Easy baking at home with Sprinkles
Ever since I heard about Sprinkles Cupcakes I had been longing to try one; so much so that I ended up adding it to my bucket-list.
Well, I was delighted to recently enjoy not one, but three delicious treats from their iconic location in Beverly Hills. To be honest, I was suitably impressed that they surpassed my expectations and lived up to the hype; something which doesn't usually happen.
When I got back home, I spread the word about Sprinkles to my friends and family. So much so, that I even persuaded a colleague to stop by the exact one I visited along S. Santa Monica Blvd during a recent holiday. It made me chuckle that they even went a little out of their way to try it. Luckily they were impressed...
Living in the UK means that there is that mighty ocean in the way between me and a Sprinkles cupcake; if only they would open-up somewhere in the UK, I'd certainly be one of the many people queuing up day or night. So what did I do about it? After conducting a little bit of research, I dropped an e-mail and I am delighted to have one of their very own Red Velvet Cupcake Mixes on bake at home. Yippee!
For $14, each mix makes 12 cupcakes and is available in a variety of flavours including vanilla, dark chocolate, banana, lemon, pumpkin, spice, chocolate peppermint and red velvet. The choice is tough.
Inside you'll find the cake mix, signature Sprinkles polka-dots and a recipe card so you know what you're doing.
For an additional cost, you can also purchase baking cups and a Sprinkles-branded spatula so they look just like they do in store.
There were a few additional ingredients I needed to purchase, but these didn't cost a lot. There's nothing fancy, so you should find everything you need readily available at your local supermarket.
Baking is easy as 1, 2, 3!
The recipe card included within the kit is very easy to follow.
In short, pre-heat the oven to 180C, measure out your ingredients and then you are good to go. If you happen to have one of those kitchen aid mixers it would make your life a lot easier; otherwise you'll feel like you have done a rather intense workout!
Here's a look at the Red Velvet baking mix before I added the wet ingredients:
... and here when everything was incorporated, just before I evenly divided the velvety red mixture into the baking cups.
Next, I put the cupcakes in the oven for about 20-25 minutes; until the tops would spring back when lightly pressed down.
Don't they look delicious?
To create the frosting, all you need to do is beat the ingredients together in the order detailed on the recipe card and then you are ready to decorate. This is where my Sprinkles spatula came in handy..
I scooped up a generous amount of frosting and placed it on top of the cooled cupcake. Delicately holding with one hand, I gently turned the cupcake around and used the spatula to smooth the frosting over. At Sprinkles, they like to entirely cover the top of the cake; however I decided to add my own little twist and only cover the centre.
Once covered in delicious Vanilla frosting; I added one of the signature Sprinkles polka-dots to the cupcake and voila!
So what did I think?
Simply delicious.
I am so happy to have finally made my very own batch of Sprinkles Cupcakes. They may look and taste ever-so-slightly different from the ones I enjoyed in America; but I can't complain. The instructions were easy-to-follow, additional ingredients in-expensive and time to make was a little over an hour and a half from beginning to the important tasting.
The Sprinkles Cupcake Mix is a great gift for friends, family or even just to treat yourself - so why not take a look and order some? I'm going to!
Thank you so much to the team at Sprinkles Cupcakes for providing me with the kit so I could enjoy a delicious American treat at home in the UK.
