How to Make Simple Rainbow Cupcakes

Looking for a fun St. Patrick’s Day baking activity that will make your students smile? Check out these directions for how to make simple rainbow cupcakes in the classroom. We have two cooking options to share with you!

How to Make Simple Rainbow Cupcakes

Look at these beautiful and simple rainbow cupcakes. We have made these for years and years in the classroom and so can you. Let me walk you through how to make rainbow cupcakes step by step and help you with some tips. You can see some of the actual classroom examples above of this simple St. Patrick’s Baking idea.

Grab Your Ingredients

To start, you will need to make sure your little learners can participate in this activity with food allergies. Next, grab your ingredients. I usually purchase simple white cake mixes in a box. (I pay attention to the ingredients inside the box mix and make sure it works for my students.) Most of the box cake mixes require eggs, milk, oil, and/or water. Check our box mix for specifics you will need. Also remember to cupcake wrappers, a few large clear cups, spoons, and food coloring.

The next step in How to Make Simple Rainbow Cupcakes, I make a plan to cook cupcakes in school. You can ask if you can have them cooked in the cafeteria or check out my in-the-classroom options below.

Cupcake Batter Prep

On the day of cooking in the classroom, we make sure to clean the prep surface well. and everyone gets a good hand wash. Then, we make the cake mix in a bowl. This is typically a whole class experience. Next, we pour the mix into 6 large clear cups as equally as possible.

Now, we use food coloring to make one cup of each color; red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. After placing a spoon in each cup, we take turns stirring the food coloring into the cake mix. Using clear cups really helps little learners to be able to see when the mix is consistently mixed in the cup.

Assembling the St. Patrick’s Baking Idea Cupcakes

This is the part your little learners are going to swoon. Now we get to assemble the cupcakes. Before you begin this section, please keep in mind how you are going to bake these cupcakes. If these simple rainbow cupcakes will be baked in an oven, assemble the cupcakes in a baking pan. (Keep reading for the St. Patrick’s Baking idea classroom alternative.)

Spray the cupcake pans with nonstick pay and cupcake liners. Next, have students spoon in one spoonful of each color inside their own cupcake spot. Each cupcake spot will hold 6 scoops. Students prefer large spoonfuls, which can cause the cupcake to bake over the top, hence why we suggest nonstick spray.
DO NOT STIR THE MIX INSIDE CUPCAKE PAN.

You can start with red and scoop to purple or start with purple and end with red. Check out the cupcakes make above that show both options for this simple St. Patrick baking idea.

A teacher’s tip is to use a sheet of paper to create a template of whose cupcake is and where on what pan. This ensures that each student will get the cupcake that they created. You can see we labeled each cupcake pan with numbers to help as well.

Simple Rainbow Cupcake Outcome

Now, send those cupcakes to the lunch room to get baked. And a few minutes later they will be done. We pick them up when they have cooled down. Check out these bright and colorful rainbow cupcakes.

To distribute this simple St. Patrick’s Baking idea, use the name template you created and hand them out. We do not add any frosting, just the cupcake. Students love to break them open to see the simple rainbow and dive in. This is my preferred method in How to Make Simple Rainbow Cupcakes.

Baking in the Classroom Alternative

If asking the lunch room to assist with baking is not an option for you, I have a fun alternative that works. I use this method myself and my students love it. We bake our own cupcakes in the classroom using a small cupcake maker, like this one. We still do all the steps I included above, but instead of spooning cake mix into cupcake pans, we use the mini cupcake maker instead.

I still spray the cupcake maker. This is an important step in How to Make Simple Rainbow Cupcakes. We do not need cupcake wrappers for this option. We use smaller spoonfuls of the mix and we are extra careful because this machine gets hot! The outside looks brown since the machine cooks the cupcakes from the top as well as the bottom, but when they open the cupcakes up, they can easily see the beautiful rainbow.