Rainbow Cupcakes and a Birthday

In my blogging absence I missed sharing with you all Little Boy’s birthday.  He is now 4!

We kept it simple this year and just had family over for dinner and cake.

 

He asked for a rainbow cake, so off I go to Google and Pinterest stalk I went.  I came across this recipe and made a few changes, the main one being cupcakes instead of a cake.

The kids both LOVED these and now I am making rainbow cupcakes for Little Girls birthday too.

These are actually just a white cake, you can cheat and use a box mix but that is like swearing in my house – I am a firm believer of cake from scratch vs. cake from box.

 

Rainbow Cupcakes 

These are a bit painstaking to make, but it's worth it. Everyone loves them (young and old), but I am not saying anyone in particular is old.3 cups all-purpose flour

4 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 1/3 cups white sugar
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 ½ cups milk

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Line 24 cupcake tins with papers, set aside.

Mix together the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl, set aside.

Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla and mix until well incorporated.   Add the flour and milk in alternating additions, beginning with the flour and ending with the milk.  Mix until well combined, scraping down the sides as needed.

Divide the cake batter evenly between 6 bowls.

Add food colouring and then spoon 1-2 tablespoons of each colour into the cupcake tins, spreading out each colour evenly as much as possible.

Rainbow food colouring chart: (I used the cheap food colouring you can buy in the grocery store for this and it worked great.)

• Purple: 9 red and 6 blue drops
• Blue: 12 drops
• Green: 12 drops
• Yellow: 12 drops
• Orange: 12 yellow and 4 red drops
• Red: 18 drops

Bake for 20-25 minutes until cake tester comes out clean.

Once cooled ice with your favourite icing.  My first batch (the one pictured) I used a cooked icing – it tastes great but is a bitch to work with in a piping bag, I strongly recommend a nice butter cream, much easier to work with and pipe.

Yield: 24 cupcakes.

Enjoy!