Thursday, March 18, 2010

(Somewhere Over the RaInBoW)

To help celebrate St. Patrick's Day we made festive RAINBOW cupcakes!
YUMMY!!
I have been seeing them around on other blogs and have been dying to try them out myself.  Even though they are a very LoOoOoNg process I LOVED the way they turned out!  I found a wonderful recipe to make your cake box mix taste good too.  We topped them with a delicious marshmallow frosting which gave it a fun cloudy look:)  And they tasted DE•LI•CIOUS!!!!!!!!!!

RAINBOW CUPCAKES:
1 white cake mix
1 sm. pkg instant pudding - vanilla
     (Tip -- you can use same recipe for any cake mix, just use chocolate pudding for chocolate cake)
8 oz. sour cream
4 eggs
1/2 c. water
1/2 c. oil
First mix together cake mix with pudding, then add remaining ingredients and beat well. 
Seperate batter evenly into 6 different bowls and add food coloring to get desired colors.  I just mixed till I got it bold enough....
Today I found this guideline or someone even suggested using gel dyes and it creates more vibrant colors ....

RAINBOW COLOR DROPS OF FOOD COLORING --
Purple 9 red and 6 blue drops
Blue 12 drops
Green 12 drops
Yellow 12 drops
Orange 12 yellow and 4 red drops
Red 18 drops

Than place about 1 tsp of each color batter into cupcake liners to fill 1/2 - 3/4 full.  I even saw someone do layers, which was just as cute:)  Bake 350* for 15 minutes.  Frost when cooled.

MARSHMALLOW FROSTING:
1 lb. butter - softened
2 jars marshmallow creme
1 lb. powdered sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
Beat all ingredients till fluffy!  I then put the frosting in a ziploc baggy, cut the tip and swirled frosting onto the cupcakes.  I would have used my frosting bag but I don't have a tip big enough, but the baggie worked just as good!

Here is another frosting recipe if you don't prefer marshmallow:)

COOL WHIP FROSTING:
2 sticks butter (1 cup) - softened
3/4 bag powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
Mix together and slowly add milk to get desired thickness.  She adds about TBL at a time.  Than fold in a tub of Cool Whip.  I haven't tried this one so let me know if you do and I need to tweak the recipe!

♣HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY♣

Another fun festive RAINBOW treat is fresh fruit served with YUMMY fruit dip --
My kids and husband devoured this creative snack and really thought it was fun.  Here is my fruit dip:

MARSHMALLOW FRUIT DIP:
1 8 oz. cream cheese - softened
1 jar marshmallow fluff
2 tsp. vanilla
Beat till creamy and fluffy.  Chill.  Serve with favorite fruit!

I came across this idea on another blog and she included fruit ideas and another version of fruit dip --
Red - Strawberries, apples, cherries, watermelon
Orange - Mandarin oranges, navel oranges, canteloupe
Yellow - Pineapple, banana, apples, pears, lemons
Green - Apples, pears, grapes, limes
Blue - Blueberries
Violet (Purple) - Plums, grapes, pears
Pot of Gold - Bananas
Clouds - Sm. Marshmallows
(I cut the apples and bananas over two hours before I served it and they weren't brown. How? Using a basting brush, spread lemon juice over the cut sides. EASY!!!)

FRUIT DIP:
8 oz. Cream Cheese (softened works best)
8 oz. Sour Cream
3/4 cup brown sugar
3 oz. package of instant vanilla pudding
1 teaspoon vanilla
Mix it all together. Chill in the fridge until you are ready to serve. And DEVOUR!!

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