Rainbow Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

I'm home! That means I get to work in a fully equipped, big, bright, great kitchen (my mom's). On Saturday I hosted a birthday party for my friend Kerri, and she asked for rainbow cupcakes. She also asked for frosting to resemble Hydrangeas (as found here) but I failed miserably at that...didn't have the right tip, and the frosting wouldn't get stiff enough. But I thought the rainbow turned out wonderfully. The cupcakes weren't as moist as I'd have liked but I think that's because I kept them out a bit too long...oops. And the frosting wasn't my favorite, but it wasn't too bad. Overall I don't think I'd reuse these recipes, but definitely try the rainbow cupcakes out, they're beautiful!

Rainbow Cupcakes
Adapted from Simple White Cake from Allrecipes
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup milk
red, green, yellow, and blue food coloring

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x9 inch pan or line a muffin pan with paper liners.

In a medium bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine flour and baking powder, add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Finally stir in the milk until batter is smooth.

Split batter equally into 6 bowls.
Drop count (from bakedbree.com)
Purple: 9 red + 6 blue
Blue: 12 blue
Green: 12 green
Yellow: 12 yellow
Orange: 12 yellow + 4 red
Red: 18 red
Pour or spoon batter into the prepared pan in layers, smoothing the layer with the spoon after each addition: purple, then blue, then green, then yellow, then orange, then red. Makes 12 cupcakes.

Bake 20 to 25 minutes. Cake is done when it springs back to the touch.

Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting
Recipe from Glorious Treats

½ cup butter, at room temperature
8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups powdered confectioners sugar
1-4 tbsp heavy cream, heavy whipping cream (I used 1 tbsp)
Place butter in a large mixing bowl and blend slightly. Add cream cheese and blend until combined, about 30 seconds.
Add vanilla extract and powdered sugar and blend on low speed until combined. Increase to medium speed and beat until it begins to get fluffy.

Slowly add the heavy cream, a little bit at a time until desired consistency is met. (Don't add too much if you want the frosting to stay in place when piped on cupcakes.)
Beat until fluffy, about 1 minute.

Use at once or keep refrigerated. (This frosting will keep well in the refrigerator for several days, but you may need to re-beat it for the best texture.)