TASTE THE RAINBOW.
Happy Thursday, pals! You’re in for a real treat today. It’s brisk and a bit chilly outside so I think some non-solar sunshine is in order. How about some cupcakes?
I’ve been really loving experimenting with these little doodads lately. I’ve put a lot of cupcake recipes up in the past couple months, and it’s hard to say what my favorite is because I love them all in different ways. Aesthetically, though? I think these might take the cake.
Ha. Ha. Ha.
Okay.
These pretty, moist, delightfully cheerful Rainbow Funfetti Cupcakes feature a fluffy vanilla cake speckled with pastel funfetti discs and a tricolor cake batter buttercream swirled together in the piping bag to create a unique colorway on each cake. The method is actually super easy and only requires a few extra minutes to create.
You’re gonna feel like a straight-up pro when you behold your finished batch. Anyone blessed enough to snag one will be completely impressed and think they’re straight from a bakery. But nah. Your badass self achieved this on your own.
Well done, sirs and ma’ams. Well done.
Fun-Fetish
I love funfetti right now. Love it. I’ve a few more ideas in my back pocket and a huge bag of sprinkles in my cabinet that I’ll be throwing down in the next few weeks. Can’t fucken wait.
First, a note on the sprinkles themselves. You do not want to use nonpareils in the cake batter. Seriously. Fucking don’t. They will bleed like my nose after too much Sudafed. You can certainly garnish your cupcakes with the tiny balls, but go out and grab a container of jimmies or discs for the cake itself. I bought these!
Now that I’ve properly yelled at you to start (as I do with any good recipe), let’s get moving. Whip oil and sugar together until combined, then add three eggs, one at a time, vanilla, and Greek yogurt. Next: flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Keep your mixer on low and stream in buttermilk until the last streak of flour disappears into the batter. Use a spatula to fold in lots of sprinkles.
Stuff your cupcake tins with paper or parchment liners. Scoop batter into each slot, filling only 2/3 of the way full. These cupcakes rise beautifully so if you overfill, congratulations, you have muffins. Edible, but weird.
Bake at 35 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Cool the cupcakes for 10 minutes in the pans, then move to wire racks to cool completely. At this point, you can cover and pop the cakes in the fridge for up to 3 days prior to decorating.
Eat the Rainbow
Pretty sure loading up your diet with funfetti is what nutritionists mean when they say “eat the rainbow,” right?
The rainbow buttercream is truly not intimidating at all! The method is simpler than it looks. First, we’re gonna mix up a cake batter frosting: butter, vanilla, cake batter extract (this adds SO MUCH awesome to a batch of buttercream), powdered sugar, and heavy cream. Whiz it all up until soft and fluffy, adding more cream as needed to achieve a light and silky texture.
Divide the frosting into three bowls. No need for them to be perfectly even. In one bowl, add drops of green dye; in the second, red; and in the third, yellow. You will likely need more yellow dye to make the color show up since yellow is milder. You can also ignore my color suggestions and use whatever combo you’d like!
Mix each dye into the frostings, preferably with a separate spoon for each bowl so to not bleed the colors together.
Fit your piping bag with a choice tip. Spoon alternating dollops of each frosting into the bag. Swirl atop your cupcakes into whatever pattern you wish. Each cupcake will look slightly different due to the color distribution, which really adds to the charm of the treats! Some will have more green, some more pink, some will take on a blueish hue. I just love the unpredictability of the process.
Dust with a few more funfetti sprinkles, and you’re finished!
Store any leftover cupcakes in the fridge for a couple more days, or freeze up to three months. Little more exciting than remembering you’ve got a cute little cupcake waiting for you in the emergency treat stash.
I found these very joyful to make, and hope you do, too.
Tried this recipe out? Leave a rating and comment below with your thoughts, and don’t forget to come say hi on Instagram and show me what you made!
Have fun!
Baked Birthday Funfetti Doughnuts
rainbow funfetti cupcakes
Ingredients
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup plain whole milk Greek yogurt
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 1/3 cups buttermilk, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup funfetti jimmies or discs (NOT NONPAREILS), plus more for garnish
rainbow cake batter buttercream
- 1 stick butter, softened
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp cake batter extract
- 4 1/2-5 cups powdered sugar
- 1/3-1/2 cup heavy cream
- red, green, and yellow gel dyes
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 12-cup muffin tins with parchment liners.
- In a large bowl, beat the oil and sugar for 2-3 minutes until combined. Whip in the eggs, one at a time, then the vanilla and yogurt. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. With the mixer running, stream in the buttermilk until the batter is just combined. Do not overmix. Fold in the funfetti sprinkles with a spatula.
- Fill each cupcake tin 2/3 of the way with batter. Depending on what your heart says 2/3 of the way full is, you will get 22-24 cupcakes. Bake for 25-30 minutes until an inserted toothpick emerges with just a few moist crumbs. Cool 10 minutes in the pans, then transfer the cupcakes to wire racks. Cool completely.
- Make the frosting. Whip the butter and vanilla until combined, then add 4 1/2 cups of the powdered sugar and 1/3 cup of cream. Crank the mixer to high, and beat until very light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. You may need an extra tablespoon of two of cream to achieve the desired texture. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula, as needed, to properly incorporate all the ingredients.
- Divide the buttercream into three bowls. Add 2-3 drops of red dye to one, green dye to the second, and 4-5 drops of yellow dye to the third (yellow is usually less pigmented). Stir with a spoon until the dye is evenly distributed.
- Alternate dolloping a spoonful of each dye into your piping bag. Pipe each cupcake with the buttercream and ogle at the pretty swirl patterns made by the colors. Yes, you did that yourself! Amazing job. Sprinkle each cupcake with a bit more funfetti to finish.
