Rainbow Cupcakes!

Ingredients

• * White cake mix (we used an 18-1/4-ounce box)
  
• * Food coloring (red, blue, green, and yellow)
  
• * Baking cups
  
• * Whipped cream (optional)

Instructions

• 1.) Prepare your favorite white cake mix, then divide the batter evenly among six small bowls. Following the chart below, dye each bowl of batter a rainbow color. 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
• 2.) Line 16 muffin pan wells with baking cups. Evenly distribute the purple batter among the cups, then the blue, and so on, following the order shown. As you go, gently spread each layer of batter with the back of a spoon to cover the color
  
• 3.) Bake the cupcakes according to your recipe directions. Before serving, remove the paper wrapping, and if you like, top each cupcake with a whipped-cream cloud.
  
  It’s not far to the gold at the end of this rainbow-topped Emerald Isle cupcake, just the thing for your lads and lasses on St. Patrick’s Day.
  

Ingredients

• * A cooled cupcake
  
• * Grass-green frosting
  
• * Several flavors of Airheads candies
  
• * A pot’s worth of gold coins

Instructions

• 1. To make one, first top a cooled cupcake (baked from your favorite recipe) with grass-green frosting.
  
• 2. For the rainbow, use a large, heavy knife (parents only) to cut a long, narrow strip from each of several flavors of Airheads candies (this is sticky stuff, so work on waxed paper). Lay the strips side by side, press them together, then cut the ribbon of strips in half to make two rainbows.
  
• 3. Curve each one into an arch and trim the ends as shown. Set one rainbow upright on the cupcake (save the other for another cupcake) and deposit a pot’s worth of gold coins at one end. If necessary, place a gold coin behind the rainbow for support.