Rainbow Cupcakes

Steph H.'s Note:

These cupcakes have become quite popular on several of the Livejournal baking communities. They are fun, funky, and very easy to make! A great project to do with kids!

• Total Time: 35 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 12 Cupcakes

• 19 1/2 ounces white cake mix
• 3 eggs
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup water
• 6 ounces food coloring (Gel food coloring is best, Betty Crocker offers traditional colors as well as neon colors)
• 8 ounces cream cheese frosting

Directions:

1. Mix the cake batter according to package directions.
2. Evenly divide prepared batter into several different bowls. The amount of bowls will depend on the amount of colors you want for your cupcakes.
3. Add a generous amount of gel food coloring to each bowl until you have a vibrant batter.
4. I usually mix 7 bowls - red, orange, pink, yellow, green, blue, and purple.
5. Line your muffin tin with paper cups and then begin spooning the colored batter into the cups.
6. Add batter color by color, one tablespoon of red in each of the cups, then added a tablespoon of orange on top of the red, and so on until all colors were used. The colors will not "leak".
7. Fill the cups approximately 2/3 full of batter.
8. Bake as directed on the box.
9. Allow the cupcakes to cool completely, and frost to your liking.
10. I used whipped cream cheese frosting to give the cupcakes a "cloud" effect.

Reviews

[Kaety]

Wonderful idea! I just made these for my best friend, as i can't really afford to get her a nice birthday gift this year. She absolutely adored them!

[Krystine]

These were amazing!! Such a great idea! Used a from-scratch recipe instead of a box mix, and had some neon food coloring on hand. They look great. :)

[alligirl]

These were enjoyed by my son's classmates, for his birthday. I see that the yield is 12-16, but can't figure out why a cake mix that typically makes 24, only made 21. Somewhere, I lost 3 cupcakes in translation. I only used 5 colors (red, orange, green, blue and purple) and even dividing everything equally didn't let me use all colors in all cupcakes. It's OK, as I called them kaleidoscope cupcakes, instead. I made cream cheese frosting and sprinkled with non-pareils. They were very pretty to look at, also! Thanks for sharing the great recipe, Steph H.