DIY Sprinkles
One of the first things we did when we started planning my daughter’s Dinosaur Party was figure out a color scheme. I always think that it’s easier to plan decorations when you have a set color scheme. We were looking for sprinkles to fit our purple and blue theme, but nothing was quite right. That was when we decided to make our own DIY Sprinkles. They were perfect. It really wasn’t that hard to do and we were able to get the exact colors that we wanted. We will be making our own DIY Sprinkles from now on.
How to Make DIY Sprinkles
You will need:
- Meringue Powder
- Regular or Clear Vanilla Extract
- Powdered Sugar
- Food Coloring
- Waxed Paper or Parchment Paper
- Decorating Bag
- Wilton #2 Tip
The DIY Sprinkles are made with Royal Icing. Here is our recipe:
- 1/2 cup Water
- 3 tbsp. Meringue Powder
- 1/2 tsp. Vanilla (use clear to have pure white icing)
- 4 cups Powdered Sugar
The first step for making Royal Icing is to mix the 1/2 cup of water with 3 tbsp. of meringue powder until foamy. Then add the 1/2 tsp of vanilla. If you need a pure white royal icing, use Clear Vanilla Extract instead of Regular Vanilla Extract.
Measure 4 cups or 1 lb. of powdered sugar.
Add sugar and mix until smooth.
We have been using the Wilton Color Right Food Coloring system recently. You really can get some beautiful frosting colors with this food coloring set. To make purple, we used 2 drops of pink and 1 drop of blue.
Once we had the perfect shade of purple, we loaded the royal icing into a decorating bag with a Wilton #2 decorating tip.
Then the process is super simple, pipe lines of royal icing onto a piece of wax or parchment paper. The lines don’t have to be perfectly straight or the exact same thickness because some variation in size will make the sprinkles more interesting and dimensional.
Let the royal icing lines dry overnight.
Finally, using a sharp knife cut the strips of royal icing into small sprinkles. The more varied the sizes the better. You can cut them very small for more of a sprinkle effect or bigger so they look like jimmies.
For us, 1/2 cup of royal icing made 1/2 cup of DIY sprinkles.
Not only is this easy to do but these DIY Sprinkles tasted so much better than store bought sprinkles. We combined our blue, white and purple DIY Sprinkles to make our own special mix that exactly matched the colors of our Dinosaur Party.
Look how perfectly they matched our Sprinkles and Swirls Cupcakes! Perfection! We are never going to use store bought sprinkles again!
I’m so excited to try these! Also..what tip did you use to frost? I am making mermaid cupcakes and wanted something to give me a wavy effect…thank you!
I made sprinkles from a different recipe on another blog. They melted into the cake icing after a few hours. How do these hold up? I’d like to try again if the results are better. Thanks.
Hi! We have never had that happen to the ones we’ve made. Here is a recipe where we used them: https://www.twosisterscrafting.com/confetti-sprinkles-sugar-cookie-bars/ with a buttercream frosting.
I’ve made royal icing transfers for cakes before and have also experienced it “melting” into the cake though it didn’t effect the design. I don’t want that with a sprinkle look though.
Could it be that I use Swiss meringue buttercream almost exclusively, I wonder?
Wow!!! I am super impressed with your DIY sprinkle idea! It looks like It isnt too complicated (perfect for me), and really pretty quick (for when I forget to pick up those special touches, like sprinkles!). I would also be willing to bet that your DIY ingredients are a better quality with less chemicals than the store bought ones, (but I haven’t checked, so don’t quote me….)lol. Regardless, a wonderful idea that has motivated me, and given me tons of ideas! Thanks!!!
You’re welcome. It is fun to make your own sprinkles!
Instead of piping lines, could you spread it in a thin layer and then cut the whole thing when done?
Hi Stephanie, I don’t think a thin layer will work. It would be very difficult to cut thin enough lines to make the sprinkles. I think that when you try to cut it it will splinter like a spider web.
Can you add flavoring to this meringue sprinkle mixture?
Hi Sharon, adding flavoring is a great idea!
I’ve never liked store-bought sprinkles because they taste waxy, how do these compare?
Hi – I know what you mean. These sprinkles are not waxy at all. They are the consistency of royal icing if you’ve ever had that on a cookie before.
Whoa … cool. We are going to buy one of these today! Thank you so much for telling us about this!!!
That’s so cool! also I found another tip about using a pizza cutter to slice thru the finished sprinkles. It may be easier for some people or even faster than a butcher knife.
This is also a good idea. Going to try that next time!!!
Hi two sisters! Just want to ask the life span of your homemade sprinkles, thanks!
Since we use meringue powder, they last a long time. We store them in an airtight container and have used them up to six months later. I always use the smell test, and so far we have never had a problem.
This may be a stupid question. Will the homemade sprinkles last even longer in an airtight container stored in the freezer? Thanks ladies, love your site!
Hi Kristi, in an airtight container…yes. I don’t think the freezer will make any difference and you run the risk of them changing colors or getting freezer burn.