Fun Food: Crazy Cupcakes

It turns out that an odd trait my sisters and I have inherited from our father, apparently, is an insatiable desire to try and make food, specifically deserts, just a bit more "fun".  Growing up, we used to roll our eyes and laugh about some of the things he did, like the multicolored, polka-dotted birthday cake, among other things.  As it turns out, we seem to have grown into the idea.  After all, life is too short for boring food.  A cake in October?  Decorate it like a pumpkin.  Waffles?  A batch in pink and a batch in purple, please.  Plain white frosting?  So blasé.  A bit of food coloring to your favorite recipe can change everything.  It puts me in a better mood almost every time.

Here are a couple batches of cupcakes made at my house.  The first batch was done a few months ago.  I feel that they're quite whimsical as light teal with purple polka dots.  These, by the way, are carrot with cream cheese frosting.

My sister made these spice cake cupcakes yesterday.  She actually mixed cream cheese frosting with regular frosting for these and colored it, at my suggestion, blue and orange with swirls!  So fun.  Afterward, I was looking at them and realized that there were a few sports teams with those colors, though the shades would need to be darker, that wasn't my intention.


There's actually quite a variety these days as far as food coloring goes.  Along with the standard four pack droplet bottles in classic colors, you can get other colors you don't have to mix yourself.  There's even neon and gel versions (not as messy).  Try it yourself and go wild!