Recipe Research Description:
This recipe explores homemade Funfetti cupcakes made from simple, scratch ingredients. The cupcakes are light, fluffy, and vanilla-scented, topped with a smooth, piped frosting and finished with colorful sprinkles. Ideal for birthdays and versatile enough for any celebration.
Ingredients
Butter, Salt, Baking Powder, Baking Soda, Vanilla, Eggs, Sugar, Flour, Milk, Powdered Sugar, Sour Cream, Sprinkles, Heavy Cream
Instructions
1. Mix Dry Ingredients: In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
2. Cream Butter and Sugar: In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and white sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy.
3. Add Eggs and Vanilla: Add in the eggs and vanilla extract, mixing on medium-low until fully combined.
4. Incorporate Dairy: Mix in the sour cream and milk until well blended.
5. Combine Wet and Dry Ingredients: Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and mix until the batter is smooth.
6. Add Sprinkles: Gently fold in the rainbow sprinkles.
7. Fill Cupcake Liners: Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners. Use a ¼-cup measuring cup to fill each liner with batter, leveling off the top.
8. Bake: Bake at 350°F for 18–23 minutes, or until the tops are set and spring back when touched. Let the cupcakes cool completely on a wire rack.
9. Prepare Frosting: In a stand mixer (or use a handheld mixer), beat the butter and salt on medium speed until creamy (about 2 minutes). Sift in the powdered sugar, add 3 tablespoons of cream and the vanilla, then mix on low for 1 minute. If the frosting is too thick, add more cream 1 teaspoon at a time. Increase to medium speed and beat until fluffy.
10. Frost and Decorate: Transfer the frosting to a piping bag fitted with a closed star tip. Pipe onto cooled cupcakes and top with extra sprinkles.
source: Preppy Kitchen
Recipe Websites
1. Preppy Kitchen
offers a visually polished and user-friendly recipe layout with a strong emphasis on structure and clarity. The site makes excellent use of hierarchy through clear headings, step numbering, and high-quality imagery that supports each instruction. A floating recipe card enhances usability by keeping key information accessible while scrolling. From a UX standpoint, the inclusion of pro tips, ingredient notes, and storage advice helps users feel more confident in their baking.
2. RecipeTin Eats
offers a clear and practical recipe layout that works well for both beginners and experienced bakers. The use of bold headings, step images, and well-structured content makes it easy to follow. It also does a great job of explaining the “why” behind each step, which helps build trust and confidence. However, the page layout feels a bit crowded, with all the content pushed to the right side and surrounded by ads and sidebars. This can make it harder to read and slightly overwhelming. Adding more white space or a simplified view could improve the overall user experience.
3. Cupcake Project
uses a traditional blog layout with a clear recipe block and helpful additions like FAQs and user questions. The friendly tone and practical baking tips make it approachable for home bakers. However, the overall layout could be improved: the main image is quite large, which pushes content down and makes it harder to view everything at once. The steps are also not numbered, which can be confusing for beginners trying to follow along. On the positive side, embedded links throughout the post are useful, allowing users to easily explore specific techniques or tools in more detail. More consistent spacing and visual organization would improve readability, especially on smaller screens.
Non-recipe Websites
1. Dropbox
’s design is minimalist and distraction free, with a strong focus on usability. Menus are simple, typography is clean, and calls to action are clear and consistent. For recipe design, emulating this means minimizing visual clutter (ads, unrelated links), keeping formatting consistent, and making key actions prominent (ex. “print recipe,” “save to favorites).
2. Notion
combines flexibility and structure: clean grids, collapsible sections, and modular content blocks. Users can expand or collapse what they need, reducing overload. Translating this to recipe UI could mean using collapsible instruction steps, tooltips or expandable sections.
3. Medium
Medium excels in content readability through clean typography, generous white space, and a distraction-free interface. Articles are broken up with subheadings, callouts, and high-contrast pull quotes. For recipe content, I can incorporate generous spacing, bold headings, and minimal styling to help users stay focused while cooking.