Supplies needed:
- Food coloring. I used this. It's really bright and doesn't leave a gross taste in your cupcakes!
-Four bowls and four spoons.
-Cake batter. White cake will do best. With yellow cake your colors will look dingy and not so pretty.
(and obviously, your oven, cupcake pan, cupcake papers, ya know cupcake stuff!)
Okay, let's begin!
After you cake batter is all mixed up separate it equally into four bowls (or more if you're doing more colors!)
Now put a dab of food coloring in each. Remember a little bit goes a loooong way with food coloring. Make sure to stir thoroughly, you don't want to be eating little chunks of unmixed food coloring later and you also don't want to find a section of white cake batter in your bowl when you're scooping it out.
Tip: try mixing colors to get that perfect shade if your brand of food coloring doesn't have it.
Now it's time to scoop the batter into the papers. There are two different ways you could do this. You could do one layer per color, it takes approximately 3/4 of a spoonful per color for four colors. Or take quarter spoon fulls and make lots of layers.
Which ever you choose make sure not to mix the colors when putting them in the paper. I like to let me spoon drip into the paper while shaking it in an up and down motion. When you plop the colors down you may want to flatten it out if just doing the four layers but make sure not to stir! Use your finger to make layers flat even layers.
Above left- quarter spoon fulls in lots of layers. Above right- 3/4 spoon fulls in only four layers.
Tip: White papers work best. You'll be able to see how pretty the cupcake inside looks through white. With other colors it looks kind of gross, trust me!Super easy right!? Now bake them, frost them and enjoy them!!
Another tid bit of information:
With these cupcakes I get significantly less cupcakes than if I were to just make white ones. The box says it'll make 24 cupcakes, when I color them I usually get 15 or so. I suppose it's from small amounts of batter getting left in bowls and it just adds up.
I hope whether or not you knew how to do this previously you learned something new or it simply inspired you! If you make some leave me a link, I'd love to see!
xoxo.
I'm Kaylah. a cat lady, thrifting queen, collector of many, many things and
amateur mycologist.




















awh, thank you for this! im going to attempt this weekend!
ReplyDeletei love making these cupcakes! yours come out so cute and dainty though! mine always overflow but they're still magical and delicious. i make them for food days at work often and people go crazy for them even though they're from a box mix!
ReplyDeletehttp://twitpic.com/259b3v - my last batch, notice the mmmbop in the back, represent.
EPIC TO THE UMPTIETH DEGREE!
ReplyDeleteOh wow I love these!! I might attempt this weekend and surprise my work lovelies for Monday.
ReplyDeleteWhat a treat :)
Ohhh cuuuute! My son and I are totally doing this this weekend. he loves to help mommy in the kitchen, and these are just TOO fun!
ReplyDeleteexcellent tutorial. you make the prettiest cupcakes.
ReplyDeleteI have been wondering how you do that! Your layers are always so perfect. Can't wait to try it.
ReplyDeleteWhat fun! I think I'll try this for my next party :)
ReplyDeletei drool over all of the colorful things you bake, and so want to make these and take them to my students. so fun!
ReplyDeleteI just made a colorful vegan rainbow cake a few weekends ago it was fantastic! Thank you for the tutorial on how to create your fancy cupcakes!
ReplyDeleteOmg, this is sooo awesome! I will blog about this. Where can I get "super moist"? *_*
ReplyDeleteSo cute!! What a great birthday treat idea!!
ReplyDeleteI use the neon food coloring! so bright and fun
ReplyDeletewow!! Thanks for sharing this recipe! I HAVE to try it they look awesome!
ReplyDeleteI already knew how to do these but I just LOVE your tutorials & the awesome pics you pair w/ it. Thanks for reminding us about the white liners. *thumbs up*
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love you colorful baked goods.
ReplyDeleteoh wow, SO inspiring and SO LOVELY.
ReplyDeletei can't wait to try this, i've been dying to know how to do this for sometime now. thank you so much!!!
my friend made me one of these cakes for my birthday!!!
ReplyDeletehttp://allthingschula.blogspot.com/2010/06/bunch-of-randomness.html
heres the link so you can see it!!!
they sure are fun!!!
These are perfect for the birthday party of my girlie! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteRibbonlicious- I'm not sure since you're in Germany, I just get it at the grocery store. It doesn't really matter if it's super moist or not. I'm sure any white cake mix would work. :)
ReplyDeletePS. Thank you all so much! I'm glad you enjoy my tutorial and pictures. :)
ReplyDeleteoh this is awesome!! one of my very close friends bakes a lot and she just made a rainbow cake, these little cupcakes are so cute though!!
