Some say that peanut butter and jelly are the perfect match for each other, but I say peanut butter and chocolate are even better. It’s the best blend of salty and sweet ever, and the sole flavor inspiration behind this Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake. If you’re a chocolate peanut butter fan, this is the cake of your dreams! Behold:

It all starts with a peanut butter cake that’s just as moist and flavorful as it is light and fluffy. It’s flavored with creamy peanut butter and a little brown sugar to send your tastebuds to heaven. You can use any brand of creamy peanut butter in this recipe, but I opt for Simply Jif because it has less sugar than regular Jif. It makes the peanut butter flavor come through beautifully without being too sweet.

To top this delicious peanut butter cake, I originally thought to use my favorite Chocolate Buttercream recipe, but had an epiphany at the last second: why not add a little peanut butter to the chocolate buttercream? The result was AMAZING and really helps the peanut butter flavor take center stage! Simply whip some creamy peanut butter along with the butter and use it as a base for the chocolate buttercream, and voila.

After frosting the peanut butter cakes with a smooth finish of the chocolate peanut butter buttercream (say that five times fast!), I used Wilton Tip 4B to pipe some open stars around the cake in an ombrè style, then used the same piping tip to create two rows of open stars around the top edge. I finished decorating with some mini peanut butter cups and a few SprinklePop sprinkles in the Gold Sprinkle Mix.

You can choose to decorate this cake however you want, because at the end of the day, the flavors are what takes this Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake beyond. It’s perfect for any fan of this flavor combo (who isn’t a fan though!), and so easy to whip up. A total crowd pleaser in my book!

Print

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

Layers of moist, fluffy Peanut Butter Cake topped with Chocolate Peanut Butter Buttercream. The dreamiest of all decadent flavor combo. 

Ingredients

Peanut Butter Layer Cake

• 3 1/2 Cups (370g) cake flour, sifted before measuring
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 1/8 Cup (254g) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 Cup (205g) granulated white sugar
• 1/2 Cup (94g) packed brown sugar
• 1 Cup (250g) creamy peanut butter
• 4 eggs, room temperature
• 1/3 Cup (75g) sour cream, room temperature
• 1 1/2 Tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 Cups (360ml) whole milk, room temperature

Chocolate Peanut Butter Buttercream

• 1 1/2 Cups (339g) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/3 Cup (83g) creamy peanut butter
• 4 1/2 Cups (540g) powdered sugar
• 3/4 Cup (63g) natural unsweetened cocoa powder
• 6 Tbsp (89ml) whole milk, room temperature
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt

Instructions

Make The Peanut Butter Layer Cake

• Preheat the oven to 350°F. Prepare three 8-inch or four 6-inch cake pans by spraying the sides with a cooking spray (Baker's Joy is my favorite) and a wax paper circle fitted to the bottom of the pan. Alternatively, you can grease and lightly flour the pans.
• Sift the cake flour and then measure by spooning and leveling it in your measuring cup. Add the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside. 
• In the bowl of your stand mixer (a handheld mixer works fine too!), cream the butter for on high for two minutes until it’s light and fluffy. Add in white sugar, brown sugar, and peanut butter and continue to mix on medium-high for another three minutes, scraping down the bowl and paddle as needed. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition. Add vanilla and sour cream and mix for one minute on medium-high, scraping down the bowl and paddle once more.
• With the mixer on low speed, add in the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Add the whole milk and mix until just incorporated. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and give it a few stirs to make sure there are no lumps. Batter will be thick.
• Pour batter evenly into prepared cake pans (no more than 2/3 of the way full), smooth the tops, and bake for 35-40 minutes. They’re done when they spring back to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Let the cakes cool in the pan for five minutes before turning them out onto a wire rack for an additional few hours of cooling. Make sure they’re entirely room temperature before applying any frosting.

Make The Chocolate Peanut Butter Buttercream

• In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, whip the butter and peanut butter on medium speed until very creamy and well combined, about three minutes. Scrape down the bowl and paddle and turn the mixer to low, then add powdered sugar, cocoa powder, milk, vanilla extract, and salt. Increase the speed to medium and beat for two full minutes.

Assembly

• Fill and frost the Peanut Butter Cake layers with the Chocolate Peanut Butter Buttercream. If you want to recreate the look that’s pictured, frost a smooth finish with the buttercream, then refrigerate the cake for 30 minutes. Prepare a piping bag with Wilton Tip 4B, fill it with more Chocolate Peanut Butter Buttercream, then pipe open stars in an ombre pattern on the sides of the cake. Use the same piping tip to create a buttercream border on top, then top the cake with mini peanut butter cups and gold sprinkles. 

Notes

Make Ahead Tips: this cake can be made ahead and stored at room temperature, covered tightly in plastic wrap, for up to two days. Alternatively, you can cover with plastic wrap and store in the freezer for up to two months before thawing to room temperature. 

The buttercream can be made ahead and stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 day. Alternatively, you can store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. When you’re ready to use it, bring it back to room temperature and rewhip with your stand mixer to bring back to frosting consistency. 

Did you make this recipe? I want to know what you think! Let me know in the comments below or tag me on Instagram. I love to see what you’re caking!

