Theres a story behind the name of these wonderful cupcakes. I was cooking some homemade meals for my local hospital staff during the Coronavirus pandemic, whilst making a tasty spag Bol a nurse sent me a message via my instagram and said NHS staff love cake, and so I thought YES!! So while my meat sauce was bubbling away I made some cupcakes and decorated them simply with the famous rainbow symbol that we have adopted worldwide as a sign of hope at the end of this crisis, I added some golden nuggets to the end of my rainbows for all the hard working NHS staff!!
Give this simple recipe a try, after all my cake recipe is Mary Berry approved!!
Prep time 15 mins
Cooking time 25mins per batch of cupcakes
6oz of caster sugar
6oz of stork (or any other baking spread)
6oz self raising flour, sifted
3 eggs, beaten (large and free range make the best cupcakes but use whatever you can afford)
2tbsp vanilla essence (optional)
280g unsalted butter, softened
550g icing sugar, sifted
2tbsp of whole milk (semi would do the trick if need be)
For the Decorations
2 packs of fizzy rainbow belt sweets, most supermarkets sell these in the confectionary isle
Golden decorative sprinkles (mine are from Tescos baking section)
Preheat the oven to 180C of fan 160C, have a muffin tin ready with the cupcake cases ready, I did my cakes in a couple of batches.
You can do this recipe with either a mixer or a large bowl with an electric hand whisk, im using a mixer.
Firstly cream together your caster sugar and baking spread together until paler and fluffy, while the mixer is still going gradually add the beaten eggs a little at a time adding a large spoonful of your flour after each egg addition, this will stop the mixture from curdling, once all the egg is in add any flour you have remaining and your vanilla essence if using, stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl to ensure every part of the ingredients are well combined.
Divide the cake mixture into your cupcake cases and place in the oven for around about 15-20 mins until they are lightly golden and springy when touched, once cooked place on a cooling rack and repeat until you have used all the mixture, this recipe should easily make 24 cupcakes.
While the cakes are cooling we can make the buttercream, clean and dry your mixing bowl and add the unsalted butter and beat for at least 5 mins until it begins to turn pale, add the icing sugar in 3 or 4 batches, once the butter and icing sugar are well combined add the milk a little bit at a time until you have a smooth and pipe-able consistency. You can add any food colouring at this point, a little bit at a time until you have the shade you require.
Once the cakes are completely cooled pipe on the buttercream, keep it without a peak in this circumstance because of the rainbow decoration. Then cut the rainbow belts to the size you require, pop them on top and then sprinkle your gold at the end of your rainbow!
Creaming means to work ingredients together until it forms a smooth paste.
You can use shop bought buttercream if you are not to confident but homemade buttercream is super easy.
Have fun with this recipe and let your imagination run wild, tag me on instagram with your bakes so that I can share them!!
