Tie Dye (Rainbow?) Cupcakes

What do you do when it's the night before your daughter's birthday party and you still haven't decided what kind of cake (or cupcakes) to make for your guests? 

Grab a cake mix, right?  Right!  Because I'm too cheap to buy a cake from the bakery.  Who needs 'em?  I mean really, it's just a couple layers of deliciousness flour, water and sugar with a delightful plain ol' fruity layer of something or other in the middle and a divine overly sweet whipped cream or buttercream frosting.  Cake mix is sooo much better than that!  (It helps to try and convince yourself of that.)

Well, I wanted something different.  I wanted to do something fun with the cake mix.  After all, in a time crunch, I didn't have time to whip up my own whole cake.  It HAD to be mix. 

But then, I was reading a blog that I love and saw this cake and decided that was what I needed to do only in cupcake form.  My daughter would LOVE it. 

So, we set to work.  Here's what we did...

First of all, you'll make either a white or yellow cake mix according to box instructions.  We used yellow but I imagine using a white mix would make the colors even more vivid. 

 

Then you'll divide the batter into 4, 5, or 6 bowls... depending on how many colors you want. 



Color each bowl of batter a different color with food coloring.  I highly recommend the paste/gel food coloring, not the watery liquid kind.  The colors are much better with the paste/gel.  It can be found at Wal-Mart (if you're not Anthony) in the craft section or in craft stores such as Michaels... Wilton brand. 



Dip a toothpick into the food coloring and swirl it into the batter.  Then stir the batter with a spoon to get it all incorporated.  If you need to add more color, use a clean toothpick to add it. 

Line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners and spray with non-stick spray. 

 

Now start adding colored batter to each cup a spoonful at a time.  Use as many colors as you want for each cupcake until it is 2/3 of the way full.  This part gets very messy with 'helpers'!  But they sure had a fun time.  Once they're all full, bake according to cake mix instructions. 





In the meantime, you've got a whole lot of dishes to do. 



Perform the handy dandy toothpick test to make sure they are done and pull them out of the oven... unless the toothpick told you they weren't done.  In that case, don't pull them out just yet.  ;)

And now you've got colorful, fun cupcakes and a house full happy, giddy children.  If only the store would have had Play-doh ice cream in stock. 

 

Once they've cooled, you can frost them (preferably in white so the colors still hold the WOW factor once bit into).  My daughter just had to add sprinkles and colored sugar to them. 





Aren't they fun?!  Everyone at the party was impressed.