Everlasting Gobstopper - Rainbow Cupcakes - Gluten Free

 These cupcakes will make anyone say "WOW". They are fun to look at and fun to eat.  The steps are straightforward and though it take a little extra time in advance they will surely be enjoyed!

Rainbow Cupcakes: Makes 24

1. Begin by mixing a Yellow Cake Mix according to its instructions. (For gluten free I suggest using King Arthur's Cake Mix. It is absolutely the best and is available through Amazon. I even added an extra teaspoon of vanilla to make it a real knock out.) As a side note I put a little extra liquid in mine to help the batter spread better (about 1/4 C).

2. Divide out the batter evenly into 6 cereal bowls. I love to use my cookie scoops to help me with this. (Or you can use a measuring cup.)  I have cookie scoops in multiple sizes: 3inch, 2 inch, 1.5 inch, and 1 inch.  I used the 3 inch scoop an put one scrapped measure in each bowl and then portioned out the remaining batter with a smaller scoop.

3. Using the a combination of the McCormick regular food coloring and the super bright colors I mixed up each color of the rainbow. I sing the Mickey Mouse club house song to help me remember the order. :) (Note that the purple is out of order in the picture.) I put it in the cupcake tin first then the blue, green, etc and then finished with the red. The purple came out a little gray at first so I added another drop of red to warm it up. For the Orange use more yellow than red.

4. Using the 1" scooper, scoop up a little less than a full scoop and put it in the bottom of each cup. If you have a little extra at the end just distribute it as evenly as you can. Some cupcakes had a little more of one color than another.  Also if you want to you can spend extra time smoothing out each color layer but I usually just smooth out the bottom layer and then just try to center each color on top of the other.

Note that the colors are slightly out of order. I ended up scooping the purple first then the blue, green, yellow, orange, and finished with the red.

5. Bake according to the instructions. Pull out when still springy and toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool before frosting.

6. Frosting, I used this butter cream frosting and it was simple and divine. Everyone wanted to lick the whisk attachment! I put the frosting in a gallon size zipper bag and trimmed of the end about 1/2" from the corner and used that to pipe out my frosting.

As the cupcakes bake they naturally tend to let the red sink into the middle and form a rainbow of colors around the edge. Making each bite bright and tasty!