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!

Want more ideas for making Homemade Sprinkles? Check out these other options!!

These are SO EASY!

Check out these beauties from Bigger Bolder Baking!

Saveur Homemade Sprinkles Recipe

Share with your friends!

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Meet Amanda Rettke

Amanda Rettke is the creator of I Am Baker, and the bestselling author of Surprise Inside Cakes: Amazing Cakes for Every Occasion – With a Little Something Extra Inside.Over the course of her 15+ year blogging adventure, she has been featured in and collaborated with the Food Network, New York Times, LA Times, Country Living Magazine, People Magazine, Epicurious, Brides, Romantic Homes, life:beautiful, Publishers Weekly, The Daily Mail, Star Tribune, The Globe and Mail, DailyCandy, YumSugar, The Knot, The Kitchn, and Parade, to name a few.

Reader Comments

  1. 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.

  2. Amazing!!!

    I Love this! Just one question… any substitute for the corn syrup??? I don’t have that here, in Spain!!!!

    Congrats Amanada!

  3. 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! 🙂

  4. 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!!

  5. so pretty! they do remind me of those dot candies! these would make great party favors too!

  6. 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!

  7. 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.

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