Description
Sprinkles generally require frosting, ice cream, or some other sort of sticky material in order to stick to the desired food surface. They can be most commonly found on smaller confections such as cupcakes or frosted sugar cookies, as these generally have more frosting and smaller diameter than do cakes.
In the Netherlands, chocoladehagelslag (chocolate sprinkles) is used as a sandwich topping (similar to muisjes and vlokken); this is also common in Belgium, Suriname, and Indonesia, once colonies of the Netherlands. These countries also use vruchtenhagel and anijshagel (made of sugar and fruit/anise-flavour respectively) on sandwiches (mainly at breakfast). In Indonesia, it is commonly known as meses or meises, presumably derived from the Dutch word of muisjes. In Belgium it is often called muizenstrontjes (mouse excrement) due to the resemblance with mouse excrement.
Fairy bread is the name given to the children’s treat of sprinkles or nonpareils on buttered white bread. Fairy bread is commonly served at children’s parties in Australia and New Zealand.
A dessert called confetti cake has sprinkles mixed with the batter, where they slowly dissolve and form little colored spots, giving the appearance of confetti. Confetti cakes are popular for children’s birthdays in the United States.