Baking Bliss- Rainbow Cupcakes!

Looking after a sick Little Lion last Wednesday, I realised that we needed something fun to do and a little out of the ordinary. At the moment he absolutely loves helping me bake, so I figured we'd make vanilla cupcakes with a twist. Why not make them Rainbow cupcakes? A few posts ago I mentioned that at the moment I'm crazy for a bit of colour, so honestly this appealed to me as much as it would to him!

Making Rainbow Cupcakes is actually quite easy, and there are so many combinations you can do. All we did we make up the Vanilla cupcake mix taken from Taste (the recipe is also at the bottom of this page) and separate the mixture into 5 bowls. 

Mix it up baby...

..then separate and colour! 

I chose five colours, but honestly you can however many you like. I just used the food dyes that you buy at the supermarket, but now that I'm into baking and have a little toddler that loves colour, I'd actually like to get the pastes or gels that give that real vibrant 'pop' of colour. 

After the mixture in each bowl was coloured, I lined a 12 muffin tin with patty pans. I then began layering each patty pan with a teaspoon of each colour, until they were 1/4 full (which apparently gives the perfect cupcake).

I then whacked then in the oven for 20 mins, and when they were done let them cool. I used a simple buttercream frosting and a few smarties to decorate them and finish then off. I took them in to my VCE kids as I adore them beyond words, and they all loved them (and took photos of them, of course!)

Easy, effective, and lots of fun. Enjoy! 

Vanilla Cupcake Recipe from Taste.

Ingredients

• 200g butter, softened
• 1 3/4 cups (370g) caster sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla bean paste
• 4 eggs
• 2 3/4 cups (405g) self-raising flour
• 1 cup (250ml) milk

• Butter frosting

• 200g butter, softened
• 6 cups (900g) icing sugar mixture
• 1/2 cup (125ml) milk

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Line 24 1/3 cup (80ml) muffin pans with patty cases.
2. Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla bean paste with an electric mixer. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat until just combined. Add the flour and milk in alternate batches and stir with a wooden spoon until just combined.
3. Spoon mixture evenly among the patty cases. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until cooked through. Remove from oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.