This fun and flavorful recipe for Small Batch Valentine Cupcakes makes 6 pretty pink cupcakes with the most velvety vanilla buttercream frosting.

Six Small Batch Valentine Cupcakes with Pink Frosting and Sprinkles

When the kiddo asks for pink cupcakes, I make pink cupcakes!

Since Valentine’s Day is coming up in a few weeks I decided to really lean in with pink on pink on pink overload. Forgive me. Once inspiration strikes I cannot be stopped.

Feel free to make this luxe buttercream frosting any color your heart desires – they’re beyond easy to customize for any and every occasion and because it’s a small batch recipe, you only have 6 cupcakes to decorate.

Less work means faster cupcake to face delivery.

Twist my arm will ya?

Pink Valentine Cupcakes with Frosting and Sprinkles

Valentine Cupcakes on Cake Stand with Pink Frosting

Cupcake and Frosting Ingredients Needed

The ingredients you’ll need are super simple and most, if not all, of them are probably hanging in your fridge and pantry as we speak.

Cupcake Ingredients

softened unsalted butter
granulated sugar
egg white from one large egg
vanilla extract
all-purpose flour
baking powder
milk (I used 2%)
salt
sprinkles and frosting for decorating

Crazy basic right? Sometimes the simple recipes really are the best! For the base recipe, I used the delicious Small Batch Vanilla Cupcake recipe from Tracy at Baking Mischief and paired it with my go-to vanilla buttercream frosting recipe.

For the full cupcake instructions, see the printable recipe card below.

Tools Needed

You’ll want to use an electric hand mixer (or a stand mixer works if you prefer) as cupcakes really benefit from having the butter and sugar creamed together and you’ll need it for the frosting as well. Since it’s a small batch recipe I simply break out the hand mixer and give my stand mixer a much needed break.

Since we’re making a half dozen cupcakes, you will also need a 6-cup cupcake pan with paper liners.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

half cup unsalted butter (113 grams) softened to room temp
one and a half cups powdered sugar (approx. 180 grams)
half tsp pure vanilla extract
one to two tablespoons of heavy cream
teeny pinch of fine salt

This is enough frosting to frost the cupcakes with a some additional frosting left over to play with design types. Any leftover frosting can be stored in the fridge for later and can even be frozen.

I went with a pastel pink piped rose design and little hot pink succulents. Feel free to divide the batter and color it however you’d like (pink and green also look great together as well as pink and purple or pink and red, etc…) using gel food coloring.

You can even tint the icing pink with some fresh strawberry puree if you’d like. Simply add the berry puree at the end adjust the powdered sugar ratio as needed. You can check out Sugar Spun Run’s Strawberry Buttercream Tutorial for more tips on how to make a rockin’ strawberry frosting.

Cupcake Frosting Instructions

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a large mixing bowl using a handheld mixer, beat the butter until smooth and creamy, stopping to scrape down sides as needed. Add the powdered sugar and mix on low speed at first to incorporate then increase to medium speed and continue mixing for 1-2 minutes or until fully combined. Add the heavy cream, vanilla extract, and salt and continue mixing on medium speed until everything is well combined. Color the frosting, if desired, using gel food coloring.