Rainbow Swirl Cupcakes

Bake vanilla cupcakes, tint buttercream in rainbow colors, and pipe swirls that put every color on top of one cupcake.

Bake one of these

• 
  Junior Bakers

  Vanilla Cupcakes

• 
  Rising Chefs

  Vanilla Buttercream

What you need

• A 12-cup muffin pan and paper liners
• Gel food coloring in rainbow colors
• 6 small bowls and spoons
• A piping bag with a star tip (a bag with a shaped metal nozzle)
• Plastic wrap
• Parchment paper for practice swirls (nonstick baking paper)
• The Cupcake Decorating Map printable

Steps

1. Bake the cupcakesWash your hands first and check every ingredient with your grown-up. Make the batter, fill the liners two-thirds full, and let your grown-up bake them. No tasting the raw batter. Wash your hands again after you touch raw egg.
2. Cool and planLet the cupcakes cool completely, because warm cake melts buttercream, a fluffy frosting made from butter and powdered sugar. While you wait, plan your designs on the decorating map.
3. Make the buttercreamYour grown-up runs the electric mixer to make the buttercream, and you add the ingredients only while the mixer is switched off. Keep fingers, hair and spoons away from the beaters. The buttercream should be soft and smooth.
4. Mix the rainbowSplit the buttercream into six bowls and stir a tiny dab of gel color into each. Add more a little at a time, because a small amount goes a long way.
5. Make stripesDrop the star tip into the piping bag, and your grown-up snips the end of the bag so the tip pokes through. Spread each color in a strip on a sheet of plastic wrap, side by side, then roll the wrap into a log and twist both ends. Your grown-up snips off one twisted end, and you slide that end first into the bag, down to the tip.
6. SwirlPractice a few swirls on the parchment paper first, like in Lesson 15. Then hold the bag straight up over a cupcake. Squeeze and circle from the outside in, lifting as you go. Every swirl comes out a rainbow.

Make it yours

• Pick three colors for a sunset or ocean swirl
• Top each swirl with a little cloud of plain white buttercream
• Invite friends, ask your grown-up to check their allergies first, and let each one pick a color order

Print the Cupcake Decorating Map