The post Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake Recipe appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

I used Wilton Candy Melts as the foundation for these colorful number cake toppers, but you could also use any tempered chocolate as a base and the process would be the same. The best part is that you can use this tutorial to create numbers (or letters) in any font you want! Just print out your favorite numerical look onto printer paper, lay a piece of wax paper over the top, and pipe the Candy Melts or chocolate on top. Cover with your favorite sprinkles and you’re good to go!

Here’s a quick video I whipped up to show you how to make these sprinkled-covered numbers in just a few easy steps. Give it a watch before you read all about how to make them below:

If you have yet to check out my YouTube Channel, go give it a look! There are tons of video tutorials to help you learn, and I’m working on adding more recipes to the mix. Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss a thing!

You Will Need:

• Printed number templates
• Wax paper
• Piping bag
• Wilton Candy Melts 
• Bamboo Skewers
• Your favorite sprinkles (I used these “Hey Sugar” sprinkles by Sprinkle Pop)

Step 1: Pipe the Number with Candy Melts

Melt the Wilton Candy Melts according to the package instructions, then place them into a piping bag and snip off a small (about ⅛ inch) opening. 

Place your printed number template (face up) onto a flat surface and cover it with a sheet of wax paper. Then, pipe the outline of your number with the melted Candy Melts and fill in the center. 

Step 2: Cover with Your Favorite Sprinkles

While the Candy Melts are still wet, generously add the sprinkles to cover the entire surface, gently pressing them into the number without spreading the Candy Melts outside of the lines. 

When the surface is perfectly sprinkled, place the number into the refrigerator and let it set up for about 10 minutes. 

Step 3: Turn it Into a Cake Topper

After the sprinkled number is set, remove it from the wax paper backing and place it face down. Place a bamboo skewer onto the back and cover it with more melted Candy Melts. 

Return the sprinkle number (with the bamboo skewer attached) to the refrigerator and allow it to set up for 10 more minutes.

And there you have it, a fun and festive sprinkled number topper: 

These sprinkled number cake toppers are so perfect for topping cakes and totally edible (minus the skewer, of course). And you can even use these same steps to create letter cake toppers in any font you want! Definitely a skill you’re gonna want to have in your back pocket for any cake that needs a custom cake topper like these. Happy cake topper making, people!

Did you make these number cake toppers? I want to know how it went! Let me know in the comments below or feel free to tag @sugarandsparrowco on Instagram to show me. I love to see what you’re up to in the kitchen! 

The post DIY Sprinkled Number Cake Toppers Tutorial appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

There are drip cakes, and then there are sprinkle drip cakes. And let me tell you, while both are pretty to look at, the sprinkle version is so much more fun! The sprinkle drip cake trend was popularized by one of my favorite cakers to follow on Instagram, @brittanymaycakes. To my knowledge, she’s the little genius behind putting sprinkles on top of a ganache drip, and I just had to give it a go because it looks so stunning – especially with this Bewitched sprinkle mix by SprinklePop.

While any sprinkle mix will do for creating a sprinkle drip cake, I was really drawn to the vibrant color scheme of Bewitched. It’s a magical blend of pink, purple, teal, and yellow jimmies and spheres, plus gold and silver dragees to give it some extra bling. I decided to color the buttercream backdrop a deep fuschia (with Americolor soft gel past in Fuschia) to really compliment all of the sprinkle colors, but they’d look pretty on all sorts of buttercream hues. Just look at how pretty they are:

The essentials you’ll need for this look are a good pair of tweezers, the perfect sprinkle mix, and a great chocolate ganache recipe. I’ve got the perfect chocolate ganache recipe and white chocolate ganache recipe at the links below, with all the tips you need for successful drips. The tweezers make it easier to perfectly place the sprinkles (as opposed to using your fingers). And it’ll look incredible with any of SprinklePop’s gorgeous sprinkle mixes! Just pick your favorite and follow along the tutorial below:

You Will Need:

• A chilled buttercream cake
• 1 batch of chocolate ganache or white chocolate ganache
• 8 oz bottle of Bewitched sprinkles (or other favorite sprinkle mix)
• Tweezers

Step 1: Do A Test Drip

Before you get too crazy dripping your ganache, I always think it’s a great idea to do a test drip on your chilled buttercream cake. Make sure your ganache is room temperature and good drip consistency first, create one drip on the side of your cake, and wait until it stops traveling.

If your ganache is too runny or warm, it will travel all the way to the bottom of the cake quickly. If it’s too cold and thick, it won’t travel much at all. Adjust the consistency and temperature of your ganache if need be, and only continue the process of dripping your cake once you’re satisfied with the look of the drips.

Step 2: Drip The Sides Of The Cake

Once your ganache has passed the first drip test, continue dripping your ganache down the sides using either a squeeze bottle or the spoon method.

It’s best to start by dripping every side before moving on to the top of the cake. This way you can better control the look of the drips from the side view and only fill what’s necessary on the top.

Step 3: Fill In The Top Of The Cake

When all the sides have been dripped, pour a small amount of ganache on the top of the cake and smooth it with an icing spatula or the back of your spoon.

Be sure to only fill in the space that’s not yet covered with ganache, because adding too much might make your drips travel farther than you’d like. I always spread the ganache on top until it just reaches where the drips have started to cover on the top of the cake.