ReplyDeleteI always wanted to do rainbow cupcakes! <3 I even wanted to try a whole cake but my mom wasn't fond of a colorful cake, haha.
ReplyDeleteyou inspired me to make some really awesome 4th of july cupcakes a few months ago! i sent you the link, but i'm not sure if you saw it. so i'll send it again. :)
ReplyDeletehttp://amylapi.typepad.com/creatingmyself/2010/07/the-flag-still-stands-for-freedom.html
mmmm. these look perfect.
ReplyDeletethanks for sharing.
vivatramp.blogspot.com
I want to figure out how you do that layering for the bread you made a few months earlier. Your colors are just soo good too.
ReplyDeletethis makes me want to bake! they're so cute!
ReplyDeleteI'm thrilled you posted this how-to! I've always loved fun colorful cakes like this! Can't wait to try!
ReplyDeletethose are beautiful cupcakes! i had a friend make then once and they were delicious! thanks for sharing how to make them!!
ReplyDeletexo,
cb
gonna make these for sure!!! Great post!
ReplyDeleteLove these! I will have to try them.
ReplyDeleteI love the tealish color you made. Those look yummy, I wonder how this would work with my snickerdoodle cupcakes, hm.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful! I made some in July (http://ajthepurple.blogspot.com/2010/07/tie-dye-cupcakes.html), but I'm going to have to try again with the food dye you used! Those look great :D
ReplyDeletethanks for the tutorial! my daughters 1st bday is on saturday and im gonna do this but in cake form :]
ReplyDeleteYour cupcakes are beautiful! Thanks for all of your great tutorial posts!!
ReplyDeletewow! these look amazing! i'm gonna try these some day :]
ReplyDeleteI just made 48 of these for my daughter to take to school for her birthday yesterday. next time i think ill stick to four colors. i did the six colors in rainbow pattern and it took me forever. yours are adorable though!
ReplyDeleteThese are completely awesome and also brought back a childhood memory...I was about 14, brother was 10 and sister 4...it was mom's birthday. What to do? We decided on a rainbow cake real similar to the cupcakes...had the separate bowls, etc. Our batter was not as brilliant, but the same idea.
ReplyDeleteWhat we thought would be funny is to tell Mom that a giant moth flew into the batter and we couldn't get him out (p.s. she feared moths, as I hate spiders). Well, the joke backfired on us b/c she would not cut into the cake and refused to eat any, despite our protests and squealing.
Thanks for your creations and for bringing me down memory lane...I will have to link this to my siblings! :-)
Thanks so much for posting this, I've always wanted to try and make these! :)
ReplyDeleteThese are so cute- my kids will love them. I've done the swirl cakes before where you swirl the colors together with a knife, but these look awesome!
ReplyDeleteGorgeous colours! I made these recently for Pride week, the only down side was all the washing up!x
ReplyDeletehttp://lillyhiggins.blogspot.com/2010/06/pride-cakes.html
These are just too lovely ^_^ Going to have to try and make some like these for sure!
ReplyDeletethanks for the tutorial! i made these today and had some much fun!
ReplyDeletehttp://cupquakedesign.blogspot.com/2010/09/pastelcakes.html
You have no idea how excited I am to try out making these! Once I do, I'll be sure to show you how they turned out. Thank you so much for this tutorial.
ReplyDeleteThis is soooo adorable! needless to say they look yummi.
ReplyDeleteI'll definitely try to make at least one tray this week to give out to friends and family. I know they'll love them. I'll be sure to leave a link if I get them done.
these look so amazing. <3
ReplyDeleteKaylah,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for posting these, check out my link here to see what my daughter and I created. These cupcakes are fabulous.
http://corviddelights.blogspot.com/2010/09/be-it-ever-so-humble.html
You always make the most gorgeous cupcakes!! Skillzzz, you have them.
ReplyDeleteWe made them - and they were BEAUTIFUL! Check out my friend's pic: http://twitpic.com/2rbwn6
ReplyDeleteWe didn't use pure white cake because we made it from scratch & it only gets so white, & our food coloring wasn't as bright as yours, but they were a great first start!
@heysuburban
here are the ones i made. they didn't turn out as nicely as yours, but it was my first try. ;-) thanks for the tip! ~chrissi
ReplyDeletehttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/julikate/IMG_5570a.jpg
These were so fun to make - even more fun to eat!
ReplyDeleteI found a super-easy-yummy-yummy white cake recipe at Allrecipes.com that you may want to try. They come out tasting like sugar cookies.
