Cook's Note
Top cupcakes with your favorite frosting. I used Sturdy Whipped Cream Frosting from this site.
I used Wilton (No Taste) RED concentrated paste icing color, and added a few drops of raspberry candy oil to the pink batter for flavor. You can add any flavor candy oil or extract. Someone asked how to get the swirled look on the frosting. Here is how it's done: Paint a verticle stripe maybe 5" or so on the inside of a pastry bag, using a gel or paste tint. Starting at the tip end, you can paint one stripe, two stripes (side by side or one stripe on each side of the bag), or use different colors and paint a bunch of stripes. Just depends on the look you want. Then add your frosting, and swirl it on the cupcake.
St. Patrick's Day: I made green for St. Patrick's Day and instead of using the 3rd tinted cake batter, I made mint chocolate ganache for the center of the cupcakes. FABULOUS!! Ganache: 13 ounces heavy cream, 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate and 6 ounces Andes Mint Chips. In a sauce pan bring your cream to a light boil. Then pour in the chocolate and start stirring immediately. Keep going until you have a smooth mixture. Turn off your burner and set aside to cool. Once room temp, use in place of the 3rd tinted cake mix.