Step 4: Place The Sprinkles

Let the ganache rest in the refrigerator for about five minutes while you pour the sprinkles into a small bowl. After refrigerating for just those few minutes, the ganache drips should be sticky, but set enough to ensure that adding sprinkles won’t drag them down.

Using your tweezers, place the sprinkles onto the ganache one by one until you achieve the look you’re going for. This could take anywhere from 20-30 minutes, depending on how precise you want to be, but trust me. It’s so worth it!

Step 5: Keep On Decorating

While you can stop after you’ve created your sprinkle drip, I believe that when it comes to SprinklePop sprinkles, more is more!

Before I dripped the cake, I added a border of Bewitched sprinkles to the bottom edge, and after creating the sprinkle drip I added a buttercream border to the top of this cake using Wilton Tip 6B, then filled in the entire top of the cake with even more sprinkles. So fun!

Ready to create your very own sprinkle drip cake? Just grab a bottle of your favorite sprinkles and let the fun begin!  

The post Sprinkle Drip Cake Tutorial appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

Whether you’re celebrating Valentine’s Day with your s/o or Galentine’s Day with your best gals, it’s the perfect reason to whip up something sweet, pretty, and made with love. If you’re looking for a dessert that’s quick and easy (but looks like you spent lots of time and effort!), this cupcake project is for you! All it takes is your favorite vanilla buttercream recipe, pink food color gel of your choice, and this stunning Romance sprinkle mix by SprinklePop. And if you’re looking for a great cupcake recipe for underneath all that magic, I’ve got some tasty suggestions below!

First, let’s talk sprinkles. This year I am so delighted to see that SprinklePop has such an amazing lineup of Valentine’s Day sprinkles that will make any dessert look spectacular! I was really drawn to the dreamy vintage color palette of the Romance sprinkle mix, because just look at it! The blend of burgundy, mauve, pale pink, and silver is such an eye-catching alternative to the traditional Valentine’s Day color palette. So classy!

While these sprinkles will look fantastic on a solid-colored buttercream, I thought it would be so fun to create an ombrè effect with white and pink buttercream as I piped these cupcakes. Mixing the colors together into one piping bag is a great way to get a multi-toned rosette without a whole lot of effort. Plus, it really makes these Romance sprinkles shine!

You Will Need

• 12 baked cupcakes (here are some recipe ideas if you need them)
• A batch of your favorite vanilla buttercream recipe
• Pink food color gel
• Bowls and spoons for mixing colors
• A piping bag
• Wilton Tip 1M
• 4 oz. bottle of Romance Sprinkles

Step 1: Mix Up Your Buttercream Colors

For this ombrè look, I divided my batch of buttercream into three bowls. I mixed one of the bowls with Americolor soft gel paste in Fuschia to create dark pink, then mixed a spoonful of the darker pink buttercream with one bowl of white to create a lighter pink. That gives you three colors: white, light pink, and dark pink buttercream.

You can certainly use any pink food color gel to create the color palette that you feel will go best with the sprinkles you’re using on top.

Step 2: Prepare Your Piping Bag

Snip off the end of a piping bag and fit it with Wilton Tip 1M (or any favorite piping tip of yours!). Then, fill one side of the bag with white, another side with light pink, and the final side with dark pink buttercream. It’ll look a little something like this:

You should then have close to equal amounts of buttercream colors being piped at the same time.

Step 3: Pipe The Rosettes

One by one, pipe a swirl starting in the middle of the cupcake and ending on the outer edge.

I think the coolest thing about piping rosettes with multi-colored piping is that no two will look identical. Each one is beautiful in it’s own way!  

Step 4: Sprinkle Some Romance

After piping the rosettes, finish by sprinkling the Romance sprinkles wherever you’d like! I’ve chosen to add a few sprinkles on one half of each cupcake, but you can feel free to be as generous with the sprinkles as you’d like to be.

And voila! Totally romantic cupcakes for any Valentine’s Day celebration!

These cupcakes are perfect for a Valentine’s Day dessert, Galentine’s Day soiree, or really any occasion that calls for some pretty cupcakes. The design is super versatile and would look amazing in all sorts of color combinations! Whatever the occasion, let me know if you create some cupcakes inspired by this design in the comments below or by tagging me on Instagram. I love to see your creations!

The post Sprinkled Ombrè Valentine’s Day Cupcakes appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

Decorating gingerbread houses is such a fun Holiday tradition and these kits come with everything you need: gingerbread house pieces that are perfectly baked, royal icing mix that you can whip up with just a few tablespoons of water, the ideal holiday sprinkle mixes, and they even include piping bags and tips for flawless decorating. The sprinkles that come inside the kit are the ultra-colorful Fahoo Fores and the super-pretty Winter Wonderland sprinkles. You can use both on your gingerbread house to create the design pictured, mix it up by adding some extra holiday candy, or just be creative and do your own thing. The (Winter) sky’s the limit with these Sprinkle Gingerbread House Kits.

The best part about these kits is that they make gingerbread house assembly incredibly easy. The pieces are held together with the royal icing mix that comes with the kit, and it’s super pipeable and sturdy – aka the perfect glue! You end up with a strong gingerbread house that won’t collapse on you, and the decorating process is a whole lot more fun when you’re not worried about the house falling apart.

