Y4 - 252/365: Rainbow Cuh-cakes!

Ryan had a fantastic idea this morning from right inside his Peppa Pig magazine...rainbow cupcakes!! "I wanna make these, mama," he said to me.

So after his nap, Daddy took us to the store to get a few missing ingredients.

The recipe calls for:

• 200g plain flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 80g caster sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 100ml vegetable oil
• 100ml buttermilk
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 4-5 different food colourings
• cake sprinkles and frosting

We didn't have buttermilk and Asda didn't seem to carry any, so we made our own by using a tablespoon of lemon juice in a measuring jug and filling the rest up to the '1 cup' line with milk and let it sit for 5 minutes.

I did the main ingredients and then brought the bowls into the front room for Ryan to help with the food colouring and spooning it into the cupcake moulds.

Daddy helped Ryan get the colouring really mixed in.

And Ryan tried really hard to mix as quickly as Daddy, sticking his tongue out to gain speed.

Then it was time to put the different colours in!!

I first put blue in all the cake holders to start. The recipe suggests 1/2 a teaspoon of colour into each cupcake case and I think in future I won't use as much as I did because I really didn't follow this too close.

I also think I may have put in just a bit too much food colouring in the batter itself because I wanted the colours to come out bright like they looked in the magazine.

This was the finished look before the cakes went into the oven (350°F/180°C/Gas Mark 4, about 15 minutes, not long enough for them to brown). Our fan-assisted oven stopped around 12-13 minutes and the cupcakes were ready, so it depends on your oven, I suppose.

Here are the cupcakes...fresh out of the oven and with the icing and sprinkles on top (I finally got to use my piping tool). They turned out a bit lopsided and the red was actually brown, but otherwise not bad for our first try. I think next time I may only do four colours and leave the red out altogether.

Ryan was using his best manners after his tea to ask/sign 'please' for a rainbow cupcake of his own.

Then, once placed on his tray, it was GAME OVER for the poor, helpless cupcake.

Yep. Down the hatch!