Anyhoo... thanks for the inspiration. I linked to your tutorial in my post. Hopefully someone else will be inspired.
♥ Rebecca Jean
Midnight Maniac
Hi, I've wondered for an age how people made rainbow cakes - thanks for sharing!! I now know what cake my soon-to-be-2 year old will be getting for her Birthday!
ReplyDeleteTracey xx
I cannot wait to try these!!! I never would have thought it would actually layer like that-I thought they might run together and you would have an odd brown-green combo! Thanks!! Im always up for a new challege!!
ReplyDeletehttp://twodaysinlife.blogspot.com/
AHH! Yes I LOVE cupcakes. They are amazing. I wish I had my own cupcake bakery ha. I am definitely going to try this tutorial. I added it to my Favorites :) THANK YOU!
ReplyDeleteI tried this tutorial today. It turned out great! Thank you so much! Here's a link with a pic if you'd like to take a look.
ReplyDeletehttp://artisticallyuncreative.blogspot.com/2010/11/happy-early-thanksgiving.html
gosh, they look delicious !
ReplyDeleteim going to make cupcakes in a jar for my coworkers and am really excited to make rainbow cupcakes in jars. thanks for the idea
ReplyDeletehi I've tried the recipe. Thank you. delicious food.
ReplyDeleteOh these cupcakes are soooo adorable! Thanks for posting a tutorial :)
ReplyDeletethese look so amazing i can practically taste them!! love the idea hopefully i can make these at some point, the tutorial is great too!! <3
ReplyDeleteHow do you make the frosting? *__*
ReplyDeleteThey're so cute, I wanna try! :D
Made em: http://petiteinsanities.blogspot.com/2011/04/rainbows-on-sunday.html
ReplyDeletethis looks really tempting !i would love to try something like this . great post !
ReplyDeletehttp://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=104253876326257&set=a.104253772992934.8818.100002249357712&type=1&theater
ReplyDeleteThose were my first rainbow cupcakes. I use the traditional cake recipe of my mom and I just add the colors and the cream on it. I also use chocolate to cover some :)
How fun!
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to make this! It's my boyfriend's birthday tomorrow so I found this just in time!!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing!!!
:)
just made these today with my sister! they were amazing and fun to eat :) thanks for the idea lady!
ReplyDeleteThank you for this post! It made me smile big time! I'm totally going to try this next time I bake :)
ReplyDeleteOooh! I must try these out! Thanks for sharing!:D
ReplyDeleteI was looking for cupcake recipes and this just came out they are so cool.. I might try to make some of them haha they look so crazy! :)
ReplyDeleteI made these cupcakes this Sunday and they turned out so cute! Everyone loved them! Thanks for the inspiration :)
ReplyDeleteI just made these using your tutorial! So much fun and just stone cold amazingness!!! Thank you!!
ReplyDeleteAWESOME! Thanks for your tips. I definitely will try soon!
ReplyDeleteI featured you and your recipe on my blog! I hope you like it and got lots of views!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.lovecora.com/?p=430
I made some of these for my son's birthday. It was so fun and everyone loved them.
ReplyDeleteThese look awesome! Same colors as Moon Mist Ice cream :)
ReplyDeletewow!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI made one of these for fun. It was great! I did it as a bunt cake though. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great tutorial! I made some tonight! http://www.flickr.com/photos/emalc/6919281483/
ReplyDeletethey look good! what cake batter did you use?
DeleteSo, it was this photo I found on Pinterest that led me to your blog (lovelovelove it)! Making these with my daughters for Easter. Thank you !!!
ReplyDeleteI wonder if this would work with cake-batter that I make with white cake mix and 7-Up to cut calories??
ReplyDeleteMade these for Easter and they look amazing! Thank you so much for posting this! I took note of your tip and used two boxes of mix and came out with 31 cupcakes! I also used 6 colors for more color combinations! Thanks again! :)
ReplyDeletehoney i did it but with pancakes!
ReplyDeletethank you so very-strongly-much,
kisses from spain
You can see my pancakes here =)
http://yotengoalas.blogspot.com.es/2012/04/panquecas-de-colores-pastel.html
I made some in rainbow colors! http://pinterest.com/pin/180495897535638989/
ReplyDeleteThanks for the inspiration. Here is my first try to bake "rainbow" cupcakes: http://birgitblau.tumblr.com/post/27353265223/inspired-by-other-bloggers-ive-wanted-to-bake
ReplyDeleteJust looking at them makes me hungry :)
ReplyDelete