I saw a blurb in the March issue of Family Fun magazine for rainbow cupcakes, and decided I HAD to make them for Grace's birthday. Little did I know what I was getting into. I read up on them a bit online, and decided to make the investment in some Wilton gel colors to get the really vibrant colors they showed in the magazine. But I wasn't willing to invest quite enough to buy each color I needed, so I ended up getting a basic set with red, blue, yellow, and brown and mixing my own orange, green, and purple. I knew being an art major in high school was going to pay off eventually!!
So here's the white batter (Pillsbury Pudding in the Mix--my favorite type!) after I unscientifically divided in preparation for dying.
And here's the colored batter. The orange was maybe a tad more peachy than I would have liked, but overall, the colors were what I was hoping for.
I layered them in reverse order of course, with purple first. This was a hard layer because I wasn't sure just how far each little glass of batter would stretch. The mix said it made 24 cupcakes, the recipe from the magazine claimed 16. In the end, I got 12 "full" ones, and 4 that were basically "dregs," since some colors went farther than others.
Next came the blue. This is the layer where I had to figure out my technique for getting the new color to completely cover the previous color, but not displace the previous color. It was not easy.
Now for the green. I was kind of into a rhythm by this point, but already starting to get a little tired of the whole project!
Yellow!! It was at about this point that I realized it was taking me 15 minutes to add each layer of color. I'll do the math for you: 6 colors x 15 minutes per color = an hour and a half! Then add in batter prep time and baking time, and voila! TWO HOUR CUPCAKES!
Now for the orange. Sometime around this color (or maybe it was during the yellow) Jonathan came into the kitchen and asked me if he could help. I really WISH I could have had him follow behind me with the next color, but I really didn't see this as being a team project. Plus I was being way too particular about having even, uniform layers. He did keep me company though, and was rewarded with the spoons after I was done with each color. ☺
FINALLY, the red!! I'm not sure whether my bowl of red had less batter in it, or maybe it's because cupcakes are widest at the top (maybe a combination of both), but I ended up running out of red before I finished all 12 of the main cupcakes. Oh well, at that point I was just happy to be DONE! (So happy, I forgot to take a picture until after I'd stuck the pan in the oven...ooops!)
Hot out of the oven...they look kind of like lava flow from Eyjafjallajokull. (Look at me being all current event-y...) I was just hoping the layers held through the baking process. I was a little nervous seeing some green poking up on a couple of them.
Here they are! The finished cupcakes, with their whipped cream "clouds" all laid out in a "3" for presentation to the birthday girl (note the 3 candles on the center cupcake...)
And VOILA!! Clear distinct rainbow layers on the side of the cupcake. Success!
Here's a cross-section. There was some "heave" of the layers on the side, but I expected that. Even the magazine's picture didn't have perfectly horizontal layers.
So overall, I'm glad I made them, and I'd probably be willing to do it again sometime. I'm also glad that I planned to make these the afternoon BEFORE Grace's birthday, rather than trying to do it the day of and being REALLY frustrated. I've been trying to think of ways to make the layering go faster but still allow for portion control. I also want to experiment with making some multicolored cakes (good thing the boys' birthdays are coming up!). "Blobbing" is the word I'm using in my head. Stay tuned!!
So here's the white batter (Pillsbury Pudding in the Mix--my favorite type!) after I unscientifically divided in preparation for dying.
And here's the colored batter. The orange was maybe a tad more peachy than I would have liked, but overall, the colors were what I was hoping for.
I layered them in reverse order of course, with purple first. This was a hard layer because I wasn't sure just how far each little glass of batter would stretch. The mix said it made 24 cupcakes, the recipe from the magazine claimed 16. In the end, I got 12 "full" ones, and 4 that were basically "dregs," since some colors went farther than others.
Next came the blue. This is the layer where I had to figure out my technique for getting the new color to completely cover the previous color, but not displace the previous color. It was not easy.
Now for the green. I was kind of into a rhythm by this point, but already starting to get a little tired of the whole project!
Yellow!! It was at about this point that I realized it was taking me 15 minutes to add each layer of color. I'll do the math for you: 6 colors x 15 minutes per color = an hour and a half! Then add in batter prep time and baking time, and voila! TWO HOUR CUPCAKES!
Now for the orange. Sometime around this color (or maybe it was during the yellow) Jonathan came into the kitchen and asked me if he could help. I really WISH I could have had him follow behind me with the next color, but I really didn't see this as being a team project. Plus I was being way too particular about having even, uniform layers. He did keep me company though, and was rewarded with the spoons after I was done with each color. ☺
FINALLY, the red!! I'm not sure whether my bowl of red had less batter in it, or maybe it's because cupcakes are widest at the top (maybe a combination of both), but I ended up running out of red before I finished all 12 of the main cupcakes. Oh well, at that point I was just happy to be DONE! (So happy, I forgot to take a picture until after I'd stuck the pan in the oven...ooops!)
Hot out of the oven...they look kind of like lava flow from Eyjafjallajokull. (Look at me being all current event-y...) I was just hoping the layers held through the baking process. I was a little nervous seeing some green poking up on a couple of them.
Here they are! The finished cupcakes, with their whipped cream "clouds" all laid out in a "3" for presentation to the birthday girl (note the 3 candles on the center cupcake...)
And VOILA!! Clear distinct rainbow layers on the side of the cupcake. Success!
Here's a cross-section. There was some "heave" of the layers on the side, but I expected that. Even the magazine's picture didn't have perfectly horizontal layers.
So overall, I'm glad I made them, and I'd probably be willing to do it again sometime. I'm also glad that I planned to make these the afternoon BEFORE Grace's birthday, rather than trying to do it the day of and being REALLY frustrated. I've been trying to think of ways to make the layering go faster but still allow for portion control. I also want to experiment with making some multicolored cakes (good thing the boys' birthdays are coming up!). "Blobbing" is the word I'm using in my head. Stay tuned!!
