Types of Sprinkles

Sprinkles are like the confetti of the edible world. I absolutely love sprinkles. They're a lot of fun. They add color, they add texture and of course they add way more sweetness than I think anybody should ever want, but they're super important when we're decorating, especially when we're decorating small items, like cupcakes. So let me talk you through a few different styles of sprinkles and we'll see what we can do with these as we move into some of our classes. So sprinkles are basically sugar. The more traditional style of sprinkle is this style here, which is also referred to as a Jimmy. So depending upon where you are in the world, you may reference some of these as different names, but they're the same thing. They are usually tubular and they have a variety of colors. You could have a mixture of colors or even just a single solid color, but Jimmies are typically what you would find on like an ice cream sundae, and of course on cupcakes. The next style is a nonpareil. And that simply just means that it's a teeny tiny little bead. And these are just a way to, again, add more color, add a little bit of texture. These are a variety of colors, as well, and they tend to come in metallics too, which is really nice because they add a bit of shine, as well. The next style would be more of just a candy style. Now this could be as something like a confetti or a pearl or in all sorts of different shapes, and in this case, we've got some different types of leaves. So these particular candies are really versatile in that you can find them in some really neat themed styles and they come in a variety of shapes. Over here we have another style of candy. We actually have some chocolates. These are mini chocolate chips. These are little candy chocolate crunches that are coated. These are actually sunflowers seeds. And then of course we have something called a sixlet, which is more of a chocolate kind of crunchy coating on the inside, as well. Again, they come in a variety of shapes and sizes and different things on the inside. What you want to be careful of when picking something like this is whether your client or any of your family members have any nut allergies, seed allergies, those types of things, because you don't want to accidentally put a candy piece on top of a cupcake that could potentially have an allergy issue in the long run. This style up here is actually a variety of sugars and there are different styles of sugars, believe it or not. This teeny tiny sugar, this is actually more of a very traditional what you would call a table sugar, except that it has color to it. So an easy way to make your own is just by using a little bit of food gel color in very traditional sugar, table sugar that you would buy and just rubbing it together inside of a plastic bag, you can make your own sugar, which is really fun because if you can't find the color that you need at the store, you can make your own. The next style of sugar, these two here, these are actually called a sparkling sugar, and these are a slightly larger grain of sugar compared to our traditional table sugar. And it's just got a little bit more texture to it, and it tends to have more surface area for catching the light as far as some flatter edges. So what you'll see with this is you'll have some sugar that's really dull and some sugar that's a little bit brighter and more sparkly. It just kind of catches the light a little differently. And then these last two here are actually called rock sugar. So the difference is mainly in size. These are much larger pieces of sugar that have formed together, and they tend to come in white, but again, you can also get them in colors, as well. And you can use with this particular style of rock candy, you actually want to put it in a bag with a little bit of airbrush color so that it doesn't dissolve everything and stick together. So this particular type of sugar is really nice for coloring with airbrush. And then our last style of sprinkle is glitter. So there are a couple of different styles of glitter. They are basically pieces of gelatin that have been rolled out really, really thin, layered thinly, and then broken up. And it just creates this really beautiful sparkle. These in white remind me a little bit more of like a snowflake. So if you're looking for a lighter texture, something that isn't really crunchy or large, like some of our other sprinkle options, the glitter is a better option for just a more delicate look. And lastly, we have some candies. Now, what's fun about these is again, they come in a lot of themes, colors, shapes, sizes, but these are true candies. They're very crunchy, very hard. So you want to be careful when you're choosing to use a candy like this, not to put too many on one cupcake because you'll end up crunching more on candy than you will on your cupcake itself. And so use those sparingly, in my opinion. I just don't think that they're perfect for cupcakes, although one or two here and there can really bring a theme together for you. So that's different styles of sprinkles. Again, a lot of these can be found at your local stores. I encourage you to check out your stores, see what you can find. Source them online if you need to, if you're looking for a particular product, but these are just really great ways to enhance your cupcakes.