Whether you want to replicate this exact sprinkle gingerbread house design or do your own thing decorating-wise, here’s a quick video to show you how to build and dress up a gingerbread house using the SprinklePop Sprinkle Gingerbread House Kits:

You Will Need

• A SprinklePop Sprinkle Gingerbread House Kit
• A hand mixer or stand mixer 
• 2 Tbsp water 
• Color gels of your choice
• Wilton Tips 4B, 199, and 2 (all tips are optional)

Step 1: Mix Up The Royal Icing

Place the royal icing mix into the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (alternatively you can use a hand mixer). Add 2 Tbsp of water, then turn the mixer on high and let it whip up for about 7 minutes, until peaks form.

From here, you can divide the royal icing up into separate bowls for color mixing. I chose to color about 3 Tbsp of the royal icing with Americolor Electric Pink to create the colorful front door for my gingerbread house. Then, I colored a few more Tbsp with Americolor Mint Green to pipe a wreath on top of the front door. For the pink royal icing, I also mixed in a few more drops of water to thin it out just a little bit.

Place your royal icing into the piping bags. The Sprinkle Gingerbread House Kit comes with piping bags and tips, but I used Wilton Tip 2 for my pink icing and some of the white icing, Wilton Tip 199 for my green icing, and Wilton Tip 4B for some more of my white icing. For the rest of the white icing, I placed it into a piping bag with a tiny opening snipped off, just for the assembly process.

Step 2: Decorate The Gingerbread House Pieces

One by one, decorate the gingerbread house pieces with your piping bags and sprinkles. For the front of the house, I created a pink front door, then piped some white dots around it before placing some of the smaller sprinkles from the Fahoo Fores mix. Then, I piped a green wreath with Wilton Tip 199 onto the front door and continued piping and decorating with more of the sprinkles. I used the Winter Wonderland sprinkles toward the bottom of the house to make it look like sparkly snow drifts.

For the roof pieces, I piped some white royal icing in a drip pattern and then filled it all in with Winter Wonderland sprinkles.

And for the side pieces, I continued with the Winter Wonderland snow drifts along the bottom edges, then filled in the windows with piped dots using Wilton Tip 2.

When you’re finished decorating, allow the pieces to dry for a few hours until they’re firm enough to the touch for assembly.

Be sure to store the remaining royal icing in an airtight container so it doesn’t dry up on you. In the meantime, you can pop on a Holiday movie and snuggle up with some cocoa! 

Step 3: Assemble The Base of the Gingerbread House

Once your gingerbread house pieces are dry, it’s time for assembly. Add some royal icing into a piping bag with about ⅛ inch opening snipped off the end, then add a line of royal icing along the edge of the side piece that connects with the front of the house. Add another line of royal icing along the side of the front piece of the house that will connect with the side, then press them together at a 90 degree angle. 

Pipe royal icing along the edges of the other side pieces that connect, then press them all together to form the base of your house.

Let the pieces dry together for about 12 hours before moving on to the next step. In the meantime, be sure to store your extra royal icing in an airtight container.

Step 4: Attach The Roof

Now that the base of your house is nice and sturdy, it’s time to add the roof and make it a home. Pipe royal icing along the top edges of your house, then along the places of your roof that the house will connect with.

Press each piece of the roof onto the house gently. The royal icing should hold it in place perfectly.

Step 5: Decorate Even More

With your gingerbread house assembly complete, all that’s left to do is keep adding those festive touches. I piped some white royal icing with Wilton Tip 4B all along the roof lines, then added the larger sprinkle balls from the Fahoo Fores mix to make it look like Christmas lights.

Next, I decided to create an entire Wintery scene by piping a walkway up to the house and covering it with more Fahoo Fores sprinkles. Then, I used Wilton Tip 4B to pipe little mounds of snow all around the front yard and sprinkled Winter Wonderland all over it. This part is totally optional, but I just couldn’t help myself.

And just like that, you’ve got the best gingerbread house on the block! Be sure to pick up a Sprinkle Gingerbread House this Holiday season for some festive (and sprinkley!) fun. Happy Holidays! 

Disclaimer: I was compensated by SprinklePop for my work of creating this project, styling, filming, photographing, and writing about their products. As always, all opinions are honest and my own. Thank you for supporting brands that support Sugar & Sparrow.

The post Sprinkle Gingerbread House Kits + Decorating Tutorial appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

You can customize the toppings any way you’d like, but here are some of my absolute faves to inspire you (all pictured in that loaded cup of cocoa!): candy cane bits, brownie chunks, Belgian Boy Stroopwafels, mini marshmallows, and Oh Snow Cute sprinkles by SprinklePop for some added flavor and fun. You can use any sprinkles in your hot cocoa bar setup, but I love this Wintery mix. The color scheme is so much fun and the tiny snowmen and snowflakes are perfect for celebrating the Holiday season. Plus, the larger spherical sprinkles are made of chocolate (they’re Sixlets!), so they’re great for adding a little crunch and sweetness. 

After coming up with my ideal list of toppings, I displayed them all in mason jars and added some touches of Holiday decor. I basically borrowed a few sprigs from my Christmas tree and some faux holly, berries, and pine cones. Easy as can be! 

