A 121st post celebration, with rainbows!

One never needs any special occasion to create things with rainbow themes, but I just thought it very appropriate in this case. Rainbows to me symbolize hope– of better and brighter things to come; of optimism and good cheer. And that’s simply why I chose to make cute-as-a-button rainbow cupcakes to celebrate my 121st post. It’s not a new and mind-blowing idea, but every time someone posts about rainbow anything, I can’t help but fall into a nice feeling. Does that ever happen to you as well?

Now the next question (or maybe it was your first question) is: Why 121st?

This number is actually a combination of my birth month and date, January 21st. I remember the days when I used this number combination on all my cheesy usernames haha! But even though I outgrew this phase eventually, they still hold special meaning to me. (DUH.) And well, of course, I decided to mark my 121st post because I completely missed my 100th. (That’s the truth right there.)

Then again, I don’t need a very good reason to photospam you all with RAINBOWS!

Looking back on all my 121 posts, I realized that my favourite part in blogging about food is being able to share my experiences in hopes that it will inspire- or even teach- people like myself who have an interest in cookery to get up and be willing to experiment in the kitchen on their own. It’s why I put in a lot of effort with the process photos, trying my best to highlight the important steps in each recipe.

I don’t even mind that I bake and do the photography all by myself about 97% of the time. It’s all good fun! I’m no expert but I guess I am simply so enthusiastic about the recipes I share that I want anyone who attempts them to succeed and experience the same kind of gratification I did.

I love it the most when people tell me they have attempted the recipes I’ve shared, and that they ended up loving the recipe. Every time someone tells me they want to try a recipe on the blog and I tell them to keep me posted with how it turns out, I’m not saying that out of mere courtesy. I’m actually serious.

I am delighted every time someone leaves me a link to their own photos or posts talking about their own experiences with the recipes. I love it when people I personally know surprise me by saying they tried one of my featured recipes and were pleased with the results. I think food is all about being able to share and bring forth some sort of happy feeling in people.

In any case, thank you to everyone who has been with me on this fun ride. Whether you are one of my followers, those who come every now and then to get hungry, and even if you’re visiting for the first time because you happened to be searching “rainbow cupcakes”, I just wanted to say a big fat thank you to you all!

And now I’ll give you the recipe before I get any more sentimental and burst into tears or something.

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Simple Rainbow Cupcakes

These simple vanilla cupcakes are given a dose of colour to create a rainbow within each bite! Pair with cream cheese frosting to create an illusion of clouds.

Ingredients

For the cupcakes

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• ½ cup vegetable oil or melted butter
• ½ cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• food colouring, red, yellow, green, blue and purple

For the cream cheese frosting

• 4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/4 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3/4 cup confectioner's sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

Make the cupcakes

• 1. Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Line 10 cups from a 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners.
• 2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
• 
• 3. In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, eggs, vegetable oil, buttermilk and vanilla extract.
• 4. Pour dry ingredients into the wet mixture and stir until just combined.
• 
• 5. Divide batter evenly into 5 small bowls using a tablespoon, approximately 6 tablespoons or so for each bowl.
• 
• 6. Add about 1/2 teaspoon food colouring to each bowl to make red, yellow, green, blue and purple batters. Stir well so no streaks of plain batter remain. Add additional food colouring if necessary.
• 7. Starting with the purple batter, add about half a tablespoonful to each of the 10 muffin cups.
• 
• 8. Repeat with all remaining colours, working from blue to green to yellow to red, adding each subsequent spoonful on top of the previous color. Do not attempt to spread the layers of color out as it can cause layers to combined. Allow them to spread on their own.
• 9. Bake for about 15 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool cupcakes on a wire rack before frosting.
• 

Make the frosting

• 10. In a large bowl, beat together butter and cream cheese. Add sugar and vanilla extract, then mix until frosting reaches a thick, spreadable consistency.
• 
• 11. Pipe or spread frosting onto cooled cupcakes.

Notes

Adapted from Baking Bites blog

PS. I’m sending out a virtual Rainbow Cupcake to my dear friend, Rainbowholic Kaila. Check out her site, she’s awesome!