Rainbow Cupcakes II (Revisited)

This is one of those overdue recipes I have in my hard disk! Following the first attempt of Rainbow Cupcakes, I worked out another recipe that's a delight to make! I prefer the texture of this Rainbow Cupcake II better. And of course, this time round, it's paired with pretty cream cheese frosting! 

This recipe is simple enough to do without a machine whisk. It just needs a little arm strength that is! The recipe will take around 2 hours in all to complete and I'd rate it a difficulty level 3 out of 5. 

Rainbow Cupcakes II Recipe

This recipe yields about 8 - 10 cupcakes

160g plain flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

A pinch of salt

110g unsalted butter

150g castor sugar

1/2 cup milk

2 eggs (55 in size)

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

250g cream cheese

110g unsalted butter

165g icing sugar

1 tbsp vanilla bean paste

Method

Preheat oven to 170 degree Celsius, fan mode. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt.

Allow butter to 'warm' up to almost room temperature (I usually cube my chilled butter and let it thaw for 10 minutes in room temperature) and add the castor sugar. Using a sturdy spatula, hand whisk the mixture. It should be relatively easy to whisk it, just that you need a little determination and strength. Else, use a machine whisk. 

You should get something like this.

Add an egg. Mix well.

Add the other egg and mix well.

Add in the vanilla bean paste. Try using vanilla bean paste rather than vanilla essence/extract as it tastes so much better. The other two are just so artificial. 

Add the milk and flour mixture alternately, 1/3 portion at a time, ensuring that each layer is well mixed before adding another.

Remember to mix it well! 

Divide the batter into the number of colours you'd like. Colour the batter with some gel food colouring as you wish. 

I scooped my batter into a piping bag for cleaning 'scooping' into the cups. I layered the colour one after another. After all, the designs of the cupcakes really depend on your oven's heat. I always get this 'U' shaped design whenever I use fan mode on my oven.

Fill the cups 2/3 of the way. You should get about 9 - 11 cupcakes. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes or till' toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the middle of the cupcake.

I like to 'test' one cupcake in each row to ensure that all my cupcakes are cooked right.

Place on wire rack to allow it to cool completely. 

Have the cream cheese come close to room temperature in a mixing bowl for about 10 minutes. You may cube it to allow it to 'thaw' faster. Using a spatula/hand whisk (I prefer a spatula), whisk it vigorously by hand to cream it. 

Add cubed butter of room temperature (cube and thaw in room temperature for 10 mins) into cream cheese and whisk vigorously.

Add in icing sugar and vanilla bean paste. The specks you see in the cream cheese frosting is the vanilla bean paste. It may look 'unclean' but it sure will taste better! Mix well!

You should get something like this. Scoop into piping bag fitted with Wilton Piping Tip 32.

 Pipe a tall dot in the middle for 'supporting' the 'swirl'. Using the tall dot as a support, pipe around the sides of the cake and then gradually moving upwards to form a 'swirled peak'. 

You should get something like this!

With cream cheese frosting, I'd recommend that you store them in an air tight container and chill them until you're ready to serve. 

I hope you'll enjoy this simple recipe for Rainbow Cupcakes II! (: 

I'd love to see the bakes or stuff you've cooked using the blog's recipe! Do share photos of stuff you've baked or cooked using the blog's recipe with me either via FB message to http://facebook.com/limcynthia OR http://facebook.com/thebakingbiatch OR via email at cynthia.lim.hl@gmail.com! I look forward to hearing from you! (: