Thursday 7 August 2014

Rainbow Magic Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream




I come from a really tight-knit family. Being from the Middle East and a family person is more or less synonymous though. Having been an introvert for most of my life (three year old me was a blasty-blast, I hear!) I rely a lot on my family. And I have had a lot to ask them, believe you me. A lot.

Speaking of family -- I wanted to call these Unicorn Poop Cupcakes....but, I digress. Mother said it was a bad idea and she is probably right!


OH and before I go on, did you know I was a featured blogger over at www.thebesty.com ? Stay tuned for more fun stuff but for now you can go on over and be a part of the foodie community and find out about my top picks for restaurants and other foodie things!

Anyways, the summer holds lots of family birthdays and one of my biggest supporters will always be my grandma. She prays for me and holds my head up and always reminds me to look on the bright side of things. Why? Because she knows better than to dwell on what doesn't matter. So as a small thank you -- how could I not give to her a small gift from my kitchen? She spends hours and hours in hers to feed us all, it's the least I could do!








The flavours are simple. Vanilla cupcakes and vanilla buttercream frosting. I will share both the frosting recipe and the technique to get a rainbow!











Even though they all look different -- I kind of like it! And my grandma LOVED them. They are so bright and fun. Just what we all needed. 









You could do these for a unicorn or rainbow themed birthday party too! Use whatever colours and decorations you choose! I made the chocolate cupcake toppers last minute by piping chocolate designs onto parchment paper!








And they turned out...SO FUN! I couldn't stop looking at them! So let's discuss the recipe and technique!




Rainbow Vanilla Buttercream Frosting 

Yields enough for 20- 24 cupcakes 

Vanilla Cupcakes


Ingredients:

  • 3 sticks or 1 1/2 cups butter, softened 
  • 4 cups icing sugar
  • 1-2 teaspoons vanilla
  • Assorted rainbow food colours (I used blue, green, red, purple and yellow) 

Directions:

  1. Beat butter with an electric or stand mixer until light and fluffy in colour 
  2. Add in icing sugar one cup at a time until you have a thick frosting that sticks to a spoon without falling off 
  3. Add in vanilla and beat until fully combined -- if only using one colour you may add it in with the vanilla, or if using no colour your buttercream is ready to go!
  4. For rainbow effect separate buttercream into as many bowls as you have colours 
  5. Drop food colouring in each bowl until you have as many colours as you would like
  6. Using a large piping bag fitted with a closed-star tip, layer your frosting one at a time pushing the icing onto the side of the bag trying to keep the colours separate
  7. Continue until all colours are layered in the bag vertically 
  8. Pipe your rainbow swirls! 

For our visual learners:



Separate icing:








Colour each bowl:









Layer in the bag! As you can see I did the blue and purple first and they took up a lot of space making my first few cupcakes mostly blue and purple....But like I said I didn't mind it -- it still turned out pretty! 









This reminds me of the scene from Hook where the lost boys fling that crazy goop at each other. YEP. Did anyone else have a crush on Rufio? No? Just me... 







That's it! Then...get ready for some fun! 










Lots of fun!








 I am so obsessed with this funny lopsided heart! That's the beauty of chocolate..it's always.
















I spelled out 'happy' and 'birth' and 'day'! Okay okay....the birthday broke into birth and day, but it's ok!










You can really tell which cupcakes came last! They have all the colours in them! Ooooo....COOOL! 










Another adorable scribbly heart ! 










I actually love this one too! It's like Picasso meets...hashtag. Pretty artsy, bro. 










My grandma and my whole family loved how fun these were! And after I shed some tears in my kitchen, I realized it's all worth it. Cupcakes are nothing to cry about and having my family makes me happier than anything else in the world. Happy Birthday Sitou! Okba mit sanna Insha-Allah! We love you so much.




So from my kitchen to yours...go hug someone today, give them a smooch and make them a rainbow cupcake. Life is too short not to.








Happy Swirling!

XO

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