piece of something is at the bottom and will burn as you bake.
If your cake comes out lopsided, one way to fix that is to slice off the uneven part before putting on the frosting. I hate losing cake, so when it does this, I will slice approximately halfway through the higher part and flip it over onto the lower part before adding the frosting.
To help prevent lopsidedness in the first place, this method is often used: take a strip of aluminum foil that is around 4-6 inches longer than the circumference or perimeter of your pan and lay the wet paper towel on it, then fold the foil over the paper towel lengthwise so it is just a bit less wide than the height of the pan.
Wrap the foil around the pan and slide one end in the other (crimp it a bit if you need to so it will hold). This will create a moisture barrier for baking (I have read that some people put a pan of water in the oven when baking – I haven’t tried that yet).
I found all of that a little tedious, so I bought cake strips. These are absorbable cotton belts, around 2″ wide, and come in a few different lengths to be wrapped around and secured on round cake tins. These are soaked (but not dripping) when you wrap them around the pan.
If you need to use them for a larger rectangular pan, you can just attach a number of them together.
Cooling
You know your baked good is ready when a toothpick can slide cleanly and easily in and out of the baked item (or when the top is a little firm and springy), it can be removed from the oven.
Leave to cool for 10-15 minutes.
If you are going to remove the item from the pan, run a knife around the sides between the cake and the pan. Place a plate or cooling rack over the top and flip.
If you want the top side to remain on the top, you will flip the item over twice (once to remove it from the pan and once to get it back).
For cupcakes and muffins, I recommend using cupcake paper, and after you have used the knife to loosen them from the cup, you should be able to just pop them out carefully using the same knife.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for baking:
Why do recipes have salt in the ingredients of baked goods?
Even though salt tends to make foods, well, salty, it actually plays other roles in baking as well.
For example, the right amount of salt balances flavors in baked goods; it can bring out the sweetness of sugar and, at the same time, prevent them from tasting overly sweet. It also can help dull the bitterness of cocoa.
Salt prevents baked goods from tasting bland, while it balances the richness of the fats. It also helps develop flavor in yeast breads and works with proteins to strengthen gluten and make it more elastic.
Salt also slows down yeast fermentation because it prevents the yeast from eating up the sugars too quickly, which otherwise would cause the dough to rise too fast and then ultimately collapse, causing bread to come out flat instead of fluffy.
Salt helps baked goods stay a little fresher for a little longer and helps delay mold from growing on them.
What is the difference between baking soda and baking powder?
Baking soda and baking powder are both synthetic leavens that help baked goods rise, but there is a difference between them.
Baking soda is pure sodium bicarbonate, which needs another ingredient that is acidic in order to be activated. When the baking soda touches the acid, it creates a carbon dioxide gas, which helps the baked good rise. Baking soda is between 3 and 4 times stronger than baking powder, and if too much baking soda is used, your baked good will end up with a metallic flavor.
Baking powder is baking soda that is already mixed with an acid and a stabilizer and will be activated by moisture and heat. Nowadays, baking powder is called double-acting because it activates twice—once when it gets wet (when you mix the ingredients together) and again when it heats in the oven.
Replacing one with the other can be tricky, and it’s not recommended. However, if you have no choice, then do solid research for substituting one for the other for the baked good you are preparing so you don’t ruin it.
What do eggs do in baking?
Eggs are made up of two parts: the whites and the yolks (the yellow).
Egg whites are made up of protein that sets when heated and helps baked goods hold their structure. The yolks are made up of fats and vitamins and help ingredients bond.
Eggs also help baked goods rise as well as keep them moist.
It is important to have the right amount of eggs when baking, because if there are too many eggs in a recipe, this can cause a rubbery, dense texture, and if there are too few eggs, this can cause a crumbly, dry texture.
The different parts of the egg will provide different textures to baked goods; using the entire egg in baking will provide moisture and help the baked good rise evenly, using extra yolks will create richer, denser textures, and extra whites will add fluffiness but may create a drier texture.
What is the difference in using oil vs. butter or margarine?
Both margarine and butter are solid fats at room temperature, and both contain more saturated fats than oil.
While margarine and butter will change from a solid to a liquid when heated, they will change back to solids when cooled again. Oil stays liquid at all temperatures. Oil also coats flour better in the preparation process before baking.
Butter “creams” better than margarine, but one cannot cream oil at all.
When converting a recipe from butter or margarine to oil, the general conversion rate is 1 to ¾ (although if you are doing more than one batch, you might need to reduce the oil because I have found that baked goods come out oily in this case).
