I made homemade sprinkles a year ago but never shared my recipe or directions.
Hopefully you can forgive me?
These are seriously the easiest homemade sprinkles out there and are so flexible in terms of use!
Let me tell you why they are so awesome:
It’s three ingredients.
It can be made in whatever quantity I want.
It can be tinted to any color I need.
And it actually tastes good!
Glaze Icing for Homemade Sprinkles
1 cup powder sugar
1 – 3 tablespoons milk (depending on whether you want a thicker or runnier consistency; I prefer a thicker consistency for these, roughly the same as butter cream frosting)
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
Optional:
Food coloring of choice (I would add 1 to 2 drops per cup of powder sugar, and I highly recommend gel based)
Flavored extracts (about 1/4 teaspoon of extract per cup of icing)
To make the spinkles, place the icing in a baggie and cut of a very small corner tip to “pipe out” dots. You can also use a pastry bag with a #3 tip. Each row took roughly 15-20 seconds, so this process was much faster then I had imagined.
I then let them sit out overnight, but found that they were actually dry and ready to be used after a few hours.
I did eight rows of 18-20 dots, so ended up with roughly 160 dots.
This ended up being the perfect amount for a sweet little cake!
To make the sprinkles cake simple bake your favorite flavor cake and cover in buttercream frosting.
Next I cut out 8 strips of parchment paper (you can also use wax paper). My cake was baked in a 6-inch cake pan, so I made each strip about 2 1/2 inches wide and 10 inches long.
I placed them around the cake, leaving approximately a 2 1/2-inch space between each strip.
Starting in the first blank panel, I add sprinkles to cover the area. Nothing fussy about it — you can just smoosh them into the cake.
Keep adding as many sprinkles as you would like until the panel is completely covered. You can then move on to your next blank panel and next sprinkle color.
When you have finished adding all your sprinkles, I would put the cake in the freezer for no less than 30 minutes or in the refrigerator for no less than 1 hour.
This will help the frosting set and allow the parchment to be removed in nice, clean strips.
Although I loved the crisp lines of the cake, I couldn’t help but go back and add the remainder of my sprinkles.
I just mixed them all together then placed them around the base of the cake for a burst of color.
The color and flavor combinations for these little dots are limitless. You can even use the parchment technique I created and make shapes or words!
And honestly, while I love looking at all the beautiful and colorful sprinkles at the store, I dont love buying them. It can be $5 for just one bottle!
This is a very economical way to decorate your cakes and cookies!
Those are so cute! I love the idea of making my own sprinkles!
Thanks girl! Hope your day is amazing!
I had seen a recipe for homemade jimmies somewhere online, but I don’t think they used a flavoring. Good idea!
Oh thanks! Yes, when I originally researched it there were a lot of recipes using royal icing or fondant. And we all know I am just to lazy for that.
hey ,thanx aot forthis wonderful idea…hey i dont have corn syrup..is it necessary…
plus can you teach us to make coloured sugar ..plzzz
Love this!! What a great idea. Thanks! Your cake looks wonderful with them…
Well thank you!
Wow I am amazed,….:)
Really cute idea!! Love it, and my 3 yr old niece can go through 2 bottles of sprinkles on 12 cupcakes. Which are then too gross to eat. Maybe this will help
Oh yes… my kids do that same! lol
Oh boy, this just got added to my weekend to-do list. Thanks for sharing! Definitely forgiven, I ascribe to the “better late than never” school of thought
I like the way you think!
They’re so cute! I can’t get over it!
oh, thanks sweety!! :
I have actually done this with just royal icing before, but it was kind of crumbly… do these have the consistency of the kind of sprinkles you’d find in a store, or are they more like quins? It would be so neat to be able to make my own jimmies!
Right now I buy most of my sprinkles at the bulk store, it’s much cheaper than getting the fancy little bottles at the grocery or specialty stores, but the selection is limited.
Thank you for sharing!
I thought the consistency was very similar to that of a jimmy or sprinkle. Not hard at all. I hope you make them and let me know your thoughts!
Homemade awesomeness!! Love it!
thanks sweet girl! have a great day!
THESE ARE SUPER CUTE!!
How long do you think these will last? Like, can I make a ton and store them in containers to use in the future? Or are they a use ASAP sort of sprinkle?
I saved mine for about three months last time, but when I took them out to use them (I had stored them in the fridge) they were stuck together and it took forever to separate. (not worth it!) I would maybe try sifting them with powder sugar or flour before storing to help with the ‘sticky’ problem. If you want to store them at room temp for a long period of time, I would switch the milk in the recipe to water. Hope that helps! Let me know how it goes!
