My Mom is a really creative woman. I didn’t realize it until I grew up and became a mother myself. Now that I look back on the birthday parties she threw and the incredible cakes she created, I’m really amazed at the things she came up with back in the day when you couldn’t run to Target or Walmart and basically buy a party in a bag. Halloween costumes were no exception. We never, ever had store-bought costumes growing up. My Mom was a great seamstress and her creativity had no boundaries. I look at old family pictures and I love how she took simple ideas and turned them into something fun. Take me for example, around age 5:
That my friends, is a rainbow. And I thought it was the coolest costume ever. I was obsessed with this chick, and if you look at every picture I ever created out of any sort of art media between the ages of 3 and 9, it undoubtedly included 3 things: hearts, flowers, and rainbows. To this day, I still get a little bit giddy inside when I see all of those colors together. Something about rainbows just makes me happy.
So it’s no wonder these cupcakes make me smile. Every time 🙂
Gel food colors work especially well for this. Gel color adds a ton of color with a small amount of dye. You can find gel colors at craft stores like Michaels and Roberts, and in the cake decorating isle of Walmart. If using red, make sure to get the one that says “No Taste”
Divide your batter and tint each one
Then layer it by color into the cupcake papers. (See my tips in the recipe for easy layering). Sometimes I do red on top and sometimes I do the reverse so blue is on top.
Bake them up
And cool them on a rack before frosting.
Then you can frost and decorate to your heart’s desire!
The best part comes when you peel off that paper. Use white liners to show off the colors, or foil or dark liners to make it a surprise!
Even better is taking the first bite and seeing the inside:
Try them with the color of your favorite sports team, or your kids’ school colors. They’re sure to be a hit!
Colorburst Cupcakes
1 white cake mix
2 eggs
1 C yogurt (any smooth textured fruit flavor is fine!) or sour cream
1/2 C milk
1/3 C vegetable oil
Combine all ingredients until incorporated (about 30 seconds). Scrape sides of bowl and then beat on med-high speed for 2 minutes.
Divide batter according to how many colors you are using. I used 5 colors and it worked out to a little over 1 cup for each color, but each cake brand will be slightly different.
Use food coloring to color batter to desired intensity.
To get a layered stripe like I used, you’ll want to put a spoonful of each color in the cupcake one at a time. The batter is thick, so it won’t spread on it’s own. A great tip is to set out a little bowl of water where you’re working. Dip your finger in the water and then gently spread the batter out. The water will make it so the batter doesn’t stick to your fingers.
Another tip is to use a measuring spoon and some water to measure out how many teaspoons/tablespoons are going to fit in your cupcake. Then divide that by how many colors you have so you know how much of each color to use for each cupcake. For my 5 colors, it worked out perfectly with 2 t of each color in each cupcake. So I put in 2 t of blue in the bottom of each cupcake and spread it out with my finger. Then I put in 2 t of green on top of that, then yellow, etc.
Bake them according to the package directions, until a toothpick comes out dry.
I topped mine with this frosting.
Questions & Reviews
How much does the flavor of the yogurt impact the flavor of the cupcakes? And what about sour cream vs. yogurt? Just wondering about a preference for my first attempt. THANKS!!! (I am planning on trying more than one option, eventually…)
Honestly, I use all different flavors of yogurt. It doesn’t matter at all. Any fruit flavored yogurt actually tastes really good, and it doesn’t make the cake taste overly fruity at all, it’s just a different level of sweetness with a hint of flavor. Just use one that’s very light colored or it could change the outcome of the cupcake. Sour cream works great too!
I made these red, white and blue for the 4th of July, topped with white frosting and red, white & blue sprinkles. A big hit at the family BBQ!
Wow, I love them!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/monicawesome/5961679317/in/photostream Check out mine 🙂
what will happen if we use red gell food coloring that has taste?
Hi,
I LOVE that costume!
I’m sure your mother is really creative.
Those cupcakes are so cute!
Did you know you can bake a rainbow pie too?
It’s awesome 🙂
Xx
my friend made these cupcakes and i died! we all thought it was the coolest thing and took photos-it was a huge hit at school
Rainbow Brite! I knew you the minute I saw you. Awesome looking cupcakes.
I love it !
