2 Colorful Treats To Make This Week In Lockdown

We all know how boring it can be to be stuck at home looking at the same four walls day in and day out. But you no longer need to worry about being bored stupid all day long finding new walls of the house to paint. 

Today we want to brighten up your day literally and figuratively with some amazing recipes. We all love a good treat, and today we want to throw some colour into 2 very different recipes that you can try your hand at this week. 

Cupcakes and bagels made rainbow…. here we go! 

Marble cupcakes 

Cupcakes are a wonderful dessert to enjoy and these ones are classic but full of colour and will wow anyone in your family. Similar in style to this rainbow layer cake recipe from Sugar Geek Show, it’s a show stopper that will be super fun to create at home. 

Ingredients: 

175 g butter 

175 g self-raising flour

175 g sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract 

1 tsp baking powder 

½ tsp salt 

3 large eggs

280g icing sugar 

140g additional butter 

Food colouring – red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple

1. In a bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add in beaten eggs and mix until fluffy. 
2. Fold in flour, salt, vanilla and baking powder. 
3. Split the batter into 6 bowls and add food colouring to each until the desired colour. 
4. Preheat your oven to 190C and grab some colourful cupcake cases. Into each case, spoon a small amount of purple, then blue, then green, then yellow, then orange, then red. Repeat until all cupcake cases are mostly full. 
5. Take a knife or skewer and gently swirl the mixture. Bake for 15 minutes. 
6. Mix icing sugar and butter to make a creamy buttercream. Take a piping bag and your 6 colours, create a small stripe of each colour inside the piping bag, then add the icing. 
7. Pipe onto cooled cakes for a stunning rainbow effect. 

Rainbow bagels 

Bagels are a wonderful breakfast, brunch, and afternoon treat and can be enjoyed with a whole host of fillings. These rainbow bagels will blow your socks off and are the perfect accompaniment to any meal. 

500g bread flour

360ml lukewarm water 

3 tsp yeast 

1 tbsp sugar 

2 tsp salt

2 tsp olive oil 

1 beaten egg 

500ml boiling water 

80g honey 

Food colouring – red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple

1. Add yeast and sugar to warm water and leave for 5 minutes. 
2. Measure out your flour and salt into a bowl; make a well and add yeast mixture. Mix until it comes together, then turn out onto a floured work surface. 
3. Knead the dough for 5-6 minutes, and then add to an oiled bowl, cover with cling film and leave to rise for 90 minutes
4. Once risen, punch the dough and turn onto your work surface, now its time for color! Split your dough into 6 and make sure to wear gloves. Add a few drops of color to each dough and knead until mixed and as bright as you want. 
5. Roll out each dough into a thin sausage and line up: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple. 
6. Twist the colors around to resemble candy rock. And then cut the sausage into 6. Cover with cling film and allow to relax for 15 minutes. 
7. Take a piece of dough and roll it out into a sausage. Shape into a circle and make sure the ends seal together. Allow to rest once again for 20 minutes. 
8. Preheat the oven to 220C. Preheat boiling water in a pan with honey. Once the honey has dissolved, bring down to a simmer. 
9. Drop a few bagels in at a time, ensuring they have room to move, and boil on each side for 1 minute. Place on a lined baking sheet and brush with beaten egg. At this point, you can also add some seeds if you like. 
10. Bake bagels for 20-25 minutes in the oven until you can pick them up, tap on the bottom, and hear a hollow sound. 
11. Remove, cool, and enjoy!