Retro Tie-Dye Cupcakes

I do realize that the 70’s were a land before my time, but who could not love the symbolic icons of an era of love, color and excellent rock-n-roll….so one would fully expect that an afternoon of baking and jamming to James Taylor with my 6-year-old would turn out, well…pretty groovy.

For our Retro Tie-Dye Cupcakes, I used the Vanilla Cupcake and Vanilla Buttercream Icing recipes found on “Joy of Baking." While this is a great recipe, I prefer the “Magnolia’s Vanilla Cupcake” recipe which can be found on various websites.  However, we were ready to bake, sans self-rising flour, so we chose the former recipe.   

The batter is prepared as normal and then divided into equal parts, in separate bowls.  The number strictly depends on the number of various colors desired, typically three to six colors.  We went with four.  The gel based food coloring works best. The colors are brighter and the consistency remains.  Mix the gel into the batter until desired hue is reached.  

The batter from the various bowls is then spooned into the prepared cupcake liners.  Various amounts of various colors, globed together.  No science to this step, just be creative with your colors.  

Next, bake according to the preferred batter recipe.  17 minutes at 350 Degrees worked for our batch. 

 

 The Retro Tie-Dye Cupcake.  All dressed up and ready to go....