Rainbow Cupcakes (for St. Patrick's Day)

I've never been a huge celebrator of St. Patrick's Day. Sure, growing up we'd have corned beef and cabbage for dinner and wear green. For me, St. Patrick's Day became special only a few years ago, when my daughter got old enough for Leprechauns. Those little mischievous fellows would dye the milk in her cereal green, mess up her classroom at school, and scare the daylights out of her. Last year we had a party on St. Patrick's Day for some of her friends from school. This recipe, from Family Fun magazine, is from that party (before I started taking hundreds of pictures from every angle in the best lighting possible). I wish I had a photo of the inside of the cupcakes, but I don't. Lesson to everyone out there: if you make something super cute take lots of pictures, even if you don't have a blog!

  

The recipe is easy, but it takes some time to get the rainbow layers. Make your favorite cake batter (from a mix or your favorite recipe; it doesn't matter). Try to use a white cake mix, if you use the boxed kind. Cake batter is yellow and will alter some of the colors you use.  Separate the batter equally into six small bowls. Add a few drops of food coloring to each bowl, one bowl for each of the colors of the rainbow. (In case you're not sure, it goes red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple.) Start with the purple cake batter and divide it evenly among your cupcake liners. (I don't think I ended up with a full 24.) Then, working the rainbow backwards, finish your colors, ending with the red on top. Bake according to the box or recipe directions and top with your favorite white "cloud" frosting. The kids in your house will love them!

Enjoy!

Rainbow Cupcakes

Printer-Friendly Recipe

Ingredients:

1 recipe prepared cake batter (either your favorite recipe or a white cake box mix)
Food coloring: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple (you can use the regular grocery store kind and mix the colors, but gel food
        coloring works best for vibrant colors)
White frosting (canned or your favorite recipe)

Click here for one of my favorite cake/frosting combinations, if you want to work from scratch.

Directions:

1. Mix the cake batter according to the recipe or box directions. Line your muffin tins with cupcake liners. (Recipe makes 18-24 cupcakes.)
2. Divide your batter among six small bowls. Add food coloring to each bowl, one for each color of the rainbow (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple). Stir to combine.
3. You are going to layer the cupcakes into the liners in a reverse rainbow, so the purple is on the bottom and the red is on the top. Divide the purple cake batter evenly among the cupcake liners. Repeat with the remaining colors in this order: purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, red.
4. Bake according to recipe directions. Let cool completely. Frost with white frosting, to resemble clouds.

Makes 18-24 cupcakes

Source: Family Fun Magazine

Printed from www.CrazyforCrust.com