Rainbow cupcakes make everyone happy! And these colorful cupcakes are not only fun, but they are also very tasty and easy to make.
Perfect for a (children’s) birthday, as a treat, for Pride or just to make your day a little more cheerful. And we tell you how to make these amazing rainbow cupcakes!
Like we said, making your own cupcakes isn’t hard at all. You don’t need a cupcake mix for this recipe either. With our cupcake recipe, you will have your cupcakes ready in no time.
However, you need (gel) food coloring to add to your batter to get the most beautiful rainbow colors! What colors do you need? Purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red. Or just red, yellow, and blue – the rest you can mix.
We decorate the rainbow cupcakes with buttercream and finish them off with sprinkles and sugar pearls. The decoration is optional, but it makes the rainbow cupcake even more fun!
With our rainbow recipes we try to make the world a little more colorful and accepting, from the kitchen! Will you help? Share your creations through #rainbowrecipes.
How to Make Cupcakes?
For our rainbow cupcake recipe you need the following ingredients: ½ cup (125 grams) of butter or margarine, 1 cup/125 grams of granulated sugar, 1 cup (125 grams) of self-raising baking flour, 2 tablespoons milk, and 2 eggs.
It is important that the butter, milk, and eggs are at room temperature before using it.
First cut the (soft) butter into pieces and put it in a bowl together with the sugar. Mix at medium speed to an airy mixture. Use a hand mixer with beaters. Add the eggs and mix again at medium speed.
You add the self-raising baking flour in parts to the batter. Mix each time you add a part. Finally, the milk can be added. Mix all ingredients for another minute at medium speed, or until it’s an airy batter.
From this batter you can make 8-12 cupcakes. That depends a bit on how big your cupcake shapes are. We use a silicone cupcake mold and can make 8 rainbow cupcakes with the batter.
Vegan Cupcakes
You can also easily make vegan cupcakes from this recipe! Replace 2 tbsp milk + 2 eggs with 5 oz (140 ml) vegetable milk. Use vegan butter or vegetable margarine (also in the buttercream).
And also use vegetable milk for the buttercream.
NOTE! Make sure you also use vegan food coloring and decoration. In ‘normal’ food coloring carmine (= not vegan) is often used for the red dye.
And many cake decorations contain coating/glazing agent beeswax (E901).
Make this vegan rainbow cake too!
Rainbow Cupcakes
Once the batter is mixed it can be divided into 6 bowls. 1 for each color (purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red). Add a small dot of food coloring to the batter and mix!
If you’re not entirely happy with the color, you can add a little coloring.
Do you only have red, yellow and blue? Orange is made with yellow + red, green with yellow + blue, and purple with red + blue.
Then it’s time to put the batter in the cupcake molds. We do this with a small spoon, layer by layer. First a layer of purple, then blue, green, yellow, orange, and we finish with a layer of red.
If you don’t want to make your rainbow cupcake layer by layer, you can scoop the batter into it, so you have different colored blobs next to /on top of each other.
Please note that the tin is not filled for more than 2/3.
Baking Cupcakes
Preheat the oven to 330 °F / 170 °C. Bake the cupcakes in 20-25 minutes. Do not open the oven in between, because then the cupcakes can collapse.
Set the timer to 20 minutes and make sure the cupcakes are ready. You can do this with a skewer. Prick in a cupcake and if there is wet batter on it then the cupcake is not yet good.
Leave them in the oven for a little longer. If there’s nothing attached to the skewer, they’re done!
Also fun to make: rainbow chocolate chip cookies, rainbow pancake cereal, and rainbow churros!
Decorating Cupcakes
We decorate the rainbow cupcakes with buttercream, and sprinkles. It is important to cool the cupcakes before decorating them.
When the cupcakes are ready, leave them outside the oven for another minute. Then you can remove them from the tin or silicone shape and allow them to cool further.
How to Make Buttercream?
To make buttercream you need: ¾ cup (170 grams) of butter or margarine (at room temperature), ⅔ cup (75 grams) of icing sugar, 2 tablespoons vanilla extract, 3 tablespoons milk, and a pinch of salt.
Mix the butter until smooth and creamy (in 2-3 minutes at medium speed). Then add the sugar, vanilla extract, milk and salt and mix at a high speed to an airy cream.
Is the buttercream too thick? Add a little milk. Is the buttercream too thin? Add a little icing sugar.
Once the cupcakes have cooled down, put the buttercream in a piping bag and decorate it!
