Heart-Sprinkled Cupcakes Made Easy
This heart-sprinkled cupcake tutorial walks you through decorating cupcakes with a small, heart-shaped cookie cutter, sprinkles, and your…
- Prep
- 30 mins
- Total
- 30 mins
This Sprinkled Heart Cupcakes tutorial shows you how to decorate cupcakes with a small, heart-shaped cookie cutter and sprinkles, on whatever cupcakes you love best! It's simple, it's fun, and whoever gets these cupcakes is sure to adore them!
Tools for Decorating
Your favorite cupcake and frosting recipe. Use whatever cupcake and frosting recipes you prefer! A box of cake mix and a container (or two) of frosting works too. Or grab some ready-made cupcakes from the bakery section of the grocery store! Just make sure they aren't already decorated.
Your favorite sprinkles. Any kind works, including sprinkles, jimmies, nonpareils, or sanding sugar. I like nonpareils best for this style of decorating. They fit neatly inside the small cookie cutters and leave no gaps.
Small heart-shaped cookie cutter. Mine is from Wilton, but any small heart works as long as it fits on top of the cupcake.
Long-handled teaspoon. This is perfect for adding sprinkles inside the cookie cutter! Any small spoon will do for this project.
Food tweezers. These are handy for placing loose sprinkles that miss the frosting. Your fingers work too, but tweezers reach the tight spots inside the cookie cutter more easily.
Other Cutter Options
Super small cookie cutters. I've used this little set to cut pie dough shapes, and it works for this project too!
Alphabet cookie cutters. For a fun twist, spell out a message with these. The letters are only 1″ tall, so I'd suggest using nonpareils or sanding sugar with them.
Cupcake Recipe Ideas
For this heart-sprinkle tutorial, I doubled my small batch vanilla cupcake recipe. If you're unsure which cupcakes to make, here are four favorites from my recipe box to make it easy!
Decorating Cupcakes with a Sprinkled Heart
Here is a quick overview of how to decorate your cupcakes with a sprinkled heart. Keep scrolling for the detailed steps and the video tutorial!
- Pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes. A large round decorating tip, such as the Wilton 1A, works well.
- Smooth and level the tops. I used an offset spatula. You need a fairly flat surface for the cookie cutter to sit on.
- Set your heart-shaped cookie cutter on top. Press it down gently until there are no open gaps between the cutter and the frosting.
- Add a small amount of sprinkles. I used a long-handled teaspoon, since it helped me steady the spoon while placing sprinkles inside the cutter. A small spoon works fine too.
- Rotate and tilt the cupcake. This helps cover any open areas with sprinkles. Add more if you spot bare patches, and gently tap them into place with your finger or food tweezers.
- Remove any excess sprinkles. You will still have some loose ones, and that's fine. Place a finger on top of the cookie cutter and carefully tilt it over the bowl.
- Remove the heart-shaped cookie cutter. Lift the cutter up and away from the cupcake with both hands. Pat down any leftover loose sprinkles.
- That's it! It really is an easy way to decorate cupcakes, and they look super cute!
Helpful Decorating Tips
Here are five useful tips for decorating cupcakes with sprinkled hearts.
Tip No. 1. Decorate on a baking sheet or jelly roll pan instead of a bare table. A rim or sides will catch any stray sprinkles before they roll away.
Tip No. 2. Don't get frustrated if a few sprinkles refuse to stay put. You'll spot a couple in my sprinkled heart cupcake video too! I'm looking at you, blue sprinkle!
Tip No. 3. When you lift the cookie cutter, some frosting and sprinkles may stick to the inside, and maybe the outside too. Wipe it off with a paper towel before using it on the next cupcake!
Tip No. 4. The wavy cupcake liners I used are a favorite of mine from Wilton! I've used them in black for my Devil's Food Cupcakes. They also come in some other random colors, but those are a bit harder to track down!
Tip No. 5. Decorating cupcakes should be relaxing, not stressful. Keep it fun! If you end up with a few loose sprinkles or frosting that isn't perfectly smooth, that's okay. Your friends and family will still love these cupcakes!
More Fun Tutorials to Try!
If you tried this Sprinkled Heart Cupcakes Tutorial or any other tutorial on my site, please leave a star rating and tell me what you thought in the comments below. Thanks for stopping by!
Heart-Sprinkled Cupcakes Made Easy
This heart-sprinkled cupcake tutorial walks you through decorating cupcakes with a small, heart-shaped cookie cutter, sprinkles, and your favorite cupcakes! It's simple, it's fun, and whoever gets these cupcakes is sure to adore them!
- Prep
- 30 mins
- Total
- 30 mins
Ingredients
- Your favorite cupcake and frosting recipe
- Sprinkles, nonpareils or sparkling sugar
- Small spoon
- Food tweezers
- Jelly roll pan
Method
- Pipe frosting onto the cupcakes with a large round tip, such as the Wilton 1A decorating tip.
- Use an offset spatula to smooth and level the top of each cupcake. You need a fairly flat surface for the cookie cutter to rest on.
- Set your heart-shaped cookie cutter gently on top. You don't need to press it far down, just enough that there are no open gaps between the cutter and the frosting.
- Add a small amount of sprinkles inside the cutter with a teaspoon or small spoon. A long handle is helpful here.
- Rotate and tilt the cupcake to move the sprinkles around and fill in any gaps. Feel free to add more sprinkles if you need them.
- When you're finished, tap the sprinkles gently into place with your finger or food tweezers. Any that don't stay will be cleared off in the next step!
- Clear away excess sprinkles by placing a finger on top of the cookie cutter and carefully tilting it over the bowl.
- To take off the cookie cutter, lift it straight up and away from the cupcake with both hands. Use your finger or the food tweezers to pat down any loose sprinkles that remain.
- Repeat until all your cupcakes are decorated, then enjoy!
Baker’s notes
- Decorate on a baking sheet or jelly roll pan, something with a lip or sides, so stray sprinkles don't roll off the table.
- Don't be discouraged if a few sprinkles won't stay put. You'll spot a couple in my sprinkled heart cupcake video too! I'm looking at you, blue sprinkle!
- When you lift the cookie cutter, frosting and some sprinkles may stick to the inside, and maybe the outside too. Wipe them off with a paper towel before using the cutter on your next cupcake!
- The wavy cupcake liners I used are a Wilton favorite of mine! I've used them in black for my Devil's Food Cupcakes. They also come in a few other random colors, but those are harder to find!
- Decorating cupcakes shouldn't stress you out. This method is meant to be fun! If you have a few loose sprinkles or the frosting isn't perfectly smooth, that's okay. Your friends and family will still love these cupcakes!
