Psychedelic Birthday Cupcakes

So my friend wanted me to make cupcakes for her Birthday. She didn't specify what kind of cupcake so as you can see my imagination kinda went crazy on this one. I happen to have an obsession with eating colorful things. I think I can trace it back to eating all that superman ice cream and rainbow swirl bread as a kid (anyone remember that?). This is just a typical vanilla cake recipe with added food coloring for each layer, it's a little extra work but the results are fun and impressive.


Rainbow Psychedelic Cupcakes

(makes 12-15)

1 cup softened butter
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
4 tsp. vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup cold milk

Directions:

1.Preheat oven to 350°F.

2.Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating after each addition. Stir in vanilla.

3.In a separate bowl, stir together all dry ingredients. Add to butter mixture; stir in milk.

4.Separate into individual bowls for dying (precise measurements don't matter), layering each color in you desired pattern as shown below.


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5.For a "tie dye" effect, take a toothpick and draw a spiral in each cupcake tin.

6.Bake Time: 18-24 minutes.

Frosting

So this frosting is an interesting story...I tried out this marshmallow frosting from Pinterest but it turned out runny so I added some cream cheese, butter, and a little bit of confectioners sugar to thicken it up. The result: A slight whippy/marshmallow/cream cheese icing. It was pretty good but a pain in the butt. You can just follow this recipe for a regular cream cheese frosting.

1 (8oz) package of low fat cream cheese
1/4 cup butter (softened)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 to 2 cups confectioners sugar

1.Beat cream cheese and butter until smooth
2.Add remaining ingredients and mix (starting on low or you'll have a powder sugar storm)

*I garnished with crushed up froot loops, it gave it a nice little fruity crunch!