Rainbow Cupcakes

Want to know how I made the rainbow cupcakes from Wednesday's post? It's actually pretty easy. It takes extra time for mixing and splitting up the batter, but the results are totally worth it!

In case you'd like to give it a try, here's how I did it:

Supplies Needed

2 boxes white cake mix

Oil, eggs, water to make the cake mix

Large mixing bowl and spatula

Measuring cups and spoons

6 medium bowls

6 table spoons

Gel food coloring

Muffin/cupcake pan

Cupcake wrappers

Frosting, sprinkles, candy, etc for decorating

Oven

Cooling rack

I started out with the same method as I used for the rainbow birthday cake I posted about here.

Stop using the cake recipe after the batter is colored and get out your trusty muffin/cupcake pan and cupcake wrappers.

Using a table spoon--as in spoon from the table not a measuring spoon. You know, like this:

Okay, using the table spoons, scoop one color of batter gently on top of the next. Gently because you want the bottom layer to show on the bottom and not up the sides or on the top of the cupcake. You can't control how it bakes and it will do all kinds of cool tie-dye type things, but if you want it to resemble a rainbow then be careful when you layer the different colors of batter.

I like to do this part assembly line style filling one color at a time. It's monotonous but seems to make things go by a little bit faster. With that said, I can never resist the urge to make up just one with all the colors for fun. :) Try to resist. It's hard to do.

Don't be scared to fill the pan. 2/3 of the way full is what we're aiming for, but the more you add the bigger the cupcakes (generally speaking). I'm all for more cupcakes, so I say fill 'em up!

Once the pan is full, pop it in the oven for however long the box says to bake cupcakes. I generally like to check them at the earliest time listed on the box. That way I can pull them if they're done or give them another minute or few as needed. You can always cook them more, but you can't go back once they are over-cooked.

Slap some frosting and decoration on those babies and call them good!!

Other Things I Learned Along the Way

• Use white cake mix. Yellow cake mix leaves the colors washed out looking. If you don't mind that then go for the yellow cake mix (or add the egg yolks to the white cake mix). If you want bright, vivid colors then use white cake mix. I learned this one the hard way, folks.
• Use the cupcake wrappers. It will save you headache and heartache after you're done baking. For some reason, the batter is just a little more sticky than without the food coloring. It likes to stick to the pan. Another lesson learned the hard way over here.
• If you want a rainbow, then pay attention to the order you are using for the colors. Even then, you may not get a rainbow. Baked goods are unpredictable like that. Just keep in mind that no matter what, you'll have a colorful result.
• Don't add too much food coloring. You will be able to taste it. Just start with a few drops and keep adding until you have the color you want. The colors will get richer when baking, so if the red isn't red enough for you then bake a cupcake and see how it turns out. You may be surprised that the batter bakes up darker than it looks in the bowl.
• Be prepared to share the recipe if you take this to parties or other events. Everybody loves a rainbow cupcake.
• If you mess it up, who cares? Everybody loves a cupcake...even a weird colored one.

I found out recently that the Kaylah of the Dainty Squid also wrote a rainbow cupcake tutorial. I wish I'd seen it before my foray into rainbow cupcake baking. Actually, on second thought, I'm kind of happy I didn't see it first. We really enjoyed eating all the tester cupcakes before I found a method I liked best. Check out her tutorial for more tips!

If you bake them, please come back and share! I'd love to see your creations!

PARTY POSTING: Rainbow Cake!!

**Told you I'd be making up for lost posts. You get two today--one with a tutorial!!**

You know one of the things that I love about having kids?

Rainbow colored birthday cake.

Isn't it beautiful!?! I love rainbows and I love cake. So it just seemed like a good idea to put one together. I'm glad my daughter had the idea. Got to love the limitless imagination of a 4 year old. :) I was just happy to be able to fulfill the request.

The whole process was a little bit of extra time from a one-color cake and a whole lot of extra mixing, but all around pretty fun.

It looks so innocent in the vanilla frosting, doesn't it?

And it turned out...rainbow-ish. Yeah, yeah, it probably would have helped if I hadn't accidentally reversed the order of the colors when I poured the cake batter into the pans. Know what? It still tasted just as good as if the colors had been in order. So I'll take it!

