Welcome to Sprinkle Rush, our kids cupcake baking challenge! Our girls, Kiera and Sylvie, practiced their culinary design skills to make and design their best cupcakes. They love baking, sampling sweet treats, and of course, watching baking show competitions. Kiera and Sylvie were very eager to do their own baking challenge! Each child received baking supplies, a simple recipe and 60 minutes (baking time not included) to make a batch of six cupcakes.
We stayed at home a lot this spring and summer, just like many other families. Some weeks we didn’t leave our house or yard at all. Between homeschooling, yard work, and pandemic-inspired social distancing, we were ready for a creative project.
Video! Sprinkle Rush Cupcake Baking Competition
Kiera (age 7) and Sylvie (age 5) each worked independently (and sometimes together) to make their own custom-designed cupcakes. Kiera set out to make lemon cupcakes with lemon curd filling and fresh blueberry icing. Sylvie decided to make orange cupcakes with lemon icing. It was very fun to watch the girls design their cupcakes with a variety of pretty edible accents!
Baking is a great way to get kids involved in the kitchen. My girls really benefit from learning how to follow instructions and carefully use our kitchen tools. By helping me cook, they’ve learned how to use our hand-held mixer, measure out ingredients and crack eggs. Sprinkle Rush was the perfect time for Kiera and Sylvie to put their skills to the test!
Kids Baking Challenge Set-Up
You can easily set up your own kids baking challenge with a few basic supplies. Before the challenge started, I set out a variety of kitchen tools for each of my girls to use. For each child’s baking kit, I included:
- 2 mixing bowls
- quart mason jar with spatulas
- tray
- measuring cups and measuring spoons
- scissors
- cupcake pan with 6 holes
Sprinkle Rush Cupcake Ingredients
I also gave my kids the basic cupcake ingredients and a Sprinkle Kitchen cupcake recipe card. You can find the printable below!
- 1 cup flour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/8 tsp. baking soda
- 3/4 tsp. baking powder
- sprinkle of salt
- 6 tbsp. butter (melted)
- 1 egg white
- 1/4 cup cream cheese
- 1/4 cup milk
- flavoring
Sprinkle Kitchen Cupcake Recipe Printable
To save this printable, right click the image and “save as”.
Kids Kitchen Chemistry
My girls really enjoyed making their lemon and orange cupcakes and decorating them with tiny treats.
Following instructions is very important when making cupcakes. Furthermore, baking in the kitchen is a great way to for kids to do basic chemistry. In many recipes, the wet ingredients “activate” the dry ingredients which causes the batter to rise in the oven.
Kiera and Sylvie learned that they needed to first mix together the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. Next, they whisked together the wet ingredients; melted butter, egg white, cream cheese, milk and flavoring. Finally, they added the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.
Additionally, cooking in the kitchen helps kids develop some important motor skills. Spooning the batter into the lined cupcake tins is a great exercise in hands-on baking skills. My girls practiced distributing even amounts of cupcake batter into each section of the cupcake pan.
DIY Cupcake Design
Decorating cupcakes is the best part! It takes a surprising amount of practice to make beautiful icing swirls on top of cupcakes. My girls really enjoyed piping their homemade icing onto their cupcakes and decorating them with edible flowers, chocolate stars and gummy butterflies.
Judging the Cupcake Challenge
Highlighted in our YouTube video, our girls were delighted to have Daddy judge their cupcakes! After working hard on their designs, Kiera and Sylvie each presented their confectionery creations.
Kiera made lemon cupcakes with homemade blueberry icing. She decorated her cupcakes with sprinkles, edible white roses and molded chocolate stars. She added pops of color with gummy butterflies and Sweet Tarts candies. Inside the cupcakes she added the best surprise of all, tangy lemon curd filling! Kiera’s tasty lemon cupcakes won the prize for best flavor.
Sylvie made orange cupcakes with bright yellow lemon frosting. Her cupcake decorations included gummy butterflies, jelly beans and sprinkles. Some of her cupcakes she cleverly baked inside ice cream cones.
This Sprinkle Rush cupcake challenge was a fun way for our girls to spend time together in the kitchen, while also making creative treats.
A kids baking challenge is a great way for kids to enjoy learning at home while also having a lot of fun!
Hi, I’m Katie! I live with my husband and 3 kids in beautiful Coeur d’Alane, Idaho. I love Jesus, coffee, DIY projects, photography, homeschooling my kids, traveling, and serving people. I’ve previously worked as a graphic designer, web designer, journalist and barista. I started Create. Play. Travel. to share some of our creative projects and family adventures. I hope you enjoy the highlights of our creative family life!
