Rainbow Cupcakes from Cake Mix
These rainbow cupcakes from cake mix are soft, colorful, and easy to make. A few simple upgrades turn boxed mix into bakery-style cupcakes with bright colorful layers and room for your favorite buttercream.
Ingredients
- 1 box yellow cake mix (regular or gluten free) or use white cake mix (22 ounce box)
- ½ cup unsalted butter softened
- 4 eggs
- ⅔ cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Gel food coloring Red orange, yellow, green, blue, purple
- 1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
- Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
- ¼ cup rainbow sprinkles
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F degrees. Line a cupcake tin with muffin liners.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter for 2 minutes. Add the eggs, milk, and vanilla. Mix until smooth.
- Slowly add cake mix and mix until just combined.
- Equally divide batter into 6 separate bowls. Add a 4 to 6 drops of gel color ( a different color in each bowl) and mix each batter until color is evenly distributed. Add more gel as needed to get a vibrant color. Add the cocoa powder to the red bowl for a richer color.
- Using a small spoon add a teaspoon of each color to the cupcake liners starting with purple and ending with red.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 16-20 minutes or until an inserted toothpick in the center comes out clean. Cool on rack.
- Frost once totally cool and top with sprinkls.
Equipment
- cupcake liners
- cupcake tin
Notes
- For a 15 ounce box of cake mix use 3 eggs, ⅓ cup of butter, and ½ cup of milk.
- To make this recipe dairy-free use non-dairy milk.
- To make a marbled rainbow cake: Grease a baking pan (size and baking times should be according to box). Color the batter according to the directions above. Scoop the batter into the cake pan, alternating colors. Rest for 10 minutes before baking. The rainbow cake will have a swirled pattern rather than layers.