Saturday, March 13, 2010

Rainbow cupcakes

I saw these on another blog a long time ago and fell in love--is there really anything better than a cupcake with a surprise inside? Especially when it is super simple to make? Since St. Patrick's Day is next week, we thought it was time to give these a shot.

To begin, I used the recipe I got from fellow weight watcher members for cake: a boxed white cake mix (wait for the gasp from Sara) and substituted all of the oil, eggs, etc, with 12 ounces of diet lemon lime soda (another gasp). I didn't do this for calories or fat reduction so much..my family really prefers the soda mix to the traditional method because it makes the cake so moist.

I separated the batter into several bowls and colored it, then spooned it into the cupcake liners, one color at a time. The important thing here is not to stir the colors in...just lay them on top of each other. (Note for future use: I wish I had considered the layers a bit more carefully and put them in true rainbow order...um, ROY-green-BIV or something? I think I would have liked the end result even more that way.)



Then I baked and frosted them as usual (vanilla buttercream tinted a lemon yellow color). Pretty cool for very little effort!



...and a side note: I generally use a 1M tip in a piping bag to decorate my cupcakes because it looks nice and takes no time to do. I had read recently that some people prefer the 2D tip because it looks like a rose on top of the cupcake. I gave that a try this time around. It does kind of look rose-y, and looks good from the top, but it's kind of....flat from the side. I prefer the 1M.

Here is the 2D outcome:



I have been working on a jewelry project that I hope to post soon, but it is a gift and will have to wait until it's completely done (almost, I swear!) and sent off. It is completely different for me, so I have been a bit nervous about it and I keep checking project books and magazines to make sure I am not screwing it up. So far, I am really happy with it. I need to do the final sand and polish and hope to send it out in the mail on Monday.

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