Here’s a little video to show you how I made my ideal cup of hot cocoa, so be sure to give it a watch for inspiration before you read all about how to replicate my hot cocoa bar setup below:

You Will Need

• 6 medium sized Mason jars 
• Brownies cut into ½ inch squares
• Candy Cane bits
• Belgian Boy Stroopwafels, quartered
• 2 8oz bottles of Oh Snow Cute sprinkles
• Mini marshmallows 
• Canned Whipped Cream
• Melted white chocolate in a piping bag (optional)
• Instant hot cocoa mix 
• Boiled milk 
• Cups and mugs for your guests 

Hot Cocoa Bar Setup 

Note that the list above is all suggested. You can tailor this hot cocoa bar to any topping list you want! Once you figure out the number of toppings you’ll have, add each one to a separate mason jar or container of your choice. I went with mason jars because they’re so easy to find and I love being able to see the toppings through the clear glass. 

To create this fun display, I divided my topping-filled mason jars full into two rows and slightly elevated the back row with a couple pieces of white wood I had leftover from a house project. Then, I decorated around the jars with sprigs of holly and pine. So festive and pretty! 

Prior to your guests arriving, all that’s left to do is make sure that you have hot water or milk readily available, or pre-mix the hot cocoa and keep it in a thermos at the hot cocoa bar for an even easier experience. Set out some mugs for your guests and let them go crazy adding all the toppings they want! 

The Tastiest Hot Cocoa Recipe

To inspire you with topping and decorating ideas, here’s how I chose to create my loaded cup of cocoa:

Create a White Chocolate Peppermint Rim (Optional)

First, I melted some white chocolate and waited for it to cool to about 80 degrees before piping it onto the rim of my cup with a piping bag.

I waited about five minutes for the chocolate to set slightly and then dipped it into some candy cane bits. 

You can use any type of chocolate you want for this part and can also create the peppermint rim on all of the guest mugs ahead of time if you’re into the look! The white chocolate peppermint adds such a fun texture and flavor to the whole cocoa experience. 

Add the Hot Cocoa

Next, I added a few tablespoons of instant hot cocoa to the mug, poured boiling hot milk over the top, and stirred it all together. 

Like I mentioned before, if you have a lot of guests it might be worth pre-mixing the hot cocoa and keeping it in a thermos for easy access.

Add the Toppings

After adding the hot cocoa, the fun of getting creative with toppings can begin! I added a layer of mini marshmallows and swirled some whipped cream on top.

Then, I stuck some brownie bits into the whipped cream and added a generous amount of Oh Snow Cute Sprinkles.

Finally, top the cocoa creation with a piece of Belgian Boy Stroopwafel. Boom. Best cocoa ever! 

Your hot cocoa bar can be as customized as you want. Other suggestions for your topping list: caramel sauce, whole candy canes, bite sized cookies, flavored syrups, cinnamon, mini chocolate chips, and any SprinklePop sprinkle mix that you’re drawn to!

What would you top your hot cocoa with? Let me know in the comments!

Disclaimer: I was compensated by SprinklePop for my work of creating this project, styling, filming, photographing, and writing about their products. As always, all opinions are honest and my own. Thank you for supporting brands that support Sugar & Sparrow.

The post My Ideal Hot Cocoa Bar Setup appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

While I love making homemade everything, I took the easy way out with my caramel apples this year and I do not regret it. I have a fantastic homemade salted caramel recipe that’s amazing for dipping apples in, but coating them with it is another story. It’s a tad runny which makes it perfect for drip cakes and flavoring buttercream, but in order to get a thick caramel coating on an apple you have to coat it, refrigerate, repeat. Instead, I bought a package of Kraft Caramels and followed the melting instructions on the back of the package. It tastes amazing and you have perfectly coated caramel apples in minutes, so I consider it a winner. 

Some toppings I’ve loved for caramel apples in the past have been crushed Oreos, chopped nuts, and M&M’s, but the topping list is pretty endless. I recently took a trip to Disneyland and after seeing sprinkled caramel apples there I knew I had to try it. Right on cue, SprinklePop sent me their #Blessed sprinkle mix and it became the ideal opportunity to sprinkle some caramel apples. 

The combination of red, brown, orange, and gold sprinkles are the ideal Fall color scheme. Plus, you’ll find some cute additional autumnal sprinkles in there: tiny pumpkin pie slices, acorns, and turkeys! The larger spherical sprinkles are actually Sixlets, so you get a little bit of chocolate in those bites. 

Here’s a quick video of the decorating process before I show you how to create these sprinkley treats below: 

You Will Need

• 5 apples, de-waxed and chilled
• Popsicle sticks or cookie sticks
• 1 package of Kraft Caramels
• Microwave safe bowl
• Wax or parchment paper
• 4 oz bottle of #Blessed sprinkles (or any favorite SprinklePop mix)

Step 1: Prepare The Apples

The perfect caramel apples all begin with some chilled and de-waxed apples. I love using Fuji or Honeycrisp apples, but you can feel free to use any favorite variety. De-waxing them will help the caramel adhere to the apple, and you can do that by running them under hot water and wiping them with a towel to remove the wax coating.

Once they’re de-waxed, stick them in the refrigerator for a few hours (or overnight) to get them nice and chilled for dipping. When it comes time to melt that caramel, be sure to remove the stems and insert a popsicle stick or cookie stick into the tops of the apples. 

