Rainbow Cupcakes – How to make Rainbow Cupcakes two different ways! Both of these cupcake designs are bright and cheery and perfect for St. Patrick’s Day!
Piping Rainbow Cupcakes is simpler than you might think! Although it does take a bit more work, the mesmerizing result is totally worth it! The first Rainbow Cupcake design is a rainbow swirl with clouds and a gold coin topper. The second is a blue sky cupcake with a piped rainbow and clouds. I made these specifically to fit a St. Patrick’s Day theme, but these designs could work for any occasion. Feel free to change up the icing colours to your liking!
What you will need
Cupcakes or Cookies – These designs will work on the top of a cupcake or sugar cookie. You can use any recipe! My Easy Chocolate Cupcakes or Soft Sugar Cookies would work well, but you could also use a box mix for convenience!
Buttercream – I love using an American buttercream recipe like my Perfect Vanilla Buttercream for piping, but you could use any type as long as it is light in colour so you can colour it easily with food colouring. I would not recommend using a store bought jar of icing for these, as the consistency will not hold up well when piping.
Piping Bags – I like using reusable piping bags, but Wilton’s disposable bags are also great.
Piping tips and couplers – For design #1 I used a Wilton 6B tip and 12 tip and for design #2 I used a 6B tip. You will need a coupler for the 12 tip. You could also use a 1M or 2D tip in place of the 6B for the rainbow.
Food colour gels – I like using the Wilton Colour Right System because it comes with a few, very concentrated colours with a guide that shows you how to make a wide variety of colours. For the rainbow I made six colours – pink, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple.
Sprinkles – These are optional but just add an extra element of fun to these cupcakes! I used the “Happy Birthday” medley by Sweetapolita.
Plastic Wrap – You’ll need plastic wrap to roll up your rainbow icing to then put inside the piping bag!
Chocolate Gold Coins – These are a fun touch to add to design #1 if you are making these for St. Patrick’s Day!
How to make Rainbow Cupcakes – Two Ways
Design #1
Prep
Prepare your cupcakes or cookies and buttercream according to the recipe or package.
Divide your buttercream into 6 bowls and reserve some buttercream to keep white for the clouds. Decide which colours you want to use for your rainbow. I used pink, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. Colour each bowl of icing with food gel.
Lay a piece of plastic wrap out and spread each colour next to each other in long lines. Make sure each line of colour is even in length. If you want super clean lines, you can fill six piping bags with each colour and then pipe them out. This does use up a lot a disposable pipings bags or requires a lot of extra cleaning if you are using reusable piping bags.
Once you have have all of your colours lined up, gently roll them on top of each other from one end so that you form a log. Twist the ends of the plastic wrap so everything is sealed in well.
Prepare a piping bag with a 6B tip. Cut one of the ends of the log of buttercream and place that end into the piping bag first. Pipe a small amount of buttercream out on a plate to test. It might take a few squeezes before all the colours come out at once in a rainbow.
Prepare a second piping bag with a coupler and a 12 tip. Fill this piping bag with the white buttercream that you reserved. You don’t need a ton!
Assembly
To pipe the rainbow swirls, start in the centre of the cupcake and continue the swirl outwards until all of the cupcake is covered.
Pipe the clouds over top of the spot where you released the swirl. Hold the piping bag perpendicular to and just above the cupcake, apply a small amount of pressure and release as you lift the piping bag. You can pipe four or five small dots to form the cloud.
Repeat with the remaining cupcakes.
Sprinkle rainbow sprinkles over top of the clouds and outer edge of the swirls. Top with a gold chocolate coin if you’d like! I did half with and half without!
Here’s a quick video showing you how to make design #1!
Design #2
Prep
The first few steps for this design are the same as for design #1.
Prepare your cupcakes or cookies and buttercream according to the recipe or package.
Divide your buttercream into 6 bowls and reserve some buttercream to keep white for the clouds. One bowl, that will be for the blue frosting for the sky, should have about double the amount of buttercream as the rest. Decide which colours you want to use for your rainbow. I used pink, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. Colour each bowl of icing with food gel.
Lay a piece of plastic wrap out and spread each colour next to each other in long lines. Be sure to reserve half of the blue frosting for the sky. Make sure each line of colour is even in length. If you want super clean lines, you can fill six piping bags with each colour and then pipe them out. This does use up a lot a disposable pipings bags or requires a lot of extra cleaning if you are using reusable piping bags.
Once you have have all of your colours lined up, gently roll them on top of each other from one end so that you form a log. Twist the ends of the plastic wrap so everything is sealed in well.
Prepare a piping bag with a 6B tip. Cut one of the ends of the log of buttercream and place that end into the piping bag first. Pipe a small amount of buttercream out on a plate to test. It might take a few squeezes before all the colours come out at once in a rainbow.
Prepare a second piping bag with a coupler and a 12 tip. Fill this piping bag with the white buttercream that you reserved. You don’t need a ton!
Assembly
Spread each cupcake with the remaining blue buttercream to make a blue base.
To pipe the rainbow, hold the piping bag perpendicular to the cupcake and pipe a semi-circle on the upper half of the cupcake.
Pipe the clouds at the start and end of the rainbow to cover up the rough edges. Hold the piping bag perpendicular to and just above the cupcake, apply a small amount of pressure and release as you lift the piping bag. You can pipe clusters of three or four small dots to form the clouds.
Repeat with the remaining cupcakes.
Sprinkle rainbow sprinkles over top!
Here’s a quick video showing you how to make design #2!
If you tried either of these designs, let me know! Leave a comment below or tag me on Instagram @cremedelacombe. I would love to see your creations!
If you liked this Rainbow Cupcakes – Two Ways! tutorial and are looking for more design ideas, be sure to check out my Decorating Page!
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