Use CORN STARCH for mixing in to keep dry in storage. Keep in cool place. As when making homemade mints, you can either keep in the fridge or a cupboard. Before use, open cover to air dry again. You don’t want the storage to incubate food mold.
Corn starch is the silica for food.
Would I use the cornstarch as an ingredient, or would I mix it into the jar I store them in to ensure they stay separate?
Brilliant Idea!! i might use it next time!!!
Unbelievable…now I can make the colors I want! Thanks!
Sure! Happy baking…errr… I mean sprinkle making!
This is such a good idea! And they look stunning in stripes – the very definition of simple and effective.
Thank you so much Courtney!
No. Way.
Homemade sprinkles!!! You are so smart! And I love that cake…so simple and so darling! Even *I* might be able to decorate that. Maybe.
{{PS…I’m up this late decorating a cake. And I thought cookies took a long time!!!}}
lol You are the cutest! Cant wait to see your cake. I know it will be fab!
This is so fun!! What a great idea. Thanks for sharing!
Soooo sweet! The uniqueness of each sprinkle adds a perfect touch to the cake…
What a neat way to think about it!
What a great idea! I never seem to have the colour of sprinkles that I actually want so I’m excited to try making my own.
Cool!! Hope you have fun with it!
thx for sharing; bookmarked !
Thanks! Have a blessed day!
what can be done to make this vegan? would almond or coconut milk work? Also would like to use all natural plant-based food colors-beets,spinach,carrots. Is powered sugar vegan?
I know you can buy Organic powder sugar, but I do not know about vegan. Also, you can use water in place of the milk. Happy baking!
I loved seeing this sprinkles last year! I have had the recipe in my head for such a long time. Now I MUST make them!
Great idea and tutorial and a lovely cake too!
Thanks Paula!! I was just thinking about your STUNNING royal icing work… you have got such a gift for that!!
LOVE this cake. So sweet and simple, yet perfectly gorgeous.
I remember this post, and this is such a good idea! I also wanted to mention that I nominated you for the Versatile Blogger Award today. If you’d like to see my post where I mentioned you, it’s at http://sweetfancydesigns.wordpress.com/2012/04/21/versatile-blogger-award/
Thank you so much!
I LOVE this idea and have added the super simple recipe to my stash. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for sharing, this is great. Where we live (China) sprinkles are hard too find, found some but in limited colors and way too expensive. I will definitely opt for home made now
)
of course you made homemade sprinkles! and yours are prettier than anything I have seen on the shelves of Surfas. This IS the product you need to start branding, lady….I can see i now!
lol You are such a great encourager girl!! Thank you for those kind words!
Your blog is so inspiring!Thank You for Your great ideas!I have some royal icing left so i will make some sprinkles!:) Greeatings from Italy!
Beautiful and simple sprinkles, I can’t wait to try! I love the cake as well!
How did I have no idea that homemade sprinkles were so simple? These are stunning, I love how you decorated that cake. Thanks for the ideas!
Oh my word – homemade sprinkles! SPRINKLES! Sorry but I just love sprinkles. What a fantastic idea – oh the possibilities – thank you so very very much. My sprinkle fetish is not going to go away ever now and I blame you for that
You have the best ideas!
So pretty! I love that look of the different color stripes.
They look so nice and attractive colors!
Great idea especially when you need an usual color of sprinkle to match a theme!
How stinking cute! I am thought about making my own before, but the instructions I’ve seen you pipe a thin straight line and then cut it up. I think I like your way better
I would never have thought to make my own sprinkles, but what a great idea! These are so darn cute!! I definitely have to try it.
The look of them on the paper reminds me of the candy dots!
Another awesome idea! Can’t wait to make these with my boys! Yes, EVERYONE loves sprinkles!
Awesome Idea!!! I will be making this!!!!! such easy ingredients!
Amanda, I can’t believe you just whipped up batches of homemade sprinkles. You’re amazing and MUST have the patience of Job.
Not only is this a great idea but nowI have something for my 8 year old grandson to help me with when he visits this weekend. He loves to bake so he should find this fun.
Amazing!!!
I Love this! Just one question… any substitute for the corn syrup??? I don’t have that here, in Spain!!!!
Congrats Amanada!
Amanda, these are fabulous!!
I have offered to do a rainbow cake for a family member’s birthday this weekend and was stuck on what to do for decoration… these will be perfect & will tie into my rainbow cake theme perfectly.
