For this third installment of my summertime Friday Family Fun series, after suggesting some places to get out and visit around the national capital, I thought I’d post a suggestion for a fun kid activity that you can do whether you live in Ottawa or anywhere else. We did this last weekend and the boys loved it!
You can start with cupcakes from scratch if you have that kind of talent, but we went with a box mix for plain vanilla cupcakes cuz that’s how we roll. However you start out, you should end up with a big bowl of cake batter. Separate that into as many bowls as you want colours — we went with four: red, green, yellow and blue. Add enough food colouring to each bowl of batter so you get a nice, rich hue.
We made cupcakes, but the first time I saw this was on Amy’s blog, where she did a whole cake this way. I personally like the cupcake thing — I like my activities and my snacks bite-sized! Put a spoonful or two of each colour into a cupcake sleeve, and keep dripping layers of colour in until the batter fills the cup.
As you can see, there’s not a lot of precision in our methodology. I’m learning to watch more and control less. It’s not always easy!
When you bake them, they end up like this.
As if fresh-baked cupcakes didn’t look delicious enough without the rainbow effect! And then, we added some frosting. Daddy dug out some star sprinkles to add just a bit more whimsey to the final product.
Some of ours ended up half yellow and half blue, or mostly green with a touch of pink, but a few actually ended up like I had intended, looking something like this:
Of course, this was the best part!
If you’re looking for a fun rainy-day activity this summer vacation, consider rainbow cupcakes. So easy that even we could do them, so I’m sure just about anybody could!
So timely – I’m making cupcakes today for a BBQ we’re having tomorrow for the LIttle Miss’ birthday. These are them – thanks so much for the idea!
PS: Your TOTALLY AWESOME, I’m-having-it-framed collage of the BOLO readers is on our Facebook page and blog now – thank you SO much!
Oh, these are awesome. Had no idea adding food colouring would look this good! 🙂 Will definitely be doing it next time!
Oh, and I’ve read your posts on porch session photos. I have an all time favourite photographer that also does porch sessions at her home, although she lives far far away, you can still check out her blog if you want some ideas!
http://www.laydenphotography.com/
Jill
I absolutely love this idea!! My girls and I love to bake goodies in the kitchen but these would be even more fun to make!! Thanks for the idea!
I also want to say that I love reading your blog and seeing your pictures. I am a quilter and find your pictures very inspiring in my craft. Thanks and keep up the good work!
I love this idea. I might give it a try when we have a friend or two over for a playdate this summer.
The boys did a super job on their cupcakes and what a delicious way to spend a rainy day! Hooray for Dad for bringing out the sprinkles!
Great idea. They look delicious!
We did the rainbow thing this week too! The Little Man’s cousins were visiting from Calgary and one rainy Wednesday, we made a rainbow cake and then I let the kids decorate it with fondant cut outs. Mmm, rainbow cake and edible “play dough”. What could be better!