Rainbow Unicorn Cupcakes

Fun sprinkled filled unicorn cupcakes!!

Colorful sweets to brighten any day!

 Vibrant layered colors of funfetti cake batter create the ultimate Unicorn cupcake! I love that the cupcakes are fun to make and perfect for any occasion…or even if there isn’t an occasion, it’s a nice treat to have!

Ingredients:

For Unicorn Cupcakes (makes 24 cupcakes):

• 1 cup + 2 tablespoon whole milk, at room temperature
• 4 large egg whites, at room temperature (120 grams)
• 1 whole large egg, at room temperature
• 3 cups cake flour, sifted (350 grams)
• 1 1/2 white sugar (300 grams)
• 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon baking powder (19.5 grams)
• 3/4 teaspoon salt (5 grams)
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract (15 ml)
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract (2.5 ml)
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon Cisco vegetable shortening, softened (14 g)
• 12 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened (113 grams)
• Pink, red, blue, green, purple red gel food coloring.

For Fluffy Frosting:

• 3 sticks + 2 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened and cut into cubes
• 3 1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar, shifted
• 3 tablespoon heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt
• Red, pink, purple, blue gel food coloring

Directions:

For Unicorn Cupcakes:

• Preheat oven to 350F degrees and line muffin tin with baking liners.
• In medium bowl, whisk together wet ingredients – egg whites, whole egg, 1/4 cup milk, vanilla extract and almond extract (note: not mixing in all of the milk yet and need to set some milk aside for steps later on). Set mixture aside.
• In bowl to standing mixer, shift cake flour into the bowl and using paddle attachment on low speed, add in sugar and mix thoroughly (about 30 seconds).
• Add butter and shortening to flour and sugar mixture and continue to mix on low speed for another 30 seconds. Scrape the sides down.
• Add remaining milk (3/4 cup + 2 tablespoon) to mixture and mix on low speed until the batter is coming together. Then increase the speed to medium and continue to mix for another 90 seconds. Scrape the sides of the batter down.
• Add the milk/egg mixture in three batches and after each addition, beat the mixture on medium until just combined (note: over mixing can cause the cupcake to lose the soft and moist texture).
• Separate the batter into 3 small bowls (approximately 1 3/4 cup to 2 cups batter for each bowl).
• Add a couple drops of food coloring in the respective bowls (pink, purple, blue) and and mix. Continue to add more color until desired color is reached. For the purple, I added some red to make it more vibrant and technically a small amount of red in the white batter will be pink, but I prefer to mix the pink color that I have with some red to make it brighter.
• Use a tablespoon to scoop one tablespoon of one color into each of the liners (place on one side of the liner, leaving room for another color for the bottom of the cupcake). Use another tablespoon to scoop another color and layer the colored batter as desired. Fill to 2/3 of the liner.
• Bake for 16-18 minutes. Check on the cupcakes at 16 minutes and if the top is still not fully cooked, and continue to check back each minute until cooked.
• Once cupcakes are removed from the oven, allow it to cool for at least 5 minutes before transferring to wire rack to allow them to cool down completely.

For Fluffy Frosting:

• Shift confectioner’s sugar into the mixing bowl to standing mixer.
• Using paddle attachment, whip together butter and confectioner’s sugar on medium speed (Kitchen Aid setting 4) for 8 minutes. The butter and sugar will become very pale and creamy.
• On slow speed, add vanilla extract, salt and heavy cream. Once incorporated into mixture, increase mixer speed to medium (Kitchen Aid setting 4) for 6 minutes.
• Frosting will become creamier, lighter and fluffy in texture.
• Use spatula to press it against the side of the mixer to smooth out air bubbles.
• Divide the batter into approximately 60/40 split into separate bowls. Since the purple color on the bottom is used for the base of the swirl, you’ll need more purple buttercream.
• In the bowl with more buttercream, add purple food coloring (possibly add a drop of red and blue) to deepen the saturation of the color. In the other bowl, add the pink food coloring (possibly add a drop of red to make it more vibrant pink). Mix the buttercream well.
• Place the buttercream into separate piping bags with closed star tip.
• Pipe the purple frosting on the bottom first swirling from inside round to the outer edges.
• Then take the pink frosting and pipe from the center and swirl outwards.
• Finish with mix of rainbow sprinkles!

Note: to stuff the center with sprinkles (or whip cream, buttercream…possibilities are endless!) before frosting the cupcakes, either use a serrated knife or base of piping tip to cut out a hole from the center of the cupcake. Fill with desired sprinkles or cream. These cupcakes would be amazing filled with cream, but just make sure that if its whip cream, it’s best prepared close to serving time (it’ll be better than prepping in advance and having to store them in the frig, which would dry out the cupcakes.)

Regardless if the cupcakes are stuffed or not, they’ll still be perfect and amazing!!