RECIPE: Rainbow Pastel Cupcakes

Here’s our easy recipe for Rainbow Pastel cupcakes!

The Cupcake Recipe (for 12 cupcakes)

125g self-raising flour

125g caster sugar

2 large free range eggs

125g unsalted butter/margarine

¼ teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda

1 ½ tablespoons of milk

¼ teaspoon of vanilla extract

Buttercream Icing

335g icing sugar

150g unsalted butter

1- 2 tablespoons of whole milk

¼ teaspoon of vanilla extract

Colour paste/food colouring: blue, yellow, pink and green (optional)

Cupcake Method

• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and line a 12-hole cupcake tin with paper cases of your choice.
• Combine the cake ingredients and mix together until the mixture is fluffy and light.
• Spoon the mixture into the paper cases and bake for 18-22 minutes.
• After you take them out of the oven leave them to cool completely.

Buttercream Method

• Beat the butter until smooth and pale in colour and gradually add the icing sugar in two parts. Then add the milk and vanilla extract.
• Divide the buttercream into 3 or 4 different bowls (it doesn’t have to be exactly equal).
• Add the different colour pastes into each bowl and keep adding it until you are happy with the colour. For a more vibrant colour, add more colour paste.
• Next, place your preferred nozzle into a piping bag and lay it on its side. Using a long pallet knife, start to build up the rainbow in the bag whilst spreading the colours around the sides.
• To do this, start with the yellow and push the buttercream all the way down to the piping bag and spread it around the sides.
• Then layer the blue buttercream on top after that and don’t worry if it gets a bit messy.
• Repeat the process with the pink followed by the green until the whole piping bag is filled.
• Pull the bag up and shuffle the buttercream down the bag to the bottom and twist the end around your finger ready to start piping. You need to pipe into a bowl first, until you start to see all your colours appear.
• Once your cupcakes have cooled, you can start piping and experiment with different techniques.

Enjoy!

Remember to tweet @YouthLeadsUK with your pictures if you decide to try this recipe at home.