Here's how: Rainbow Cake Tutorial

Step 1)  Buy a box of white cake mix, vanilla frosting, olive/vegetable oil, and eggs. Also purchase gel food coloring. Must be gel and not the liquid kind we're all used to. GEL, people. That is where the vivid color comes from. I found it at Fred Meyers (Kroger) in Alaska, you can probably find it at some other comparable grocery store where you are.

Step 2)  Preheat oven and prepare the cake batter as directed on the box. Don't forget to only use egg whites or else your white cake will turn out yellow. I don't know if using them would effect the final color of your rainbow cake, but I figure that it's best to start out with a blank slate and opted to make the traditional white.

Step 3)  Split the cake batter into 6 equal portions. You should now have 6 separate bowls of white cake batter.

Step 4) Add the food coloring and mix well. I found that I had to add a lot of red to make the batter not look pinkish while I didn't have to add much blue, purple, or yellow before the color looked right. Just add the food coloring until you have your desired  color.

Step 5)  TAKE THE TIME TO DO THIS STEP! Grease and line with parchment paper two 8 or 9 inch round pans.

I found that even when I followed the directions and let the cake cool completely, the bottoms were still stuck to the pans. Lucky for me, I was planning on icing the cake anyway but if I hadn't then I'd have been really pissed. Save yourself the pain in the ass. Just line the pans ahead of time.

Step 6)  Slowly pour one color of cake batter at a time into the center of the pans.

For a rainbow, use the following sequence:

Pan 1 - Red, orange, yellow

Pan 2 - Blue, green, purple

(For a cake like mine, reverse that order.)

Step 7)  Bake as directed on the box. Remove from the oven and let cool completely in the pans.

Step 8)  Once completely cool, invert Pan 2 onto a cake platter or plate. Spread frosting on top of the layer.

If the cake puffs up in the middle too much to lay flat on the plate, then you can trim the first 1/4 to 1/2 inch off of the top before inverting the pan.

Step 9)  Invert Pan 1 on top of the frosted first layer using the same method to level the cake as in Step 7.

Step 10)  Frost the cake starting from the middle on the top and working your way to the outsides.

Step 11)  Enjoy your creation!

My daughter cleaned her plate completely, but her brother left this behind:

Yes, those are crumbs on the floor. 

Yes, the dogs liked the rainbow cake, too.

And after all that, if you're still feeling fiesty then you can make cupcakes too!

I love how little bubbles of the other layers of color rose to the surface while the cupcakes were baking. I almost didn't want to cover them with frosting because I liked the effect so much. Then I remembered who I was baking these for...

I don't think the kids at daycare would appreciate the colors on top as much as the frosting so I went ahead and covered this up:

Original un-tweaked recipe can be found here: Omnomicon's Rainbow Cake.

Photo silhouettes and other goodies from this week

I made a couple more mushrooms and started the purple ninja for my friend this weekend. Sorry, no pictures yet. They will come soon enough.

So since I don't have pictures of many projects that I've done this weekend, I thought I'd mix in some cool things that I've come across this week.

First, here's a project that I did this weekend. It has changed a little bit since I took the pictures, but I wanted to share.

Inspired in part by Katie Sokoler at Color Me Katie (again!), I cut out some pictures of my family and taped them to our front door. Here is a close up of me:

The kids:
And what kind of show and tell would this be if I didn't share the whole window of the door?:

Now some things from my week...


Let's see, on Monday, I captured the elusive Super Keys.





To our right, you will notice an excerpt from a note that I left for my husband this week. What can I say? I love him...

...And I'm a little bit dorky...but it works for us.


On our left, we have a stamp from a letter that I received on Friday. It's Maggie Simpson! I'm impressed that the post office didn't stamp it. They must have known how awesome this stamp is or something.



That is what I made in my free time this week! How about you?

Keep your eyes open!

As I was pulling out of the coffee shop on my way to work this morning, I had to stop and wait for traffic. Being the constant day dreamer that I am, I looked up into the sky for a moment and saw something wonderful.

It was a rainbow peeking out of a hole in the clouds.

Sneaky little rainbow...

Thanks for making me smile.

Have you seen anything unexpected that made you smile lately?