Looking for more homemade frosting ideas? Be sure to try our Best Chocolate Buttercream Frosting, Fresh Strawberry Frosting, and many other frosting recipes!
Homemade Rainbow Chip Frosting
No need to fret over those marvelous tubs of rainbow chip deliciousness being pulled from store shelves ever again. With this easy recipe, you can make your own homemade rainbow chip frosting at home. And honestly, doesn’t homemade always taste better anyway? Happy Birthday to me!! I’m the obnoxious sort that still celebrates my birthday with full gusto even though I’m now an adult (and, erm, have been for 19 years – I’ll let you do the math). So I wanted to share with you one of my favorite things EVER — Rainbow Chip Frosting! My freshman year roommate at BYU also happened to be my childhood best friend, although we had moved away from each other just before sophomore year of high school. So she knew me enough to know that 1) I’m kind of a freak about my birthday, and 2) I didn’t even need cupcakes to eat it with. Just give me a spoon or maybe some graham crackers. Ain’t no shame in that game. So that’s what she gave me that day in October when we were both living in the dorms, far from home and family, and couldn’t bake a cake. I love you, Carrie! So it was a sad, sad day when Betty Crocker discontinued rainbow chip frosting. They have since brought it back because it turns out there are entire cult followings devoted to rainbow chip frosting and they went to war to bring it back. Or at least started a petition or something. I know I signed it. You’re welcome world. But you guys — we’re talking HOMEMADE rainbow chip frosting here. I didn’t even know this was a possibility until I saw Sally’s Baking Addiction post about it last year. And this stuff is (dare I say it and be forever shunned by the other rainbow chip loving acolytes?!) even better than the kind that comes in those cute little tubs.
So let’s talk about what goes into making this homemade rainbow chip frosting!
The frosting base doesn’t need a whole lot of explanation. The original version is ever so slightly tangy in addition to the sweet, and it is super, super creamy which makes me think of cream cheese frosting, but not full-strength cream cheese variety which wouldn’t be the right flavor profile. Just enough to balance out the sweetness of the powdered sugar and white chocolate. Everything else is just butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and a pinch of salt, which I always like to add to my frostings because it really brings out the flavor and takes any frosting from flat to fab! The real star, though, are the actual rainbow chips themselves. And as far as I know, they aren’t just something you can source from a specialty baking store or online. But no need to worry, those soft little rainbow chips are easy to make at home yourself with just some real white chocolate and food coloring (affiliate link)! I don’t like to mess around with white chocolate chips when I am melting white chocolate. They have added stabilizers to help them keep their shape which also makes it so they don’t melt well. You will have better success with a bar of white chocolate, like Ghiradelli or Bakers, chopped up into pieces and then melted in a double boiler or glass bowl set over very hot, but not boiling, water. You could also use the microwave method where you heat the white chocolate for 1 minute on 50% power, stir, then microwave in 20 second bursts until smooth, stirring in between each round of heat until completely melted and smooth. But I honestly prefer the glass bowl approach as I feel like it gives me better control and I run less risk of my white chocolate seizing up – something it’s notorious for doing. As soon as the white chocolate is melted, divide it between four small bowls and add 2-3 drops of food coloring (affiliate link) per bowl. Any more color and your white chocolate may start to seize up, but since it’s such a small amount of white chocolate for each color, 2-3 drops really is enough. Then just spread each color of white chocolate into a small square on a silicone baking mat or parchment paper and stick it in the refrigerator for 15 minutes, until the white chocolate is solid again. Chop it up into teeny, tiny chips and you are all ready to fold them into your frosting base! This homemade rainbow chip frosting recipe tastes just like the real thing, except better. Truly. And it’s really, really fun to make! This is wonderful for cupcakes, birthday cakes, or just for dipping graham crackers into it. I’m planning to try it in place of the cherry frosting in my Vintage Cherry Chip Layer Cake. And I have the perfect, super moist chocolate cupcakes that go amazing with it! Enjoy!
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