Rainbow Cupcakes

Rainbow Cupcakes

Pretty fun, eh? I found this recipe form Our Best Bites. I really like their blog and use of practical tips for their recipes. They're a great resource for my menu. This particular recipe is a great base for any white cupcake. It's dense and moist, just like I like them to be!

And you take a bit, and voila! Color! Fun! Magic! It feels like you're eating a rainbow even though you're really not! One of these times when I makes these I'll try to flavor each color. But that would taste interesting....


The cool swirl frosting technique!

I highly recommend that you use Wilton's gel dyes instead of food coloring because you'll get a much more vibrant color and effect. These were a great addition to our St Patrick's Day (week) desserts. I think they'd also be a great addition to a carnival birthday party!

I have to admit that I made mine way too top heavy I filled mine with tablespoons of color instead of teaspoons like they suggest below so I ran out of space for the last two colors so you can barely see the blue and green peeking at the top. So really when I ate one it was really like eating two. And sometimes, twice in one day. Oops! :)
Rainbow Cupcakes
From Our Best Bites

1 white cake mix
2 eggs
1 C yogurt 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. "

The Frosting recipe I used is Wilton's buttercream, my new favorite frosting recipe because it doesn't taste too buttery and it's nicely thick and creamy. I used Our Best Bites frosting suggestion found here. You essentially paint a stripe, with the food gel of every color inside your piping bag before filling with frosting. Then frost as normal but it comes out in a cool rainbow swirl! Here is a photo of their technique.

What occasion would you make these cupcakes for?

Rainbow Leprechaun Pancakes

Alternative to green eggs and ham for St Patty's breakfast? How about leprechaun sized pancakes? Make them rainbow colored for extra enjoyment!

Here is a quarter to give you perspective with how big, or small these little guys are.

Sadly, the purple ones got eaten before I could save them for the photo shoot :)

I didn't think about serving these little pancakes on the play dishes until it was too late. But that would have been fun too, though I really would have had to make them silver dollar sized. Serve with syrup and sprinkle some green sugar crystals on top for the final touch!

Idea source here


Grandma's Thin Pancakes:

My Grandma calls this recipe "Crepes" but they're not exactly crepes. They are similar to crepes but these are thicker. So we make them the size of pancakes (so smaller than crepes) but they turn out like really think pancakes (but thicker than crepes).

Add all ingredients, except flour, to a blender. Mix. Then gradually add flour.
2 cups milk
1 cup (or up to) water
4 eggs
2 Tbs oil
1 Tbs sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour

Pour in frying pan or griddle to desired size. Cook four a couple minutes until slightly browned. Flip. Cook until reverse side is slightly brown. Serve with syrup, powdered sugar, fruit, whatever! Eat like pancakes (not rolled up like crepes). 

Rainbow pots

For family night on Monday night, we taught the children about the biblical symbol of a rainbow. Then they got to paint their own rainbow pots!

Remember these pots from this post? I found this fun idea from Ohdeedoh who featured Marie from Makes and Takes on Craftzine.

If they went to bed nicely, which they did....well enough, they'd get to search for the pot in the morning. I told them a leprechaun was going to bring golden treats if they were good and he hid them. So after breakfast I got my Irish accent on and led them on a treasure hunt around the house until they found their pot!

I filled the pots with the almond/toffee Hershey's nuggets, but let's be honest, those are for me. They just looked more like gold bars. The kids get the regular miniature candies (pictured in pot #2). In the next few weeks we'll plant some herbs and they'll get to watch them grow!


Supplies:
Newspaper, scratch paper
Paper-towels
Cup of water
Paintbrush or Foam brush
Terra-cotta pots: Joann's, under $1.50 for each set
Paint: Acrylic paints from my supply
Candy: Rite-Aid, $2

St Patrick's Day Ideas

St Patrick's Day is in less than one week? Do you have your green outfit picked out yet? I am finding it's difficult to find an outfit for my 4 year old pink and purple daughter. Do you have the same troubles? Of course, I did always want to wear green because being pinched in elementary school was always embarrassing.

I've seen some very fun ideas in the blogosphere lately. I was never into celebrating St Pat's much beyond green eggs and ham and some green cookies. Sometimes foods dyed green just look so unappetizing. But I've seen some alternative ideas. Why not rainbow themed foods? Go with the leprechaun theme and finding the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Here are some ideas that I hope to implement next week starting tomorrow. I hope we'll feel up to going to this parade! What about you? What do you do?

I LOVE the look of these pancakes. I want to surprise my children with these when they wake up except that I'll make them leprechaun sized. But did you know what? After her pancakes were featured on some of the major blogs, she got a lot of hits. Great for her blog, right? But she also got a lot of flack for using food coloring in food for her children! Where have I been? I wasn't aware of the harm in that. But then she also got a lot of mean comments which she talks about on this post about the non-biblical view of the rainbow. Well, I fully support her photos and LOVE the idea of feeding my children these lovely rainbow pancakes!

Next up! Green Eggs and Ham!
Try Martha Stewart's easy Hollandaise sauce dyed green. Looks so easy! I am biased to eggs benedcit since I first tried them on my honeymoon at this 5-star resort hotel's room service! Soooo good! Last year I had seen ham with a green colored glaze. Does anyone have a recipe for that?

These are a fun variation of regular Rice Krispie Treats and presented so prettily. Recipe and pics found here.

Another dessert idea. I love the idea of these cupcakes. I might use these for this carnival birthday party too, except with chocolate frosting (though white looks better I just really like chocolate) and rainbow sprinkles.


This is a fun craft for the kids. Then you can always use the pots to help the kids start an herb garden!

Oh, and here's a fun clover leaf garland from Crafting Chicks you can hang for the day!