Rainbow Sherbet Cupcakes! Made with real Rainbow Sherbet and topped with three flavors of frosting swirled together. These cupcakes smell and taste like a dream!
Not only do these cupcakes look like rainbow sherbet, they taste exactly like it!
That might have something to do with the fact that they are made with melted rainbow sherbet. Say whaaaat?!? Yes. You heard me correctly! I melted the Rainbow Sherbet and added it to a cake mix. And voila! Rainbow Sherbet flavored cupcakes! I was worried about how the colors would mix together, but the cupcakes come out a lovely peach color. No food coloring needed. There are of course a few modifications that I had to make to the cake mix also, but that’s all included in the recipe below.
But did I stop there? Oh no. If you follow me at House of Yumm already, you know me better than that! I always have to do something fun with my frosting!
Not only is this a tri-colored frosting. It is also tri-flavored! Is that a real phrase? I’m not so sure. But I AM sure that this frosting is possibly the most awesome frosting to ever be put on a cupcake.
I used a Strawberry flavor, an Orange Creamsicle flavor, and a Key Lime flavored frosting. All swirled together. Trust me. It’s amazing. Make sure you check out my tutorial on how to swirl together three different frostings here. It’s so much easier than you would think!
For the frosting I used those lovely little Flavor Creations packets from Duncan Hines. Mix it up with a homemade frosting and they work perfectly! I also happened to notice that there are some store bought frostings in those flavors available now.
You are going to love how easy these cupcakes are to make, and how they practically scream out Summertime!!
I hope you enjoy the recipe! You can follow along with me and never miss a recipe by signing up for my newsletter. Follow me on Instagram and tag #houseofyumm so I can see all the HOY recipes you make. And if you want to follow along in my everyday life on snapchat (username: houseofyumm) ?
Check out all the Tips & Tricks for the Perfect Cupcake here!
Rainbow Sherbet Cupcakes
Ingredients
For Cupcakes
- 1 white cake mix
- 3 large eggs
- 3 tbsp all purpose flour
- 2 cups Rainbow Sherbet, melted and cooled to room temperature
For Frosting
- 8 cups Powdered Sugar
- ⅔ cup heavy cream
- 8 tbsp butter
- ½ tsp strawberry flavor extract
- ½ tsp lime flavor extract
- ½ tsp orange flavor extract
- food coloring, red, green, orange
Equipment
Instructions
For Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Place cupcake liners in cupcake tin.
- Add cake mix, eggs, and rainbow sherbet into mixing bowl. Stir to combine. Add in the flour and give a few stirs until just mixed in.
- Add cake batter to the cupcake liners using a 1/3 cup of batter, filling until the cupcake liners are about 2/3 full.
- Bake for 15 minutes or until baked through, check with a toothpick. Let the cupcakes cool in the baking tin for 5 minutes then remove to wire rack to continue cooling.
For Frosting
- Cream butter in a medium size bowl until smooth and creamy. Add in the heavy cream and powdered sugar.
- Mix on low speed for 2-3 minutes until ingredients are combined. Then mix on medium speed for an additional 3 minutes until frosting is peaking, meaning that it is holding it's shape.
- Separate into three bowls and add a flavor extract to each bowl and matching color of food coloring. Stir to completely combine the flavor into the frosting, should have a uniform color throughout.
- Frost swirling all three frosting (tutorial available). I used a Wilton 2D tip for these cupcakes.
Nutrition
Make sure you find out how to swirl the frosting!
How To Swirl Multiple Frostings
Some More Cupcakes to Enjoy!
Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes
{No} Ice Cream Cupcakes
Circus Animal Cookie Cupcakes
Can’t wait to try this with my Yoga/Chair Cardio Group! They will flip, I’m sure. Thanks for your adventurous baking skills. You rock! Chaos Gramma, Amherst, OH
They no longer make the Duncan hines flavor creations. What would you suggest for a substitute?
Hi Christine! I know!! You can’t get those little packets anymore. But no worries you can still make this frosting! There’s a few options, you can get extracts and use the extracts and a little food coloring. There are times that Pillsbury will make these flavors, usually during the summer, and you can use store bought frosting. You can also try using koolaid packets or jello packets, which give amazing flavor for frosting. The only thing I have noticed with doing that in the past is that there is a little gritty texture to the frosting when you use Jello flavors. But using the extracts I think would be the best way to go!
Use sugar-free jello, about a tsp for each flavor (or to taste). It does not have the gritty texture. If making frosting ahead of time, make it a little softer than you want since the jello tends to thicken it a bit. 🙂
Hello, I think I have hit a bit of a language barrier… when I hear the word “sherbert”, I think ‘fizzy, sour/tangy, powdered or granulated sugar treat’. Somehow, I don’t think that is what you mean. Am I right?
Sherbet is a creamy frozen fruit ice cream. So the cupcakes are made with melted Sherbet 🙂
I have a question I have never done the melted sherbet in the cake mix before do I still add the ingredients on the back of the cake mix or do I just add what yours ask for? And what white cake mix brand did you use if you don’t mind me asking
Just follow the recipe as I have it. I used the cake mix as a base and altered it to get the right consistency while using the melted sherbet. I typically use a Pillsbury White Cake Mix.
Hi! Do you think I could make icing with the melted ice cream as well? Just figured i have extra so why not ise it. Making these this weekend, so excited!
Hi Jennifer, I haven’t attempted frosting with melted ice cream. I imagine it could work just substituting that for milk or cream, I don’t know how strong the flavor would be with the amount that you would be adding in though. But what a fun recipe to try out! Let me know how it works for you 🙂
I just finished making this, only I used the recipe to make it as a cake instead of cupcakes. It just finished cooling and I tasted it – it is so dense it’s basically inedible!! I followed your cake recipe above exactly and I used pillsbury’s white cake mix… Did I do something wrong?! I’m so frustrated!! I’ve never had a cake turn out like this before :/
Trish, I’m not sure what happened. I only used this recipe for the cupcakes. I’ve made several batches of them and haven’t had a problem. It’s possible that you don’t need the additional flour when making into a cake. I’m so sorry it didn’t turn out in that form though 🙁
Is that 2 cups of sherbet before or after melting?
Melted Sherbet 🙂
So delectable! That seems to be irresistible!
Such pretty pastel cupcakes! The next time I do a round-up of cupcake ideas I would love to feature these! I have never seen any cake or cupcakes anything like these. Pretty and fresh are words that come to mind just looking at them! Those flavor packets are really offering a way to mix things up, aren’t they?
Thank you so much Chloe! I would love if you featured them 🙂 these are one of my favorite cupcakes I have made yet! Those flavor packets are definitely a winner! And if you can’t find the frosting packets, Pillsbury does have those flavors in pre-made frosting right now too!
I just pinned this, I cant wait to try these cupcakes they look so yummy!
Thank you so much Shamene xox
I… Am… Speechless. Utterly… Speechless…………..
Okay, caught my words. LOL! These look so delicious, it’s NOT even funny. And let me tell you, EVERYTHING makes me laugh! LOL!
Thanks so much Gigi! Thanks so much for the sweet comment xox.
These are the prettiest cupcakes, Serene! I love that you added sherbet to the cake mix and the tri-flavored frosting is such an amazing idea!!! Key lime, creamsicle and strawberry sound phenomenal together!
Thanks so much Kelly 🙂
Love how festive these cupcakes are. They would be adorable for a girl’s birthday party.
They really would Christie! Thank you so much! xox
Wow Serene! I love these and the real sherbet in it! Another beautiful cupcake!
Thanks so much Laura! xox