Rainbow Cupcakes

Well well well...
What a dreary, rainy and gloomy few days we've had here in Southern California this week.

Most of you know, I'm a Kansas girl. So I know a thing or two about bad weather, yellow brick roads and places over the rainbow at the end of the storm. It got me to thinking, now that the rain has cleared, I'm stuck inside with a sleeping toddler. I won't be able to enjoy the rainbow even if I wanted to. So I'll just make my own.

Ingredients:
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup milk


Directions

Preheat oven to 350º. Line a muffin pan with paper liners.
In a medium bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine flour and baking powder, add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Finally stir in the milk until batter is smooth. Divide evenly into 6 bowls, coloring each individual bowl with its own color until you have one each of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple.

BE CAREFUL with your food coloring. This stuff gets everywhere and it isn't easy to get out!

Add a small scoop full of each color, without mixing, into each paper liner. Bake 20 to 25 minutes.

For Icing:

3 cups confectioners' sugar
1 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 to 2 tablespoons whipping cream

(Remember! If you don't have powered confectioners sugar laying around, you can always put regular granulated sugar in your food processor for a few seconds and make your own!)

In a standing mixer fitted with a whisk, mix together sugar and butter. Mix on low speed until well blended and then increase speed to medium and beat for another 3 minutes.
Add vanilla and cream and continue to beat on medium speed for 1 minute more, adding more cream if needed for spreading consistency.

Clearly you have the option of going to the store and buying your own sprinkles. But since you've handmade everything else in this recipe, why not make your own sprinkles as well? All it takes is a few teapsoons of sanding sugar (the larger and coarser looking sugar), mixed with one or two drops of food coloring. If you are too much of a hurry to let the sprinkles dry, pop them in the oven for 5 minutes on 325º!

Store them in old baby food jars or whatever other jars you have laying around the house for future use.