We had a fun-filled birthday party for Maia yesterday attended by a bevy of 5- and 6-year-old girls, many of them dressed up as fairies, unicorns, and princesses. I may post a few photos of the actual party tomorrow, but thought I'd share my favorite part today -- the rainbow cupcakes.
Disclaimer: While I fully intended to have a leisurely ten minutes to take photos before the party, that time was instead used to ice cupcakes and generally act crazed. So some of these pics may leave a bit to be desired. For example, the photo above is taken of the very last quarter cupcake left after the party with icing that had long since melted in the sun. And the super-thin layer of blue at the bottom shows that this was one of the very last ones I made when I was nearly out of the blue batter. But still... you can see what they look like inside.
I found the directions for the rainbow cupcakes from Our Best Bites (found via Pinterest!). I made the yellow cupcake recipe from my Cook's Illustrated baking cookbook rather than using the cake mix she called for but other than that, followed her instructions.
Spreading the separate layers of colored batter was a tad tedious, but they were easy to make. And just perfect for a rainbow party. (Okay, so it was a "rainbow fairies, princesses, and unicorns party," but I chose to focus on the rainbow part for most of the prep. I figured the kids would take care of the rest with their outfits.)
I used her recipe for frosting which I thought was a good one. It incorporates a white sauce, something I'd never have considered using.
Other party prep:
My friend Meg (who says she wanted this party as a kid) made fairy paper dolls for the girls to decorate.
Maia's rainbow painting was hung on the fence outside, with more rainbow bunting above.
And for party snacks I put out some rainbow goldfish and made rainbow fruit kabobs (another idea found via Pinterest) with watermelon, canteloupe, pineapple, kiwi, blueberries, and purple grapes.
We had fun with the rainbow theme!