Step 2: Melt The Caramel 

When your apples are prepped, you can start melting the caramel. Simply unwrap the Kraft Caramels one by one and place them into a glass bowl. I followed the microwave melting directions by adding 1 Tbsp of water and microwaving for one minute, stirring, then melting for an additional 30 seconds. If you’d rather melt them on the stove, the package instructions include a way to do that. 

One package of Kraft Caramel is enough for five apples, so if you need more than that be sure to adjust the amount of caramel to suit your needs. I suggest working in small batches because the caramel doesn’t take long to set once it’s on the apples. 

Step 3: Dip The Apples 

Once your caramel is melted, it’s ready to go, so start dipping those apples! Spread out a sheet of wax or parchment paper on a flat surface and one by one, dip each apple in caramel.

The apples only need about five minutes to set once their coated with caramel, so by the time you’re done with the last apple it’s time to move on to the next step.

Step 4: Add Sprinkles

Place the sprinkles into a shallow bowl that’s big enough for dipping an apple in. I set aside some of the larger sprinkles in the mix so I could hand place them. One by one, dip the caramel apples into the sprinkles.

Add some of the larger sprinkles afterwards wherever you’d like. 

These sprinkled caramel apples are ready to enjoy right away, but if you want to gift them or store them for awhile, you can keep them in the refrigerator for up to a week. And by the way, while I absolutely adore the #Blessed sprinkles for this technique, it will work with any of SprinklePop’s amazing sprinkles! There’s something for every look you could want with your caramel apples.

Disclaimer: This originally appeared as a guest post on SprinklePop’s blog and I was compensated by SprinklePop for my work of creating this project, styling, filming, photographing, and writing about their products. As always, all opinions are honest and my own. Thank you for supporting brands that support Sugar & Sparrow.

The post How To Make Sprinkled Caramel Apples appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

This Dia De Los Muertos mix is ideal for adding to Day of the Dead themed cupcakes or cakes. The color scheme is perfectly vibrant, and my favorite part is that the mix comes with plenty of those cute little sugar skulls. I want a whole bottle of those cuties just to stare at them! Just look at how fun these sprinkles are:

Although these sprinkles are outstanding on their own, I decided to make some spiderweb cake toppers using piped Wilton Candy Melts. The spiderwebs are so easy to make and the best part is that they’re fully dry and ready to use in about ten minutes. After topping the cupcakes with an edible spiderweb and sprinkling with the Dia De Los Muertos mix, these cupcakes have the perfect balance of pretty and scary.

I made a quick video of the process so you can see the techniques it takes to get the look. From the Candy Melt spiderweb toppers to piping and sprinkling the cupcakes, here are all the visual details before you read about them below:

PS: If you love watching videos like this one, be sure to check out my YouTube Channel! I post cake decorating videos and recipes there quite often, so be sure to subscribe to the channel so you don’t miss a thing.

You Will Need:

• Wilton Candy Melts in White
• Piping bags
• Wilton Tip 3
• Wax paper
• Baking sheet
• 12-15 baked cupcakes
• One batch of vanilla buttercream
• Black, purple, and orange food color gels
• Wilton Tip 1M (x3)
• 4 oz bottle of Dia De Los Muertos sprinkles

Step 1: Make The Candy Melt Spiderwebs

Spread a sheet of wax paper onto a baking sheet. Then, melt your Wilton Candy Melts in the microwave according to the package instructions. Alternatively, you can use white chocolate chips for this part, but I love the Candy Melts because they’re a much brighter white than white chocolate chips, which tend to be a bit yellow. 

Add the melted Candy Melt mixture to a piping bag fitted with Wilton Tip 3, then pipe spider web designs onto the wax paper.

At this point, you can let them air dry or speed up the process by popping the baking sheet into the refrigerator for about 15 minutes. When they’re completely dry to the touch, remove the wax paper backing from each spiderweb.

Step 2: Prepare The Buttercream

Divide the buttercream into three separate bowls for color mixing. Add black food coloring to the first bowl, purple food coloring to the second bowl, and orange food coloring to the third bowl. Mix until you have the desired shades for your buttercream color palette.

When you’ve got the perfect colors, add each color to a separate piping bag fitted with Wilton Tip 1M. 

Step 3: Pipe The Cupcakes

Using each of the piping bags, pipe swirls onto each cupcake starting on the outer edge of the cupcake and spiraling the buttercream toward the center.

When you’re finished, all of your buttercream colors should be represented equally amongst the cupcakes. 

Step 4: Top The Cupcakes

Top each cupcake with a white chocolate spiderweb and sprinkle the Dia De Los Muertos mix generously. Make sure that each cupcake gets at least one sugar skull, because they’re the cutest!

And there you have it – an easy way to create Halloween or Day of the Dead themed cupcakes with the prettiest spooky sprinkles around.

Disclaimer: I was compensated by SprinklePop for my work of creating this project, styling, filming, photographing, and writing about their products. As always, all opinions are honest and my own. Thank you for supporting brands that support Sugar & Sparrow.

The post Dia De Los Muertos Spiderweb Cupcakes appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I’m one of those people who starts making big plans for costume ideas months ahead of time and watches all the scary movies as soon as they hit Netflix. So when I saw some sneak peeks of SprinklePop’s Halloween sprinkle lineup, I couldn’t help my brain from bursting with spooky cake ideas! I got my hands on the Monster Mashup sprinkle mix as soon as it hit the shelves and got right to work on planning the ultimate Halloween cake.

