More experiment- Popcorn & Tie-Dye!

Hello again! I have been doing more cake experimenting, this time two very different ideas; tiedye/rainbow cupcakes, and popcorn flavour cupcakes! Really this should make two posts, but I didn't really take that many photos of the popcorn ones nor decorate them well, so I'll just have to make them again.

 The popcorn ones really came from my wanting to use the flavouring I bought at the Windsor Crafts store. It advises to use it sparingly, 1/4 tsp should be enough to start, then add to taste. I thought I'd mix up a basic vanilla cupcake batch (omitting the vanilla), then split half and half popcorn and tie dye. Making 2 dozen only means I have to eat/get others to eat that many!
I added a little less than 1/4 tsp, thinking that I had a small mix and wouldnt need so much. The result was that the flavour was strong in some and nothing in others, I needed more flavour and more mixing. I also added some into the buttercream, just enough for one cake (incase I ruined the mix) and THAT was good! It really suited the icing flavour and made a really good topping for both the popcorn and tie dye cakes.

The first one I had actually had a strong flavour, and it was honestly just like cinema popcorn. I'm really impressed with the flavouring itself, and would definitely look into buying more. The company, Beau Products, does loads of flavours, I'm tempted to get Mojito or Cosmopolitan next...

Second recipe was more time consuming, I split the remaining mix into six bowls and coloured each one. I was a bit worried I would have beat all the air back out of the mixes getting the colour in.

 It didn't seem like I really had much of each colour, but it was only half a mix. It was too thick to use it like a zebra cake and hope it spread so I just lumped it in..

 I think it looks like I tried to bake plasticine. They actually came out really well! The colours look very bright but I did think the colour might cook out slightly so I maybe over-coloured. After putting them in the oven I realised I hadn't added any vanilla/any other flavour, so I hoped there wouldn't be an overpowering colour gel taste.

 All in all, I'm pretty pleased with them! The cake rose perfectly, wasn't sticky, and all the colours apart from the pink were really bright! I wouldn't use pink again, it wasn't bright enough and went a bit dull in the oven, but any brighter and it would mess up the red I think.