Today I’m happy to have Amanda Wright, from Amanda Cupcake, guest blogging and sharing with us how she makes her gorgeous Pastel Rainbow Fantasy Cupcakes.

She’s also going to share with us how to make and get the beautiful swirly, sparkly frosting that so many of you have been asking for.

So, Welcome Amanda and I’ll turn it over to you!

Pastel Rainbow Fantasy Cupcakes:

A True Story by Amanda Cupcake

One Starry Starry Night, while everyone else was dreaming, I swirled fantasies on top of cupcakes.

Little fantasies that tasted like vanilla almond rainbows.

Or vanilla almond rainbows that tasted like little fantasies?!

I re-created my starry night on the cupcakes by lightly sprinkling hologram silver disco dust on top of each frosting swirl ♥

My edible paint colors, that I swear by, for fantasy rainbow cupcakes and their frosting is the  Americolor Gel Paste in Electric Pink, Electric Yellow and Sky Blue.

(You can buy these at a local cake decorating supply store or online at Country Kitchen Sweetart).

The “Science” Behind the “Fantasy”

(the recipe for the batter):

• White Cake Mix  (no generic labels, brand names only)
• 1 1/2 Cups Buttermilk  (in place of the water on the box)
• 4 eggs
• 3.9-4 oz Vanilla Pudding  (the pudding gives it that “from scratch” texture).
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of Pure Vanilla Extract
• 1/3 Cup Vegetable Oil
• Disposable Piping Bags  (for layering the rainbow colors on top of each other in the cupcake liners)
• Light colored cupcake tin  (a light colored tin works better than the dark so that your bright colors don’t brown when baking)
• White Cupcake Liners  (this recipe makes about 12-15 cupcakes)
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees

Step 1: Combine all ingredients in stand mixer and whip together well using flat beater attachment.

Step 2: Using 3 separate bowls, pour about 1 1/2 Cups of batter in each bowl.

Step 3: 

♥ For Sky Blue:  Mix two small drops of Americolor Gel Paste.

♥ For Electric Pink:  Mix three to four small drops of Americolor Gel Paste.

♥ For Electric Yellow: Mix three to four small drops of Americolor Gel Paste. Bowl.

(I use more drops of color for the yellow and the pink so that the colors are really vibrant).

Step 4:  Stop and gaze at the beauty of your bright batter colors in each separate bowl.

Pour each color of batter into a separate disposable piping bag and snip off the tip.

 

♥ Cover the bottom of your cupcake liner with electric yellow batter.

♥ Repeat by piping electric pink on top of your electric yellow batter.

♥ Repeat again by piping Sky blue on top of your electric pink batter.

♥ Now you can add little swirly swirls of extra color, until your cupcake liner is filled 1/2 full.

♥ Bake at 325 degrees for approximately 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, then taste test. I did. The cupcake is…gone!

Look how pretty the cupcake liner looks alone!

The Rainbow Fantasy Swirl Frosting ♥

1 lb. of  Unsalted  Softened Butter in my Buttercream Recipe ♥

I swear by Marshmallow Creme as the base for my frosting.

I use 13-14 oz in my frosting recipe.

1 T. Vanilla Extract

Dash Salt (to lessen the sweetness a tad)

8 Cups Powdered Sugar

 

• Use a spatula to scrape the fluff and the butter out into your stand mixer.
• Mix well until fluffy and well blended.
• Gradually add a pinch of salt and vanilla extract.
• Slowly add the powdered sugar until the frosting reaches desired consistency.
• (The more powdered sugar you add, the stiffer the frosting will be for decorating).

Just like my batter, I separated my frosting into 3 bowls.

Then I mixed each gel paste color into a separate bowl (about 3-4 drops per bowl–you can always add more color if you want the color to come out more vibrant).

Electric Yellow, Electric Pink, Sky Blue and add White as a 4th color.

To pipe a multi-color rainbow swirl:  Stack each color of frosting on top of one another inside of a disposable piping bag. ♥  Your piping bag will look so pretty from the outside, like this!

 For a dreamy puffy fantasy swirl, I use a round Wilton 1A Piping Tip.  Before you stack the frosting inside of the piping bag, cut a hole in the end of the piping bag big enough to fit the tip, and slide the piping tip down into the end of the piping bag.

 

♥ No cupcake will look the same.  When all three-four colors blend together inside the piping bag you’ll start seeing greens, purples and turquoise colors swirl a fantasy rainbow onto your cupcake!

♥ HINT:  For the brightest colors possible use a fresh piping bag when you need to refill the frosting.  This prevents colors from turning muddy or brown.

The final product.  My signature rainbow vanilla almond fantasy cupcakes.

Thank you Amanda for sharing with us your beautiful Rainbow Cupcakes! Can’t wait to give them a try!

Be sure to visit Amanda Cupcake for more great recipes.