Rainbow Frosting Chocolate Cupcakes
In the blink of an eye, Isabelle is 2 years old. She doesn’t look like a baby anymore, but a little girl now. She’s lost all the baby chubbiness and is very tall, taking her height from B.


She has so much personality and loves dancing to music (Pit Bull is a favorite), carrying her stuffed animals everywhere, and watching traditional Vietnamese dancing with her grandmother.
She’s starting to have strong opinions about what she eats, what clothes she wears, and wants to do everything by herself (even if it takes 3x as long). I expect the tantrums and terrible twos to start soon, but she’s still pretty good for now.

I have so much food coloring so I always use any excuse to make fun frosted desserts, and a toddler birthday is perfect. For a more precise rainbow, you can put each color in a separate piping bag, then put them in a large piping bag with the piping tip, but I just put a vertical stripe of each frosting in a single piping bag so each cupcake has a unique design!


We had a quiet weekend getaway to a cabin airbnb in the mountains; we just relaxed at the cabin, admired the lake view, went on some short hikes. I brought these cupcakes along to celebrate. This chocolate cupcake recipe is adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction.

Last year, she was too young, but this year we taught her how to blow her birthday candle. She was so excited to blow it out that she wanted us to keep re-lighting the candle so she could blow it out again and again.
Happy 2nd birthday, my dear Isabelle!
Rainbow Frosting Chocolate Cupcakes
Ingredients
CHOCOLATE CUPCAKE
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 and 3/4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 large eggs, room temperature
3/4 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup milk
1 and 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
RAINBOW FROSTING
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons milk
food coloring
sprinkles, optional
Directions
CHOCOLATE CUPCAKE: Preheat oven to 425°F. Spray muffin pan with nonstick spray.
Whisk the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and chocolate chips in a large bowl. In another bowl, whisk the eggs, yogurt, oil, milk, and vanilla extract together. Fold the wet ingredients into dry ingredients with a rubber spatula until combined (do not over mix). The batter will be thick.
Spoon the batter muffin pan. Bake for 5 minutes at 425°F then, keeping the muffins in the oven, reduce the oven temperature to 350°F. Bake for an additional 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let muffins cool in the pan, then transfer to a wire rack until ready to eat.
RAINBOW FROSTING:
Beat the butter until smooth and fluffy. Gradually beat in confectioners’ sugar until fully incorporated. Beat in vanilla extract and milk. Add more milk if the frosting is too thick.
To make a rainbow, divide the the frosting into small bowls and added food coloring to each one to make (I used six bowls for six colors). Fill the piping bag so that each color is separate (video tutorial here). With a 1M Wilton tip, pipe rosette swirls on the cooled cupcakes. Top with sprinkles, serve and enjoy!
These cupcakes are amazing! The rainbow frosting is so pretty and the chocolate is so rich and delicious. I can't believe how easy they were to make. I will definitely be making these again.