Holdren It Together: Zebra cupcakes

Ok, before I start this post, I should tell you, I am not a baker. I don't mean that I don't like to bake, just that I'm not very good at it. I'm great at eating it, though. I'm pretty much a MASTER of that. ;) Now that you know that... on with my post.

I've seen through the years, people posting about zebra cakes. It's basically where you mix a chocolate cake and a white cake together, and bake it, and when you open it up, it looks like zebra stripes. Awesome. Who doesn't like to get a little wild? I reallllly have been wanting to try it, but I didn't know where to start. I had read some articles awhile ago (sorry, don't remember the links), and last night, I decided, what the heck; let's try it.

Now, I didn't have anything I needed. I didn't have a white cake mix or a chocolate cake mix, and I really wasn't in the mood to bake a cake from scratch. (Though, they are always better that way.) I did though, have a yellow cake mix from Pillsbury, and... food coloring. The cake mix I have really isn't the best to use for the technique I tried. Why? Because it has pudding added to it. Sure, it makes cake more moist, but it also makes the batter thicker. It worked, though. So if you want to try this, don't be discouraged if that's all you've got. If you want to try this, but have to go shopping first, choose a mix that doesn't have the pudding in it, simple.

Also, this technique is really best used in a whole cake, rather than cupcakes... but I didn't feel like flouring a pan, digging out my cake holder, and decorating a cake, so I chose the easy route of cupcakes... with liners. It still worked, it's just not as pronounced as it could have been.

First, start out by gathering all the ingredients you need, according to the cake package. If you want to make the batter from scratch, just google it. I'm sure you'll find a recipe that will work great for you.

If you're only using one mix, divide the mix in half. If you're using a chocolate and a white, you'll already have them separated.

Since I'm only using one mix, I need to add food coloring to each one. The colors I have are red, blue, green and yellow. Since the cake mix is yellow, the only ones that would really work are red and blue, to make the mix green and orange. Green would just make a yucky brown, and yellow would probably just make a brighter yellow.

Mix, mix, mix... As my son would say "ooooo pretty."

Once you have your colors made up, you layer the colors. Since I did cupcakes, I used a tablespoon, and did green, orange, green, orange. Get it? If I were making a cake, I would probably use a 1/4 cup instead. (My gears are moving (which is rare), and I think this would look really awesome in a cake with 4 colors.) Fill cupcake liners to about 2/3 full. Bake like the box (or your recipe) tells you to.

While the cupcakes baked, I made up a chocolate buttercream frosting. It was really good, but I wish it were a little thicker. Maybe if I try again, I will add a little more cocoa and sugar to it, or leave out a little of the milk. I found that recipe here.

After the cupcakes cooled, I frosted them. I don't have a piping bag, so I used a gallon ziploc bag that I filled with the frosting and cut the tip off of. I'll admit, it was the first time I'd ever done it that way, and I have carpal tunnel, so... have I mentioned, I am not a baker?