So when it came time for our school's bake sale a week ago, I thought Rainbow Cupcakes would be fun for a change. I was right, they were the first ones to go because children cannot resist color and lots of it. They even beat out the luscious chocolate cupcakes I made. It is Rainbow Cupcakes from now on! 
This is simple to do by dividing the batter equally among six small bowls- I used yellow cake mix for deeper hues. Color each bowl of batter a different color. I made- red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple.
Layer colored batter in the order of a rainbow's colors into cupcake liners and bake according to the package directions. Remember the order? ROY G. BIV: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo (I skipped this one), and violet.
I wanted the frosting to go in a swirl of rainbow colors too so I used a technique Ma taught me years ago from her cake decorating classes. To get your frosting to go on in a swirl of color, dye regular buttercream frosting into three separate colors; I used pink, blue, and yellow. 
Unfortunately I did not have jewel toned frosting colors to match the cupcakes, so I did mix jewel tones with pastels. Alert Stacy and Clinton. This did bother me a little at first but one can't cry over cupcakes now can they? Place spoonfuls of each color side by side in a pastry bag working your way to the top of the bag. It is easier if you turn the bag inside out like you do when putting on pantyhose- at least for you ladies- and working your way up. Once the frosting is piped on your cupcakes, you will notice other colors like green, purple, and orange.
Starting at 12 o'clock on the outer edge of each cupcake and using constant pressure on the pastry bag, pipe frosting clockwise for three rotations, working your way toward the center ending in a little peak. 
At the bake sale we placed each cupcake in a 9 ounce plastic punch cup and invited the children to decorate the cupcakes they had purchased. The cups caught all spills, and let me say there were some big spills. The decorated cupcakes were then placed in cellophane party bags and tied with a pretty ribbon for transporting home. 
I can't wait to find an excuse to make these again. They brought smiles to many little faces.
For more Cupcake Videos see my Big Red Kitchen Youtube Channel
Related Posts:
Buttercream Frosting
Soft Pretzel Samoas
Little Peach Cakes
My children's play is tonight!!! I can not wait to see them but I think I will be a little nervous too. Gulp.
Have a grand weekend filled with lingering, delicious meals. I think I will sleep! Also a big fat Happy Mother's Day too!
78 comments:
Smart marketing...it definitely is an eye-catcher.
Awesome looking cupcakes! We have a bake sake tomorrow but I am going with brownies since I am not as good a decorator as you!
What a great way to decorate cupcakes. I'm going to be using your mum's idea A LOT! Thanks :)
Love the idea! I'll definitely buy some from you!
oh you are killing me with all the goodies this week. I think I will send my family to your site for them to make mother's day treats for me. Blessings for tonight and I hope you rest well over the weekend.
Like you don't have enough to do this week - These rainbow cupcakes ARE the pot of gold! How fun - I don't know what kid wouldn't love these (2 to 92)!
Good luck tonight!
The cupcakes are beautiful! And using the plastic cup is a great idea!
I have seen these all over the web lately...but I love how you did your icing! So cute!
Just loving the rainbow cupcakes, they look amazingly yummy!!
Wow, I can hardly believe that these are cupcakes!
Such beautiful cupcakes. I bet these pretty colors weren't lost on the adults either!
Those are gorgeous cupcakes!
Hope the play performance goes off without a hitch. I sometimes wonder if the parents aren't just as/more nervous than the kids. I think I always am.
Happy Mother's Day to you!
happy mother's day to you, super mom. speaking of super things, your frosting reminds me of superman ice cream--do you know what i mean? it's vanilla, but with pastel swirls. it always tasted better to me than white vanilla. :)
Robin Sue- Beautiful looking cupcakes. I like rainbows anywhere and the frosting is great! Have fun at the play. Hugs to your thespians from us. We love you. Happy Mother's Day too. Ellen
Ohhh that's a lotta work. Even the frosting is colored too? wow
these are too pretty to eat..
Love them!! I'm going to do something similar very soon :)
I just forwarded this recipe to my sister in Chicago who is a baker for a ice cream shop. I will have her send a cut of her pay to you for the idea. :)
What a great cupcake! My kids would love those!
These are beautiful Robin!
Beautiful! I can't wait to try this out on cupcakes for my kids. Thanks! :)
I used a similar technique to make red-white-blue cupcakes for election day, but those were unfrosted. I really love the way the frosting looks!
Among the prettiest rainbow cupcakes on the web. And the frosting, well that's just to clever. It's the finishing touch that brings these right over the top! Well done!!
These are GORGEOUS! I have done the multi-toned frosting thing before, and let me say - you did a GREAT JOB. Getting them in the right place in the bag is easier said than done and you did a beautiful job! I love it!
Thanks for this great inspiration. These cupcakes are so pretty!
Those turned out so cute...between these and the other rainbow one's I just saw, I am inspired. Check these out too http://bakingbites.com/2009/05/rainbow-cupcakes/
See I wonder if doing that way would be successful. What do you think? I bet the kids loved them!
I've seen the cake version, but never the cupcake version! Too cute, but my favorite is definitely the sprinkles at the end. They give it such a fairy quality.
OMG, BRILLIANT! Thanks for the frosting tip :-)
Those are the funnest, cutest, coolest cupcakes ever. Love them.
And I never knew how to do multi-color frosting. Thanks for posting some pix of that.
OH, Speechless!
Truly beautiful Robin Sue.
OH, Speechless!
Truly beautiful Robin Sue.
What a terrific idea- they are really a show stopper!
Fabulous!
Those looked great right before all the sprinkles. Who invented sprinkles anyway? Do you know the sprinkle origin story?
