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Dessert

Rainbow Cupcakes

A cupcake made with a white cake mix, eggs, sour cream, milk, oil, and colored batter, topped with butter frosting.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Vanilla and coconut match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,294 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Rainbow Cupcakes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Combine all ingredients until incorporated (about 30 seconds).

  2. Scrape sides of bowl and then beat on medium-high speed for 3 minutes.

  3. Divide batter according to how many colors you are using; I used 5 colors and it worked out to a little over 1 cup for each color.

  4. Use food coloring to color batter to desired intensity; Wilton brand gel colors have the brightest colors and wont thin your batter.

  5. To get a layered stripe, put a spoonful of each color in the cupcake one at a time.

  6. Bake them according to the package directions, until a toothpick comes out dry.

Make the frosting

  1. Add butter and powdered sugar and beat until light and fluffy.

  2. Add the coconut extract, vanilla extract, and salt; mix until combined.

  3. Gradually add milk (you may not need all of it) and beat for 2-3 minutes until fluffy.

Frost and decorate

  1. Frost cooled cupcakes; add rainbow colored sprinkles if desired.

  2. For Double Rainbow cupcakes: Reserve about 1/3 cup of white frosting and dye the rest blue.

  3. Frost cupcakes.

  4. Place white frosting in a resealable bag and pipe clouds on top of the blue frosting.

  5. Cut an Airhead Extremes in half and place in the clouds.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

892Calories
34 gProtein
66 gFat
42 gCarbs

Counts 9 of 10 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Coconut1/2 cup shredded (40g)283
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Yogurt170g plain Greek100
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Vanilla1 tsp extract (4ml)12
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Cakenot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Vanilla + coconuttop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,294 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

White cake mix
Forms the sponge structure that carries the colored batter layers.
Eggs
Bind the batter and help set the crumb as it bakes.
Sour cream
Adds moisture and tenderness to the crumb.
Butter
Adds richness and creates a light, fluffy frosting when beaten with sugar.
Powdered sugar
Provides sweetness and bulk, giving the frosting its body.

The step that matters

Gradually add milk to the frosting. Powdered sugar frosting thickens quickly, so adding milk a little at a time lets you reach a smooth, spreadable texture without making it runny.

Swap the coconut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, cream, milk, butter, sugar, vanilla):

  1. Strawberryfits about as well
  2. Coconutthe original
  3. Figfits about as well
  4. Peachfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, cream, milk, butter, sugar, vanilla. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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