Rainbow Cupcakes

This creative recipe is great for themed cupcakes, or just something creative to do with young children. In this recipe, you add food coloring to cake batter, and mix the colors together to get a creative cupcake. Use these instructions as a springboard for your own idea, using different colors or icings to make it creative.

You will need the following:

• Cake mix, and the required ingredients
• A mixer
• Food coloring, four colors
• Cupcake trays, mini or large
• Cupcake holders
• Four bowls and spoons
• Icing
• Sprinkles

Instructions:

Begin by making the batter for the cupcakes. Make sure to use a mixer, and mix the ingredients thoroughly for at least two minutes. The mixing gives the cupcakes a lighter texture. 

Divide the batter into the appropriate number of bowls for the number of colors you want to use. I used four different colors, so you see four bowls in the photo to the right.

Decide what colors you want your cupcakes to be. I used the four basic food coloring colors that are given: blue, green, yellow, and red. You may use one color, two colors, or may even blend the food coloring to make unique colors. Reference the back of the food coloring package to create different colors.

Add the food coloring to the batter. I used five drops of each color, and this gave the batter a pastel color. Using more drops will result in darker colors, so use according to your taste. Mix the batter thoroughly after adding the drops of food coloring.

Prepare your cupcake holders in the cupcake tray. You may also use a non-stick tray and avoid using the cupcake holders at all. 

Fill the cupcake holders with your different colored batter. I used a small spoon to transfer small amounts of each color to each holder. Be sure to evenly fill each cupcake holder, not filling more than 3/4 of the way. 

Do not fret if you over-fill the cupcakes. You can always remove some of the batter. It is most important that all of the holders are filled evenly, so the cooking time is the same for all cupcakes.

Finally, bake and decorate your cupcakes. See below for the results of my decorating, and for a view of the inside of the rainbow cupcake.

Oreo Brownie Cupcakes

This recipe is an interesting twist on the traditional cupcake. Simple ingredients and a little extra effort makes this cupcake very unique.

Servings:
One box of brownie mix yields 12 cupcakes
Ads additional boxes to increase yield

You will need the following:

• One box of brownie mix, along with eggs, oil (whatever is required for your mix)
• One container of Oreo cookies (flavor of your choosing)
• Cupcake pan and cupcake holders
• Additional: icing, chocolate fudge, whipped cream or ice cream

Instructions:


- Mix the brownie mix with the required ingredients according to the directions on the box.

- Place the cupcake holders in the pan and fill each pan approximately 1/4 of the way with brownie mix. Do not add more than 1/4 of the holder, or the oreo will be difficult to cover.

- Note the picture to the right, which shows the amount of batter to put in before placing the Oreo on top.

- Cover the Oreos with the remaining batter, making sure to use sparingly to have enough to cover all 12 cupcake holders.

- Bake at 350 degrees for about 18 minutes. You may want to cook them for less or more time, depending on how chewey you want the inside to be.

- Watch the brownies carefully, making sure they don't burn. I checked them after about 10 and 15 minutes.

- Once they are cooled, you can unwrap them and flip them over to give them the appearance of a lava cake. Add icing, chocolate syrup, or even ice cream to the top to make them even more rich of a treat

- Shown here with vanilla ice cream. When the cupcake is flipped over it gives the appearance of a miniature cake

- You can use non-stick spray in the cupcake holder pan to avoid using paper holders, leaving your cupcakes free of the lines created by the paper

Beach Birthday Cake

Want to make a cake personal and creative, but don't want to spend the extra money to get a professional to do it? There are many cake shops that will make a great creative cake for you, but why use them when you can build your own for a lot less money? I have been personalizing birthday cakes for years now, and I have never spent more than $15.00 on the personal touches that can make a cake really unique. With a little extra time and planning, you can have a creative themed cake in a few hours. 

One of my first creative cakes is a beach scene made from very simply ingredients. This idea can be used for either a birthday, graduation, or simply a beach themed party.

 You will need the following:

• Cake mix for flavor of your choice
• A large plate or platter
• Two containers of vanilla or buttercream icing (must be cream or white color)
• A knife or spreader for the icing
• Blue food coloring
• Brown sugar
• Small palm trees (A.C. Moore)
• Teddy grahams (Small package)
• Icing tube/ icing gel tube, any color
• Decorative shaped sprinkles
• "Happy Birthday" candles (Available at most grocery stores)
• If available- small figurines of umbrellas, beach chairs, etc. (Available at most craft stores)

Instructions:

• To begin, decide if you will use one or two sheet cakes, and bake them according to package instructions. Of course, you may also use a recipe or homemade cake also, but this will require a lot more time. I chose to use two cake sheets, which I made in a 9.5" by 11" pan and placed them side by side on a large platter. Keep in mind that it will be harder to add more decoration to the cake if you simply use one sheet.

• After placing the two cakes side by side (as close as possible to avoid it looking like two cakes), ice both of the cakes completely in white or cream icing. Do not fret over crumbs in the icing or uneven appearance, as it will be covered up with decoration in the end. Simply ice both cakes for now, making sure to save at least half a container of icing for the step below.

• Use the blue food coloring to make the remaining white icing a blue color, as dark or light as you want your ocean color to appear. Begin to carefully ice the bottom half of the cake, using strokes like a paintbrush to simulate the waves. I spent a while trying to get the waves to look real enough, so it depends on your personal preference for how much time to dedicate to this. I iced about 1/2 of the cake, you can make the waves as prominent as you wish- a small wave at the bottom of the cake, or even an island with the waves around the edge of the cake.

• Open the container of brown sugar, and use your hands to crumble it over the remaining white of the cake. Again, you have a lot of creative freedom here- You can make the cake as sandy as you would like.

 As a creative tip, I made a sandcastle out of the brown sugar. Since the sugar sticks together so well, it is easy to mold pretty much any design you can think of. I used decorative sprinkles to simulate shells on the sandcastle

Once you have all of your sand and ocean finished, you can design your cake. As you can see in the picture, I have used Happy Birthday letters for a unique candle design. You can find different candles to use at craft or grocery stores.

 For the beach-goers, I used gel icing to put bathing suits and a face on Teddy Grahams. Be careful with the gel icing, as it is liquid and runs easily. I recommend using the non-gel icing, which is like regular icing in a small tube. It takes a lot of patience to get the bathing suits just right, so make sure you have a bunch of them on hand. Feel free to use any other edible animal or person, or even small figurines. If you have small children, you probably have a lot of small figures that you can wash up and use for this cake.

I also used a lot of additional figurines, as I had them on hand already on hand from having small doll houses. You can visit a craft store and pick up small palm trees, umbrellas, beach balls, or even small people.

I hope you enjoy this post, and that you are inspired to make a creative cake such as this one. I will have more creative cakes to come in the future. If you have made a cake such as this one, or you use my tips and instructions to make one, please post pictures of it so others can get even more creative ideas.