I LOVE this soo much… i made this yesterday for my daughters 3rd birthday and everything worked out GREAT! i used your version of the recipe and used vanilla yogurt and they taste AWESOME! and your tips works so well! i had a friend come and help me make them because i had a lot to make! it was a lot of fun also i felt like a kid myself when making the cupcakes. i felt like i was finger painting it was so much fun. and my daughter loves all the colors! Thanks for the amazing idea and recipe! 🙂
you r dumb
ty
Just made these for my little boy’s first birthday! http://lecaque.blogspot.com/2011/06/rainbow-cupcakes.html
Thanks so much for the great idea!
Thanks for the awesome idea for my daughter’s birthday party. They were a hit!!
for an extra hint of color, use white icing, put it on the cupcae, then add a drop of food coloring on top of the icing. finally use a tooth pick to spread the food coloring around in swirls. =)
awww, those cupcakes are soooo awesome *____*
and they’re so delicious :))
great idea !
I have tried your recipe and it turned out great they were so delicious!!!! The cupcake were so colorful i used 7 colors!!! HEHE THANKS!!
Great post. I think you could probably save a lot of time and trouble by putting the colors into piping bags with say a #12 tip and filling the cups that way. That would allow you to fill it in in a spiral and not have to worry about spreading it with your fingers.
So, I know this is an older post, but I am going to make these for my friends 24th birthday! I just need to hide the rainbow colors so it’s a surprise. He is going to kill me, it;s going to be great!
These are amazing…I also made it as a layer cake using four colors, two colors in each pan and used the frosting/filling recipe you posted with just a touch of lemon extract it was to DIE for! I am SOOO glad I found this blog! You guys ROCK!
Like that “1 white cake mix” I have no clue of what that is 🙂
Please help 🙂
Emilie, in the US you can buy a box at the store called a “cake mix”. It’s just a short-cut to a cake where you just have to add eggs and water. You can use any homemade cake recipe you like for these cupcakes and just color them as I’ve shown. Enjoy!
Hi! I really love those cupcakes, and i would really like to make them, but i don’t have all the igrediens. I live in Denmark and we dosen’t have the same shops, and ingrediens, and some of the things in this recipy i don’t know what is. Can you compare your ingrediens to some other? Cous i’m confused :/
Lovin your cupcakes! <3
I would love to see a tutorial on using gel colors….
These were great…I made them for my daughter’s painting party for her 7th birthday they were a hit! I also made them for this past year’s Super Bowl…2 different batches and tinted them with the colors of the teams that were in the game…they definitely don’t last long!
I have never seen anyone do this with cupcakes, great idea my kids love them.
perfect, thanks for the quick response! i can’t wait to make these for my son’s baseball team.
i have a question…the picture with the liners shows colored liners, but you mention white liners? do i just buy plain white liners (i want the colors to show through). thanks!
Whatever you want Kristen- the plain white ones let the colors show through.
So, I have been wanting to create these cute little” bundle of happiness”, for my kids and I did this morning. I had a small problem with my cupcake liners not wanting to stay still. They kept spinning around and then folding on the sides when I tried to smooth the cake batter. Very frustrating. Any tips?
I just wanted to pop in here to tell you that these cupcakes are indeed awesome! I baked them for my 4 y/o’s Mario Bros. party and they were a big hit. I’ve read through some of the comments and wanted to say that I found my Wilton colors at JoAnn’s and was able to use one of their coupons which made them around $5 for a set of 8. I also put the batter in sandwich bags and snipped the corner which gave me cleaner layers than trying to do it with my finger. I stopped making boxed cakes a couple of years ago, but I’ll be making these again.
You ladies are so clever in the kitchen! I try at least one recipe weekly from your site! Thanks for all of the inspiration.
I wish I would of seen your post while I was making mine this morning. I could of used the tip on the batter in the bags. I will try this next time for sure.
AMAZINGLY cute. Made them for my own birthday (the cupcake baker in me wouldn’t let anyone else make my birthday cupcakes….). A lot of people were impressed and thought they were adorable…tasted great as well. Can’t wait to play around and make more with different colors!
http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/189949_521684868159_97800024_30781437_5771198_n.jpg
Can plain yogurt be used instead of fruit flavored? Also, is there a certain type of milk needed to be used?
Yep, any flavor of yogurt, and any type of milk will work just fine 🙂
just got done making these for my daughters 1st birthday but i used the whole ROYGBIV scale when making them, 6 colors ^_^ uber pretty, ty for inspiring me!
Amazing and moist when made with yogurt