I found the secret to making these rainbow cupcakes a while ago, and every time I make them, I get a HUGE response!  They are so cool, fun to eat, and SO easy to make.  They would be great for a child’s birthday party or any party for that matter!  Ok, get ready to learn how to make these awesome cakes!

First, you have to make a white cake mix.  If you want to take a shortcut, you can use the boxed cake mixes, which work for this recipe and taste just fine.  But I found a super easy recipe to make your own at home and most of the time I don’t have to get anything from the store.  This mix tastes like a sugar cookie in cake form, they are absolutely delicious.

White Cake Recipe:

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup room temperature butter

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 and 1/2 cup flour

1 and 3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup milk

Note:  This recipe makes about 12-15 cupcakes.  If you want more fun cupcakes, double the recipe!

Here is the original recipe if you are interested.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

1.  The first step is to cream the sugar and butter.  You do this by whisking them together until they are fluffy and combined.  You can use a hand mixer like me, or if you have one of those stand mixers- even better.

2.  Next, add the eggs one at a time.  Don’t add the second egg until the first is all combined with the butter and sugar.

3.  Slowly add the milk so it doesn’t splash all over the place.

4.  Add the vanilla.

5.  In a separate bowl, mix together the dry ingredients (flour and baking powder).  I like to put them into a sifter and sift them through because it mixes them together and gets rid of any lumps.

6.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients a little bit at a time.  Don’t over mix, because you don’t want your cupcakes to come out tough.

7.  Now that your cake batter is all together, take equal parts of your mix and separate it into 5 different bowls (if you want all colors of the rainbow, do 6 bowls).

Here is the secret to making the brightest colored cupcakes you have ever seen.  You have to use the Betty Crocker brand “Classic Colors Gel Food Colors” (pictured below)

I have used plain food coloring, but the colors do not compare to using these food colors.  And the best part is that you only use a small amount, so they will last for a couple of cake batches.

8.  So now that you have your batter divided, you just start adding some color until you get the brightness that you desire.

Ok kids, which 2 colors together make purple?  You guessed it!  Red and Blue.

If you want to make orange, mix some yellow and red (note, you don’t have to use very much red in the orange).

Don’t go too heavy handed on the colorings at first because you don’t want to over-color your mixes.

9.  Once you have fun colors that you like, start adding them to your lined cupcake pan.  You just take a spoonful and add it to the bottom of each cupcake liner.  Then pick another color and glob it onto the first.  I usually do about 3 colors per cupcake, but you can do as many or as little as you want.  Get creative with it!

10.  Now is the time to stick those awesome cupcakes into your preheated oven.  They will bake for about 12-18 minutes, depending on your oven and the size of your cupcake.  My grandma taught me the old cake trick that if you touch the top of the cupcake and it bounces back, it is done.  But the foolproof way to do it is to stick a skewer (or piece of spaghetti if you don’t have a skewer) into the cake, and if it comes out clean, they are done!

You can put icing on them , or keep them plain if you like.  I just used a pre-made icing because it tastes good and I didn’t have the ingredients to make my own icing.  If you want to make a whole cake with this recipe, this batch will fit into a 9×9 square pan or a 9-inch round pan.  You should double the recipe to make a double layered cake!  I did that for a friend’s birthday once, she absolutely loved it.

I hope you all enjoyed these rainbow cupcakes; I know my friends enjoyed eating them!  Get creative with this and make it for a friend or family member.  They are really fun, easy (as you can see), and they always make a great impression.  Enjoy!

photo credit @ Kristin Reyhle