Thank you for sharing!
This looks delicious! Thanks for the idea…and the Sugar Rush!
So clever and colorful. Homemade “dots” candy.
I love your blog!! Definitely will try making these…beautiful!!
Awesome…they remind me of the candy dots I used to get as a child…Sometimes you just cant find the exact shade of sprinkle that you need…thanks for this great idea!!
so pretty! they do remind me of those dot candies! these would make great party favors too!
Who knew they were so easy to make?! This is a great recipe to keep for when I can’t find the color sprinkles I need in a store. That cake looks so fun!
I ADORE THIS!!!! Thank you so much for sharing it … And, yes on the gel coloring. I discovered it this weekend for a project at my church. SO much more vivid than regular food coloring.
Like many other posters, it reminds me of the candy dots on paper that we used to buy at the candy store. So much fun!
That looks so fun and easy! Thank you for sharing
You are incredible! I just want to do all your recipes!!! Love them all! Thanks for sharing! I have so much to learn…just start baking….
So creative, thank you! I would never of even thought of using icing like this as sprinkles. How long would they keep f you wanted to make lots to store? And would RI work better if I wanted to store away? Thanks again.
Hey…. these look so pretty.. would love to try them soon….!!
These are a fantastic idea, I’m just wondering how it would go making long thin lines instead of dots and then just breaking them up? Do you think they would break easily, and what about the consistency? Maybe a bit runnier? I’m always trying to re-invent the wheel unfortunately, but I do love this idea!
What a fantastic idea! I need to do this and SOON! =D
Amazing! This is a great skill to keep in your baking box… Just in case you’re out, or it’s 2am and you’re still finishing a cake… *ahem*
Great post!
So i tried making them but idk what happen i made them last evening and they are not done yet, then when i was putting them on the wax paper if i put them too close they would end up together and forming not a circle but something else, why did my mixture came out too thin and slipery i only added what the recipe said??? Thanks!
Sounds like the consistency was just a bit runny… you can thicken it up by adding more powder sugar.
My neighbor gal just made these and it took until the 3rd batch where she found a lot less fluid make it better. So go easier on the milk.
I tried this tonight, but placed another piece of parchment paper over the top to make flat sprinkles :] It turned out wonderfully!
What a great idea!:)
Your blog is inspiring.
I actually can’t belive how amazing your decorations are! I have recently had a lot of decorating stuff of my hubby for christmas and valentines day … i presume he is hinting!
I love baking, but now thanks to this blog I can now have beautiful cakes aswell.
Thanks
K x
Oh my god!!! Thank you so much for posting this recipe. I love it!!! Although ive been sitting here for a couple of days making. 6 different colors of them…I love it. I’m doing a cake for my 5 year old daughter and her class. I have them seperate in color coded containers (thanks to koolaid containers of different flavors)and I will be using them a lot. Thanx again!!!
This is a great recipe thanx! can u give me a substitute for corn syrup as i live in Srilanka and its pretty hard to find? awesome recipe once again!
Hi I juste can’t get these out of my head, but I haven’t got the time to try them. This weekend is my moment, so I will take the plunge! I was wondering, can you use them to make funfetti cupcakes/cakes/cookies/anything funfetti???!!!!
I woulds want them to juste make a big blob of color in my cake!
Thank you so much, you are great!!
I really wanted my son’s 3rd birthday party to be as stress-free as possible since I kind of went nutz-o last year, but these will be the perfect little touch to make it more “semi-homemade”. So cute and easy! Thanks for sharing!
These look perfect because they aren’t!! I love the imperfect look.
I don’t usually leave comments…But I just had to let you know your homemade sprinkles made my daughter’s life sweeter!!! She has a peanut allergy and cannot have commercially made sprinkles (they all have warnings)…cupcakes and ice cream isn’t as much fun without the sprinkles! So when I saw this post, I just had to try them. These sprinkles were a TOTAL SUCCESS! She absolutely loved them! Thank you for giving me the ability to make my little girl smile!!!
oh yeah!!! that just brightens my whole day!!
Just made them and impatiently waiting for them to dry!!! The consistency of the “batter” is great. Easy to use.
This is the greatest idea I have seen all day. I am so impressed right now, I think I need to sit here a while and admire..
thank you
Is there any substitute to corn syrup?
I LOVE this idea!! I need to make these sprinkles pronto thanks for sharing!
Has anyone tried substituting another syrup (honey, maple, agave?) for corn syrup? Light agave would probably not disrupt color and is less sticky than honey. If I give that a shot I’ll report back!