Most days, my kitchen table is taken up with baking books in my search for a cake for a celebration which I will be hosting early next year.

I can usually refer to the many, many baking books in my possession for inspiration, but today this was not the case.  My daughter wanted Rainbow Cupcakes to take to a themed birthday party, and had found a recipe from an interesting site called Cut Out and Keep.  There are other recipes for cupcakes in my blog, but it’s the ‘Rainbow’ effect in these which sets them apart.

The recipe is a classic sponge-cake one, and uses the following:

125g/1 cup/4.5 oz. Softened Butter (I usually use unsalted)
125g/1 cup/4.5g Self-Raising Flour
125g/1 cup/4.5g Caster Sugar
2 eggs (left to come up to room temperature is best)
1 tspn Vanilla Extract 
3 Tbspns. Milk
4 Food Colours – Red, Yellow, Blue and Green


Pre-heat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6, and line a 12-hole cake tray with paper cases.


Using the creaming method, beat together the sugar and the softened butter, until totally combined.  Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix in well, adding a little flour between each egg, until there is no more flour left.


Next, add the Vanilla Extract and beat in to the mixture.  The milk needs to be added one teaspoon at a time, mixing thoroughly between each one.

Now the next part of the recipe is a bit time-consuming.  Lay out 6 bowls.  Divide the cake batter equally into each one.  

The colour sequence is supposed to give the colours of the rainbow in the correct order, but due to the chemical element to baking, some colours may sink into others during the baking process.


My advice about adding the colours is this.  Start with the following, and build up the colour you like as you go along.


Bowl 1 – 1 capful Red
Bowl 2 – 2 capfuls Red and 3 capfuls Yellow – This will produce Orange
Bowl 3 – 1 capful Yellow
Bowl 4 – 1 capful Green
Bowl 5 – 1 capful Blue
Bowl 6 – 1 cap Blue and 1 cap Red. – This will produce Purple