Rainbow Surprise Cupcakes

"Somewhere over the rainbow... dreams (really do) come true."

There's no doubt that cupcakes have truly taken over the world. Every corner you turn you're surrounded by pastel-coloured, sugary things in an ever-increasing range of colours.

Vogue magazine pronounced that: 'Owning a cupcake bakery is the career fantasy of our times.' And they're right: this is one money making machine with a single cupcake going for anything between £2.50-£5 a piece.  'Tis a crazy thought - however with these sweet treats it's all about eating with your eyes.

Candy Cakes, Hummingbird Bakery, and Primrose Bakery are among the hundreds of London cupcake establishments - however cupcakes made it 'big' after Miranda and Carrie from "Sex in the City" (watch it here) enjoyed cupcakes outside New York’s Magnolia Bakery back in the early 2000s.... the power of celebrities!

These Rainbow Surprise Cupcakes were inspired by my latest obsession: Pinterest (if you're not on it, it is incredible). It has opened up a whole new world of ideas and as soon as I saw these, I shot straight to the Home Baking aisle to get my hands on the necessary ingredients! Although a little more fiddly than your average cupcake, they'll bring a smile to anyone who bites into them - what's not to love?

Rainbow Cupcakes (makes 12) Pin It

1x basic cupcake recipe (see below)

500g icing sugar

160g unsalted butter

50ml whole milk

2 drops of vanilla essence

blue food colouring

handful of mini marshmallows

rainbow sweets

edible glitter (optional)

cupcake cases

4 mixing bowls

piping bag

1. To make these Rainbow cupcakes, I used the "ultimate vanilla cupcake recipe". If you're short for time, you could take a short cut and buy a shop-bought cupcake mix (just hide the evidence!). 
2. Heat the oven according to your chosen cupcake recipe instructions.
3. Once you've made your cupcake mix, separate the mix into 4 bowls and mix in the different coloured food colourings. For a deep colour, you'll need approximately 24 drops in each bowl.
4. Line a cupcake tray with your cupcake cases.
5. Here's the tricky part - layering the colours. Put a teaspoon of your first chosen colour into the cases, then smooth the mixture evenly.
6. Continue with your second, third and fourth colours, making sure you smooth down each layer - to make it easier, get a mug of boiling water and dip your spoon into the water to make moulding the icing an easier task (just make sure to give the spoon a shake to get rid of most of the water!). Your cupcake mixture should fill half of your cases. 
7. I'd highly recommend baking a single cupcake first to make sure you've got your timings and your temperatures right.
8. Bake the cupcakes according to the recipe instructions and leave to cool.
9. For the vanilla frosting, beat 500g icing sugar, 160g unsalted butter, 2 tbsp milk, couple of drops of vanilla essence and blue food colouring until light and frothy,
10. Once the cupcakes are cooled, pipe the blue icing onto your cupcakes, then decorate with rainbow sweets and mini-marshmallows. If you're feeling extravagant - top with edible glitter.

These make me proud. Now that would be bragging. They do however, take quite a considerable amount of time to make - time well spent though, I'd say.

The best thing about cupcakes is that they can be dressed-up to suit every occasion - so watch this space for future cupcake adventures.

Other EatDrinkPlayLondon cupcakes to try:

• Strawberry Daiquiri Mini Cupcakes
• Chocolate Malteser Cupcakes