How to Make Rainbow Cupcakes

If there's one thing i love more than rainy days, it's definitely rainbow days. I've always been a fan of the colors of the rainbow. ROYGBIV, i know it's colors by heart. For me, the rainbow is a symbol of happiness and it also brings back memories of me and my sisters when we were young. 


Anyway, since i'm super duper fond of rainbows i make sure to make rainbow cakes and cupcakes once in awhile.
NOTE: This cake contains happiness. When i bring rainbow cupcakes to friends they always seem to go "oohh" "ahhhh", "how did you do this?", "i love the color combination" and the compliment goes on and on.


Sometimes I struggle with what I want to bake and bring to parties. There are so many things that factor into my decision: portability, travel-bility, allergies, in/formality of event, age group of dessert eaters etc etc. But this time I knew exactly what I wanted to make. So I threw caution to the wind. I didn’t even think twice about it. Whenever i feel confused on what to bring, i always go for rainbow cupcakes with frosting. Trust me, it won't let you down. 


Let me share one of my favorite cupcake recipe of all times.

INGREDIENTS

For cupcakes
2-1/2 cups AP flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1-1/2 cup sugar
12 tbsp (1-1/2 sticks) butter, Note: room temperature
2 large egg + 2 egg white, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract or if you are using vanilla powder 1/4tsp. will do
1 cup milk Note: you can go for half and half or evaporated milk
Food coloring: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple 

For Frosting:
Buttercream Recipe -- I've always used Wilton's recipe

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine softened
• 1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract
  Easy-Add clear vanilla extractAdd to shopping list clear vanilla extract
• 4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar (approximately 1 lb.)
• 2 tablespoons milk

Makes:

About 3 cups of icing.

*if you only need a little amount of butter cream you could try this recipe:
1/4 stick of softened butter
2-3 cups of powdered sugar *add it 1/2 cup at a time, texture should be soft but not runny. if your mixtures seems a little dry add a teaspoon of milk, if its to runny add more powdered sugar
1-2 tbsp. of milk

INSTRUCTIONS

To make cupcakes—
Preheat oven to 350F. Line cupcake pan with paper liners.

In a large bowl, sift flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In a stand mixer, fitted with flat beater, beat the sugar and butter until well combined, about 2-3 minutes. Add eggs and egg whites, one at a time, beating on low.

Then add vanilla. Gradually add flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with milk in 2 additions, ending with the flour mixture.

Divide the batter into 6 different bowls. Add food coloring per bowl and mix to combine until you get the vibrant color you want. Add batter color by color, about 1 tbsp of each color until all the colors fill the cupcake liner about 1/2-2/3 full.

Pipe buttercream rosting on cupcake with Wilton 1M star tip and garnish with rainbow sprinkles or skittles! 

Happy Baking, 

Dina

Thanks to: http://iheartcuppycakes.com