Cupcake vs Muffin
What’s the difference between a cupcake and a muffin? The difference is in a couple of things. First, the batter and structure are different.
Cupcake batter is mixed longer than the batter for muffins. Muffin batter is supposed to be lumpy, and therefore they have a different structure. The structure of muffins is drier and more bread-like.
In addition, cupcakes are always sweet. Muffins, on the other hand, can be very good savory rather than sweet. In muffin batter, less sugar is often used. Read more about cupcakes and muffins.
How to Store Cupcakes
If the cupcakes are not yet decorated, you can keep them for 4-5 days. Store them in a sealed box outside the fridge. In the fridge they dry out faster.
The unseeded cupcakes can also be frozen. Make sure they are airtight before putting them in the freezer. Store them in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Decorated cupcakes with soft buttercream also need to be stored outside the fridge. Place them in a cool place in a sealed box.
In the fridge, the cupcakes not only dry out faster, the buttercream also becomes too hard. The decorated cupcakes can be stored for 1-3 days.
Getting excited to bake more? Make this banana bread recipe and puff pastry cinnamon rolls!
Rainbow Recipes
Check out more rainbow recipes on our website! We create 30 recipes, a recipe for every day of Pride Month.
Together, we can make the world more colorful and accepting, from the kitchen. Help and share your creations through #rainbowrecipes!
Rainbow Cupcakes Recipe
Rainbow cupcakes make everyone happy! These colorful cupcakes are not only fun, but they are also very tasty and easy to make.
Perfect for a (children’s) birthday, as a treat, for Pride or just to make your day a little more cheerful. We tell you everything about how to make rainbow cupcakes!
With our cupcake recipe you will have your cupcakes ready in no time. However, you need (gel) food coloring to add to your batter to get the most beautiful rainbow colors!
What colors do you need? Purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red. Or just red, yellow and blue – the rest you can mix.
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- ½ cup (125 gram) butter or margarine (room temperature)
- 1 cup (125 gram) sugar
- 1 cup (125 gram) self-raising flour
- 2 tablespoon milk (room temperature)
- 2 eggs (room temperature)
- (gel) food coloring in purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red (you can make purple, green and orange from blue, yellow, and red)
Vanilla buttercream frosting
- ¾ cup (170 gram) butter
- ⅔ cup (75 gram) powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- Cut the butter into small pieces and place it in a large bowl. Add the sugar and mix with a mixer and beaters on medium speed until fluffy.
- Add the eggs 1 by 1. Mix the batter at medium speed. Add the self-rising flour in small amounts and finally the milk. Mix the batter for 1 minute, so that all ingredients are mixed well.
- Preheat the oven on 330 °F / 170 °C.
- Divide the batter in equal parts over 6 different bowls. Color each bowl with your (gel) food coloring: purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red. Put a bit of food coloring in the bowl and mix together. You can always add extra dye if the color is not vibrant enough.
- Do you only have red, yellow and blue? Mix orange, green, and purple yourself!
- Use a small spoon to put the batter into the cupcake molds. Start with a layer of purple, then blue, green, yellow, orange, and red. Do not fill the mold for more than ⅔.
- Put in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes. Do not open the oven door in between, because then the cupcakes can collapse. After 20 minutes of baking, you can check whether they are good with a skewer. If batter sticks to your skewer, the cupcake is not ready yet.
Buttercream Frosting
- Meanwhile, prepare the vanilla buttercream. In a bowl, beat the butter until fluffy and creamy (medium speed for 2-3 minutes). Then add the powdered sugar, vanilla extract, milk, and salt. Blend together at high speed in 3 minutes to an airy cream.
- Is the buttercream too thick? Add a little milk. Is the buttercream too thin? Add a little powdered sugar.
- Let the cupcakes cool before decorating them with buttercream. When the cupcakes have cooled, put the buttercream in a piping bag and decorate!
Notes
Make vegan cupcakes! Instead of 2 tbsp milk and 2 eggs, use 5 oz / 140 ml vegetable milk and use vegan butter/margarine (also for the buttercream).
Together we can make the world more colorful and tolerant from the kitchen. Share your creations with us via #rainbowrecipes!
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Nutrition Information
Yield
10Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 77Total Fat 2gSaturated Fat 0gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 1gCholesterol 37mgSodium 30mgCarbohydrates 12gFiber 1gSugar 2gProtein 3g
This data was provided and calculated by Nutritionix
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