The Monster Mashup sprinkle mix is just what it sounds like: a fun collection of monster-esque sprinkles mixed up with some pretty Halloween colored awesomeness. It’s well-saturated with cute candy mummies, googly eyes, and ghosts. Just look at the variety of shapes and colors you get:

In the spirit of Halloween, I decided that the perfect backdrop for these Monster Mashup sprinkles is black buttercream. Pitch black buttercream to be exact. Using a floating technique for placing the sprinkles, it almost looks like those googly eyes, mummies, and ghosts are levitating in the dark! To add to the spook-factor, I’ve also topped the cake with some white cotton candy that’s reminiscent of cauldron smoke.

And because I’m an ultra Halloween nerd, I also tinted the vanilla cake with orange food color gel underneath it all. Everyone knows orange and black are the signature colors of this horrifying holiday. Muah ha ha ha.

I’ve included a full written tutorial below for how to make and assemble this cake, from achieving pitch black buttercream to perfectly placing your Monster Mashup sprinkles. First, here’s a behind-the-scenes look at the decorating process: 

Whether you’re in need of a Halloween party showstopper or you just want to make something for the love of spooky cakes, this one’s for you!

You Will Need:

• Chocolate buttercream (here’s the recipe I use)
• 2 tsp Americolor Super Black food color gel
• A great vanilla cake recipe
• A few drops of orange food color gel, optional
• Icing spatula and scraper
• SprinklePop Monster Mashup Sprinkles
• Piping Bag
• Wilton Piping Tip 1M (or another favorite piping tip)
• White cotton candy

Step 1: Make The Chocolate Buttercream

Going from large amounts of white buttercream to black is near impossible. I’ve successfully tinted small quantities before, but in my experience, the easiest way to turn large amounts of buttercream pitch black is to start with your favorite chocolate buttercream recipe. Since brown is not far from black on the color wheel, you won’t have to use a ton of food coloring to get there.

If you don’t yet have a favorite chocolate buttercream recipe, I’ve got a great one for you here! You’ll want to double that recipe to have enough for filling and frosting this cake.

Step 2: Tint The Chocolate Buttercream Black

To get the best consistency of black buttercream, you need a food color gel that’s so concentrated you don’t need to use the entire bottle. My absolute favorite food color gel for the job is Americolor Super Black. It’s a water-based gel and is so powerful you’ll only need a little bit of color! And best of all, it doesn’t affect the taste of your buttercream at all. Not even a little bit.

Once you’ve made your chocolate buttercream, add 2 tsp of Americolor Super Black and make sure it’s fully incorporated. I add it at the end while my buttercream is still in the stand mixer and let the paddle attachment do all the hard work for me.

Step 3: Let The Buttercream Set Overnight

After adding your food color gel, note that your chocolate buttercream won’t be pitch black right away. It’ll probably look a bit like dark concrete. The missing ingredient here is time. In order to let that food color gel work it’s magic, you’ll need to add your buttercream to an airtight container and stick it in the fridge overnight.

In the morning, bring it back to room temperature and whip it all back up in your stand mixer.

What you’ll end up with is pitch black buttercream magic!

Step 4: Bake And Cool The Cakes

While your buttercream is setting in the fridge, whip up your favorite vanilla cake recipe and add a few drops of orange food color gel at the end to tint the cakes.

Bake the cakes according to your recipe instructions and let them cool completely before torting the layers to your desired height.

Step 5: Fill And Frost With Black Buttercream

Once your cakes are completely cool and leveled, fill and frost them with your black buttercream. I’ve created a smooth black buttercream finish as the backdrop for my sprinkles.

I use an offset icing spatula and bench scraper to achieve the perfect smooth buttercream finish, and if you need additional tips on how to create this look, you can check out this blog post on how to get the smoothest finish ever.

Step 6: Apply The Monster Mashup Sprinkles

Now for the fun part: adding the sprinkles! To achieve the floating monster sprinkle look, reserve some of the googly eyes, mummies, and ghosts from your Monster Mashup sprinkle mix and set them aside. While the buttercream is still soft enough for the sprinkles to adhere, pour a handful of the Halloween colored sprinkles into your hand and place them around the bottom of the cake.

Cover the entire bottom third of the cake this way, making the top edge of the sprinkle border slightly uneven as you go around.

Once your sprinkle border is complete, take the monster sprinkles you’ve reserved and place them one by one around the top two thirds of the cake. It looks best when there are more monsters toward the bottom and less toward the top. I’ve also chosen to add some of the colored jimmies one by one to fill in some of the blank spaces.

Step 7: Decorate The Top Of The Cake

When your spooky Monster Mashup sprinkle placement is complete, prepare a piping bag by fitting it with Wilton Tip 1M or another favorite piping tip of yours. Fill the piping bag with black buttercream and pipe a border around the top of the cake. I’ve chosen to pipe a few swirls around the top of the cake and sprinkle with more Monster Mashup sprinkles.

Stretch out the white cotton candy so it looks a little more like cauldron smoke and less like a clump of cotton, then place it on the top of your cake.