And when converting from oil to margarine or butter, typically the ratio is 1 to 1¼.
What is the difference between real vanilla extract and imitation vanilla?
Real vanilla is made from soaking vanilla beans in alcohol, imitation vanilla is synthetic, and real vanilla costs quite a bit more than imitation. Whether or not there will be a taste difference in your baking depends on the baked good, so do some research before you decide.
I personally always use the imitation as long as I have a really good brand because it’s not worth it to me to spend the extra money.
Frosting and filling
Once the cakes or cupcakes have completely cooled, you can apply the frosting, ganache, or whip cream.
If you baked the cake correctly, it should be nice and flat. If you do have some unevenness, you can slice it off (it shouldn’t be much) with a serrated bread knife.
I hate losing cake, so what I do is slice off about half of it lengthwise, and then flip the slice over to fill in the lower section. Once the frosting is on, you can’t even tell.
When I use a 9″x13″ pan, I just use frosting or ganache on the cake and maybe top with sprinkles for color. However, if I am making a layer cake, I will put whip cream in the middle and then cover with frosting or ganache.
To make the whipped cream, just whip 1 cup of sweet whipping cream until you can form peaks. Be careful not to over-whip, as it will eventually turn liquid.
If you are making a layer cake, spread on the lower layer of the cake, then place the second layer on top for a two-layer cake.
Whipped cream is soft and, in itself, cannot hold up the top layer of cake. To fix this, a stabilizer is added to the whipped cream to make it stiffer.
There are many stabilizers on the market, but some simple ones are cornflour, gelatin, powdered pudding mix, confectioner’s sugar, or – if you don’t mind dairy – powdered milk. Note that powdered pudding mix and confectioner’s sugar both contain cornflour.
Generally, you just have to add 1 teaspoon for a cup of liquid whipping cream (add it after the cream has been whipped) or a little more if you want it more firm. You need to be careful, however, not to put in too much, as it will change the taste of the cream.
For chocolate cream, add 2-3 teaspoons of cocoa to the whipped cream. If you feel that the now-chocolate cream has lost sweetness, add a little white sugar (to taste) and whip. If the cream now tastes a bit grainy, not to worry—it will melt.
Baking and Dessert Pantry Essentials
In addition to baking equipment in my kitchen, there are the baking ingredients that I try to keep in the house at all times:
- flour
- white granulated sugar
- brown sugar (light/dark—I usually keep dark)
- confectioners’ sugar (powdered sugar)
- salt
- baking powder
- baking soda
- cocoa powder
- ground cinnamon
- ground nutmeg
- ground ginger
- ground cloves
- baking chocolate
- chocolate chips
- instant dry yeast
- vanilla and/or vanilla sugar
- cooking oil/cooking spray
- margarine or butter
- eggs
- honey
- instant coffee
- various extracts (real or imitation)
I also make sure that I have the following on hand to be able to make a variety of fillings, frostings, and toppings:
- whipping cream
- powdered pudding mix
- powdered sugar
- a good chocolate spread
Then, there is the following to make last-minute quick desserts:
- packaged pie dough or ready-made pie crusts
- puff pastry dough
Lastly, it’s not a bad idea to keep fun toppings, such as chopped walnuts, raisins, and the oh-so-important container of sprinkles.
Love sprinkles? Try these!
Easy Dairy-Free Funfetti Cookies
Easy Dairy-Free Funfetti Cookie Bars
Easy Funfetti Cake
Easy Dairy-Free Funfetti Cupcakes Recipe
Dairy-free vanilla birthday cupcakes with sprinkles.
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups of flour
- 1 1/2 cups white granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons of baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1/2 cup oil
- 1 tablespoon vanilla flavoring
- 1/2 cup colorful sprinkles (or more if desired) *
Instructions
- Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and baking soda.
- Mix in the eggs, water, oil, and vanilla.
- Gently fold the sprinkles into the batter.
- Pour the batter equally into the lined wells of cupcake pans.
- Place into an oven that has been preheated to 350°.
- Bake for approximately 15 minutes or until you can stick a toothpick in the middle of some of the cupcakes and it comes out clean or when tops of the cupcakes are just firm.
- Let cool and remove the cupcakes from the pans.
- Decorate the top with frosting of your choice.
- Add more sprinkles if desired.
Notes
* Make sure to get sprinkles that won't quickly melt, otherwise you will get swirls of color instead of colorful dots.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
12Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 287Total Fat: 11gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 9gCholesterol: 47mgSodium: 258mgCarbohydrates: 43gFiber: 1gSugar: 25gProtein: 4g