How to Make Sprinkles With Pastry Chef Joanne Chang
Written by MasterClass
Last updated: Feb 28, 2022 • 3 min read
If you’re going to make every other component of a cake from scratch, why not make homemade sprinkles as well? Going the DIY route allows you to customize the colors and length of your sprinkles, and the recipe isn’t difficult—all you need is a place for them to dry overnight. Learn how to make sprinkles with step-by-step guidance from Flour Bakery’s Joanne Chang.
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About Joanne Chang
Joanne Chang is a Boston-based pastry chef and the co-owner of Flour Bakery. The award-winning pastry chef has a degree with honors in applied mathematics and economics from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Passionate about baking since her college days, Joanne left her consulting job to work in restaurants, eventually opening Flour Bakery in 2000. Since then, she expanded the bakery to eight more locations, opened a Taiwanese-inspired restaurant, won a reality TV cooking competition and a James Beard Award, and wrote five cookbooks.
Despite her long list of accolades, Joanne still delights in the alchemy of baking: simple ingredients that, when combined with the right techniques, transform into something magical. Learn to bake like a pro with Joanne Chang.
What Are Sprinkles?
A sprinkle is a very small, often colorful, candy used to decorate desserts, from birthday cakes to confetti sugar cookies and ice cream. Also known as hundreds-and-thousands (in the United Kingdom) and jimmies (in the Northeastern United States), sprinkles are a common sight in the baking aisle of most grocery stores.
If you have the drying time, making your own sprinkles from scratch is a fun DIY project: Simply fill a piping bag with royal icing and pipe long lines onto parchment or wax paper. Let them dry overnight, then cut the thin lines into small pieces.
4 Tips for Making Sprinkles
If you have powdered sugar and a piping bag, you can make sprinkles like a pro. Here’s what to know about this easy DIY baking project.
- 1. Whip your egg whites before measuring. Slightly whipping your egg whites can make the gelatinous substance easier to measure.
- 2. Work with one color at a time. Keep the sprinkle paste covered with plastic wrap when not in use, and pipe out your sprinkles one color at a time to prevent the mixture from drying out.
- 3. Use a pizza cutter. You can use a regular knife to cut sprinkles; however, using a sharp pizza cutter makes the process faster and reduces the chances of crushing the sprinkles.
- 4. Add sprinkles at the last minute. Decorate your cake or cupcakes with homemade sprinkles just before serving, as colored sprinkles will start to bleed after a few hours.
Joanne Chang’s Homemade Sprinkles Recipe
makes
About 1 cupprep time
20 mintotal time
20 minIngredients
Notes: You will need just under one large egg white for this recipe—slightly whipping the white makes measuring much easier.
Additionally, the total time does not include up to 24 hours of inactive time.
- 1
Sift the confectioners’ sugar after measuring it out.
- 2
Line 3 or 4 baking sheets with parchment paper and set them aside. If you don’t have that many baking sheets, cover a work surface with parchment sheets in a part of your kitchen that won’t be disturbed for 24 hours.
- 3
In a small bowl, combine the confectioners’ sugar, egg white, salt, and vanilla extract, and whisk until smooth.
- 4
Add up to 1 tablespoon of water, whisking it in one teaspoon at a time (there are 3 teaspoons in 1 tablespoon), until the paste has the same texture as peanut butter.
- 5
Divide the paste into 3 or 4 bowls, depending on how many colors you’re making. Cover each bowl with plastic wrap.
- 6
Working with one bowl at a time to prevent the paste from drying out, stir 2–3 drops of food coloring into the paste. More drops will make for more vibrant colors. Leave one bowl uncolored if you want to make white sprinkles.
- 7
Spoon one bowl of paste into a pastry bag fitted with a small round tip or a resealable plastic bag with one of its bottom corners cut.
- 8
Pipe long, straight lines onto one of the prepared baking sheets, using all of the paste.
- 9
Wash and dry the bag and tip or plastic bag, and repeat with the remaining bowls of paste.
- 10
Dry all of the paste overnight, uncovered, at room temperature.
- 11
The next day, cut the paste into ¼-inch pieces using a pizza cutter.
- 12
You can store sprinkles indefinitely in an airtight container at room temperature. Decorate your cake with the sprinkles just before serving, as colored sprinkles will start to bleed after a few hours.
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