How cool is this cake? Definitely a showstopper for your Halloween festivities! This design will work with any of SprinklePop’s Halloween sprinkles, but I think the Monster Mashup does the trick quite well. Happy Halloween month to all!

The post Spooky Black Buttercream Halloween Cake appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

The first time I tried this cactus cupcake design, I shaped the base of each cactus with a big hunk of fondant, then covered it with buttercream piping to add detail. While it looked great, I realized how terrible it is to bite into the cactus and end up with a mouth full of fondant. No thank you! Since then I decided that creating a cake ball base (a mix of cupcake crumbs and buttercream) is much more tasty, sturdy, and easy to mold into cactus shapes.

The Cactus Flower mix is the perfect color scheme to pair with these pretty green cacti. It’s basically all the colors you’d find in a lush succulent garden and adds so much pretty texture to these cupcakes. If you’re wanting to recreate the look with this sprinkle mix, don’t forget to use my code SUGARANDSPARROW15 at checkout to get 15% off your SprinklePop order. I don’t get any kickback from that code, it’s just a little something special for you. You’re welcome!

Before you get started with the tutorial below, here’s a quick video of the process I whipped up for you visual learners:

You Will Need

• 18 baked cupcakes (12 for decorating and 6 chopped into bits)
• 1 batch of vanilla buttercream
• Green food color gel
• Purple food color gel
• Bowls and spoons for mixing
• Baking sheet
• Wax paper
• 4 oz bottle of Cactus Flower sprinkles
• Small icing spatula
• Piping Bags  
• Wilton Tips 4B, 352, 3, and 109 (or any drop flower tip)

Step 1: Prep The Materials

Before you get started, it’s best to get all your materials prepped and ready to go. Divide your buttercream into three different bowls: add about ¼ cup of the buttercream to a small bowl and keep it uncolored and add another ¼ cup of buttercream into another small bowl and color it with purple buttercream. Divide the rest of the buttercream into two separate bowls and color one a darker shade of green and one a lighter shade of green. I used different amounts of Americolor Forest Green for these two shades.

Next, pour the Cactus Flower sprinkles into a small bowl, then chop up six of the baked cupcakes into smaller bits and add them to a medium sized bowl.

Step 2: Make The Cake/Buttercream Mixture

Add about ¼ cup of either of the green buttercreams to the bowl of chopped up cupcake bits. Then, use a rubber spatula or spoon to mix it all together until it’s uniform in consistency.

When you’re finished mixing, the result should be moldable when you try to shape it with your hands. If it’s not sticking together enough, just add a little bit more buttercream until it’s easy to mold with your hands.   

Step 3: Create The Cactus Shapes

There are two different styles I love when it comes to cactus cupcakes. The first is a traditional elongated shape and the other is more spherical. Before you start shaping, fit a piece of wax paper onto a baking sheet. Then, roll a little bit of the cake/buttercream mixture into 1 inch spheres using your hands and place them one by one onto the baking sheet. You’ll want to make 6 of these.

To make the elongated shape, roll the cake/buttercream mixture between your hands to make more of a rod shape. They should each be about 1.5-2 inches tall and about an inch wide. Place them one by one onto the baking sheet until you have 6 of them.

When you’re finished making your cactus shapes, place the baking sheet in the refrigerator to let them firm up for about 20 minutes. They’ll be much easier to work with that way!

Step 4: Create The Sprinkled Cupcake Surface

Using the bottom of one of your piping tips, create a small cutout in the center of each cupcake to give the cactus shapes a nice foundation to sit on later.

Use a small icing spatula to frost the surface of the cupcake, excluding the small hole you created.

Then, dip the surface of the cupcakes into the Cactus Flower sprinkles. Repeat until you have all of the cupcake surfaces covered in sprinkles.

Step 5: Decorate The Spherical Cacti

For the spherical cacti, add the refrigerated cake/buttercream balls to 6 of the cupcakes.

Prepare a piping bag by fitting it with Wilton Tip 4B and filling it with the lighter green buttercream. Cover the surface of each spherical cactus in open stars.

Next, prepare a piping bag fitted with Wilton Tip 109 (or any drop flower tip) and fill it with purple buttercream. Pipe a drop flower onto the top of each one.

Continue decorating with spherical sprinkles from the Cactus Flower mix wherever you’d like.

Step 6: Decorate The Elongated Cacti

For the elongated cacti, add the refrigerated cake/buttercream rods to 6 of the cupcakes. Prepare a piping bag by fitting it with Wilton Tip 352 and filling it with the darker green buttercream. Then, pipe a series of vertical lines around the surface of the rods.

Use the purple buttercream bag to pipe a drop flower on top of each of the cacti. Then, prepare a piping bag fitted with Wilton tip 3 and fill it with the remaining white (uncolored) buttercream. Pipe a series of dots onto every other line on the cactus. These are meant to look like the spines of a cactus.

Use your lighter green buttercream to pipe a couple open stars next to the elongated cacti, then continue decorating with spherical sprinkled from the Cactus Flower mix wherever you’d like.

Aren’t these sprinkled cactus cupcakes the cutest thing? They’re perfect for any Summer gathering and are sure to impress.

If you’re inspired to make these sprinkled cactus cupcakes, be sure to tag @sugarandsparrowco on Instagram so I can see! I love seeing what you create.

The post Sprinkled Cactus Cupcakes Tutorial appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.