Rainbow Cupcakes

Want to celebrate Pride Month with some bright and delicious? Why not try this amazing recipe for some amazing Rainbow Cupcakes?

Ingredients

110g unsalted butter

110g caster sugar

2 large eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

110g self-raising flour

Various gel food colourings

Sprinkles (optional)

300g icing sugar

3 tbsp milk

150g butter

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Fill a cupcake tray with 10 cupcake cases.
2. Beat the salted butter, vanilla and caster sugar together until pale and fluffy. Use an electric whisk if you have one to make it easier. Gradually whisk in the eggs, scraping down the sides of the bowl into the rest of the mix after each addition.
3. Mix in the flour and a just pinch of salt until they have combined. Divide the mixture into five bowls and add a drop of food colouring into each to create a mix of colours.
4. Choosing different colours each time, evenly spread 1 tsp of the mixture into each cupcake case using a piping bag or the back of a teaspoon, creating layers of colour. Top with 1 tsp of the next colour and spread – be careful not to let the colours blend together whilst bringing the mix all the way to the edge of the case. Repeat until all the colours are used up and you’re left with an even layer of colour on the top. 
5. Bake the cupcakes in the oven for 15 mins, until a skewer inserted into the middle of each cake comes out clean with my wet mix left on it. Take the cakes out of the oven and leave them to cool completely on a wire rack.
6. To make the buttercream, beat the unsalted butter until very soft. Add the icing sugar, vanilla extract and a pinch of salt and whisk together them all together until the mixture is smooth (start off by slowly adding the sugar to avoid an icing sugar cloud). Beat in the milk until everything has combined.
7. Pipe the buttercream on top of the cupcakes using a circular nozzle, or gentle spread the buttercream on with a  knife. Top your cupcakes with your optional sprinkles