Anywho, the frosting job looks better than many that I've seen at boutique cupcake shops. Good job, gold star.
Great tip for the frosting! Thanks for sharing it. The cupcakes look awesome. I know they'd be a hit around here.
Michelle
I am sure the play went well! Beautiful cupcakes too!
And a happy belated Mother's Day to you!
What a fantastic idea! I know my boys would definitely be in love with these cupcakes! I also appreciate the tips on piping the frosting on them... I'm still working on my decorating abilities!
I don't think I'd be able to eat those - they're too beautiful!
Oh Robin Sue your cupcakes look perfect. Thanks for sharing.
Those look really fun! Great job!
I'm sure those brought smiles to both little and big faces alike, they look awesome!
No, I'm quite sure NO one could resist those cupcakes! I'm going to have to find my gluten-free cupcake recipe. Too funny on the Stacy and Clinton comment--you crack me up!
Hope the play went well!
Shirley
Gorgeous! I'm turning this over to my daughter--she will LOVE these cupcakes. Thank you!
These are beautiful! I can't wait to try them! And I'm in need of a good buttercream frosting recipe since the last one I tried took hours to figure out!
Wow how fun are those?? :)
I am so impressed!
I'm pretty sure if I attempted to make those it would look like a preschooler made them!
Great job!
WOW, love it! I am sure that you had a lot of fun making it! The pictures are so pretty, so tempting...love the colors.
I've been seeing a lot of rainbow cupcakes lately. Yours look really good. I especially like the rainbow frosting, very cool!I'm keeping these in mind for Babygirl's end of the school year party. Thanks for sharing!
~ingrid
What beautiful cupcakes -- I've never thought of doing this --
Robin Sue, these cupcakes are so adorable!! I'm totally impressed, and I can't wait to try the rainbow cupcakes for myself. They're just great! I'm sure all of the kids loved them (well, duh, I already know they were a best seller :) ). Great job! Sorry that I’ve been an absent commenter; I just finished up my law school exams and am finally getting around to my google reader.
These are lovely! I've always loved this idea when I've seen it on the net over the last few years. I had no idea folks were so creative. I daresay your cupcakes look the yummiest. Thank you for sharing!
I made a cake like this not that long ago, great concept.
AMAZING! i love rainbow cupcakes!!! if only i knew how to bake... or had the time for it...:(
My kids would LOVE these. I need to make them!
Wonderful cupcakes! It looks they were very good!!
Love this! I made them with only five colors (I didn't have any purple). The only thing I would change next time is the order -I'd put the blue/purple on the bottom and end with the red - the cupcakes would look prettier because any edging showing wouldn't be blueish green. I didn't attempt the rainbow icing -looked beautiful but I didn't trust my skills. I just put robin's egg blue icing with star sprinkles - the children loved them. Thanks for all your ideas!
-Ami
Ami I thought the same thing- to flip the colors over so the red would show. I think the blue icing sounds very pretty!
You are my hero.
This is the best idea ever.
I love these cupcakes, as will my children. I've made cookies in a similar style but they look so inviting in a cupcake. It is amazing how bright colors can make food look so much more appetizing.
I love it!
I made a rainbow wedding cake with white frosting...it makes it look like a rainbow with clouds!
If you buy the Wilton gel food coloring, you can get much brighter colors. My kids are HUGE fans of this recipe!
Jolene-Thanks I will have to do that. Pastels are pretty but I want BOLD for these. Thanks for stopping by!
That's so cool! I never saw such neat cupcakes. Now I know what my next project is...
Those are really cool looking! Now I'm gonna have to find something sweet to eat.
These look lovely and very professional even though you haven't used professional icing tools but still they look great. Thanks for sharing.
These are BEAUTIFUL! Found you via a Google search for "rainbow cupcakes" & am so happy! Have been perusing the rest of your blog for 15 minutes (should be working) & I'm going to save you as a favorite. Great ideas & beautiful execution...the photos are lovely. Thanks for taking the time to share your wonderful recipes with all of us...so glad to have found you!
Best Wishes,
Caroline
Caroline- so glad you like my blog, thanks for visiting!!
pretty pretty. im gonna make those right meow i hope the icing works =]
Unicorn Poop.
These are so pretty!! Do you have a shot where we can see the color of the cake more clearly?
Really glad you explained how to do the frosting with the colors- I was wondering that!
Wow!!!! I LOVE these! As soon as we get a new oven, I am making these! So, so cute! :D
Who could resist the fun colors? I know I'd buy some, just to try them out, even though chocolate is definitely my favorite cupcake flavor.
Robin Sue, I always wondered how others were able to swirl frosting onto their cupcakes with such pretty colors. Now that I know, I'd like to say thank you for the tip. I look forward to trying your rainbow cupcakes and the frosting. Also Robin, I wanted to let you know, that since I enjoy viewing your blog and all the wonderful recipes you have posted, I wanted to let you know, in case you haven't seen it, I gave you a Loveliest Blog Award at: http://domesticgoddessinthekitchen.blogspot.com/
Awesome, i just can't find words!
These are beautiful! I don't know that I could even eat one. I would just want to bake several dozen of them and set them up on pastel colored platters. They remind me of candy land. Gorgeous!
this is really a party of colors and flavors. my kids really loves it. we all made it together it was amazing.
Robin, I LOVE this... My nieces are coming in a few weeks and I am now planning a day in the oven well, around the oven anyway)... Is there any chance I can beg to get this post listed on eRecipeCards.com
It is exactly what I had in mind!
I love how both the cupcake and the frosting are rainbow! The frosting gives such a cool effect :D
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