Groovy Cupcakes

My sweet daughter, Karli, turns 7 this weekend and what better way to celebrate her birthday at school than with these fun, colorful, groovy, tye dye cupcakes! I made these last weekend for my sister-in-law's birthday and they were very delicious and FUN! I thought that a bunch of 1st graders would enjoy these!

I have had a few people ask me how to make these so I documented my experience this time with pictures. It is super simple but it does take a little bit more time than if you were making regular cupcakes.

Step 1: Recipe - Tye Dye Cupcakes

1 package white cake mix (I have used Pillsbury and Duncan Hines)

3 egg whites

1 1/3 cups water

2 Tbs. Canola oil

Preheat the oven at 325 degrees (for dark metal or nonstick pans) or 350 degrees (for glass and shiny metal pans). Line cupcake pans with white liners. Beat the egg whites on high for one minute or until frothy. Add cake mix, water, and oil and mix on medium speed for two mintues. Divide batter into small bowls according to how many different colors you want. In this case I used five different colors.

I prefer to use AmeriColor food coloring which can be found at Hobby Lobby and Williams & Sonoma. I also use Wilton but I have found that AmeriColor gives brighter, bolder colors! Only use gel food coloring. Liquid food coloring (in the droppers) will change the consistency.

After coloring the batter, add a small amount of each color of batter into each cupcake liner. Sometimes you you will not have enough of each color to go into each liner and that's ok! Each cupcake will be unique. Here is a picture of what this step will look like:

Next, using a toothpick, slightly swirl the batter. DO NOT over swirl the batter or the colors will combine and make an awful grayish brown color! A figure eight motion usually works well. This step can also be skipped if you don't want a swirly appearance.

Bake the cupcakes for 18-23 minutes, using a toothpick to check for doneness. If a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean then the cupcakes are ready to be taken out of the oven. Cool the cupcakes in the pan for a few minutes and then move them to a cooling rack. Here is what the cupcakes will look like after baking:

Making sure you allow the cupcakes to cool completely, prepare the buttercream frosting.

The Best Buttercream Frosting

1 cup butter, room temperature

1 cup shortening (allows for easy decorating texture)

3 pounds powdered sugar

1 Tbs. pure vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. almond extract (OPTIONAL - but I always use it)

1/4 tsp. salt

3/4 cup milk

Food coloring

Beat butter and shortening together. Add powdered sugar, vanilla, salt, and milk. Beat until smooth. Add more milk if frosting is too thick, add powered sugar if frosting is too thin. This recipe makes a TON of frosting. You can easily half it and you will still have plenty OR you can freeze what ever you have left over.

Divide frosting and color with food coloring using your color(s) of choice. For these cupcakes I used a bright pink and blue. I added them together in a frosting bag and the result I got was a beautiful swirl...

And there you go...now you know how to make fun, groovy, tye dye cupcakes. Here is a picture of the ones I made last weekend so you can see what the inside looks like...

If you have questions, just ask! I'm off to fold one load of laundry, make lunches and then go to bed and it's 1:12am. There's never enough time! Oh, well!