Cupcake CRAZY

It's Birthday time... Let's get a little bit CRAZY!!! Cupcake crazy, that is. It was my friend Anna's birthday last week, and she invited me over to have homemade Indian food at her house with her. Her dad, though he is a typical caucasian male, made the best naan I have ever had in my life. Anna has promised to teach me how to make it. Of course, I just had to bring dessert as pay back for the delicious food and to appropriately celebrate a 19th birthday, but with Anna, I couldn't make just any old cupcakes.

You have to know a little bit about Anna to understand why I went to such measures to make the most colorful, crazy cupcakes possible. She is the most wild yet caring person I have ever met. When you meet Anna, the first thing you'll notice is her small stature. She stands just over 5 feet tall. The second thing you'll notice is her voice. Her normal speaking volume is about 10x that of an average person. When Anna is talking, you know it. I think she is one of the only people I know who can speak to an auditorium full of people in her normal voice without using a microphone. When you get to know Anna, you realize that she is a fun-loving individual. She is always willing to try something new, but, most importantly, she is always willing to be there for her friends. Though she is blatantly honest, her words are never hurtful, and she has a way of bringing people together with her natural warmth and friendliness. Her distinguishing feature, though, is her genuine passion. As a child who grew up with a pediatric oncologist father, she is all to familiar with the ravaging emotional and physical effects of childhood cancer. Throughout her life, she has spent much of her time supporting the weak, cancer-laden children who cannot support themselves. She participates in fundraisers and is active in THON, Penn State's student-run philanthropy that helps pay for pateint care for children with cancer. So, of course, someone as passionate and exciting as Anna deserves birthday cupcakes that are equally as colorful and memorable.

 I started with Magnolia Bakery Vanilla cupcake batter and plit it up into five bowls using a ladel. I then added neon food coloring drops to each bowl, resulting in these surprisingly edible batters.

Then, I spooned the batter, alternating colors into the cupcake holders until they were about 3/4 full.

And so, the wild, rainbow cupcake was born!

I used a typical buttercream for the frosting. Unfortunately, I ran out of confectioner's sugar and tried a combination of regular sugar and cornstarch. The texture tunred out a little gritty but overall. The rainbow look came from

The Family Kitchen.
The Magnolia Cupcakes recipe came from Food Network.