These Rainbow Sherbet Cupcakes pull all the sweet fruity flavors of rainbow sherbet into cupcake form. Raspberry, orange, and lime combine forces in both the cake and the buttercream frosting.

Head-on view of a rainbow sherbet cupcake with green, orange, and pink swirled frosting with raspberries and orange wedges in background and recipe title at top

I feel like I’ve stepped back into 2008 with all the cupcakes I’ve been making lately. OK, so 2008 may not sound like that long ago, but it was!

My point is, when WANM was first launched, I was obsessed with cupcakes. As was the rest of the world. Since then, the craze has definitely died down, but I don’t think anything has really taken their place.

There were some murmurings about donuts stepping up. People were even throwing around the idea of pie for a while. And while doughnuts and pie certainly became trendy, they never quite made it to cupcake status. Nothing really did… Except maybe kale? And green juice? Did kale and green juice team up to take cupcakes’ place in the spotlight? Yikes.

While I’m not exactly going on cupcake crawls these days, I don’t think I’ll ever get bored of baking cupcakes. And I think they’ll always be a big hit at parties. Especially considering you really can flavor them and decorate them in an infinite number of ways.

One dessert that I don’t think gets enough credit is sherbet. It seriously gets the short end of the stick and I’m pretty sure people should start paying it more attention. When I saw Baked By Rachel’s homemade version for Rainbow Sherbet, I fell so in love with the pretty colors and instantly thought of making rainbow sherbet in cupcake form.

I had to play around with the flavors a bit, but think I got them pretty right on and these cupcakes are my new summer favorite! They aren't difficult cupcakes to make, but the frosting does take a bit more work than the typical buttercream cupcake frosting.

🧁 How to make rainbow sherbet cupcakes

The base cake recipe for these sherbet cupcakes is pretty much my cupcake standard. I almost always use the whipped egg white method because I think it makes for the lightest fluffiest cake. Start by pre-heating the oven to 350 degrees.

In the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, cream butter and granulated sugar together, until light and fluffy. In a separate medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.

Slowly mix the dry ingredients into the butter and sugar mixture, alternating with whole milk.

a collage showing the making of the batter for Rainbow Sherbet Cupcakes, including dry ingredients whisked in mixing bowl, butter and sugar creamed together in mixer, and cupcake batter mixed together in mixer

In another separate medium-sized bowl, whisk 3 egg whites with a hand mixer or whisk until stiff peaks form. Gently fold the egg whites into the batter, until just blended.

Here’s where I decided to make three different flavors of cupcakes: raspberry, orange, and lime. You can do this if you want or you can just choose to make one flavor for all twelve. The frosting will contain all the sherbet flavors!

If you’re doing all three, separate the batter into three bowls. Mix raspberry extract into one bowl, mix teaspoon orange extract into another, and mix fresh lime juice into the third.

Then, in a lined cupcake pan or cupcake pan sprayed with cooking spray, fill each cavity about ¾ of the way full with the batter from each bowl.

a collage showing the making of the batter for Rainbow Sherbet Cupcakes, including stiff egg whites in bowl, egg whites folded into batter in mixer, and cupcake tins filled with cupcake batter

Bake sherbet cupcakes at 350 degrees for about 15-17 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool them in tins for a few minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

Rainbow Sherbet Cupcakes just out of the oven in cupcake tin

While the sherbet cupcakes are cooling, you can get going on the sherbet buttercream frosting.

🌈 How to make rainbow sherbet buttercream frosting

Making the basic buttercream frosting is easy, but after it's made, you'll want to divide it into three different bowls so you can flavor and color each. Then using all three at once, you'll pipe onto the cupcakes.

In the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, beat butter until creamy. Slowly blend in powdered sugar, cup by cup until well-combined. Mix in milk.

Separate buttercream frosting into three separate bowls.

A collage showing the making of buttercream frosting, including butter creamed in mixing bowl and buttercream frosting mixed in mixer

You’ll definitely want to make all three flavors for the frosting! For the raspberry buttercream, I decided to use fresh raspberries instead of extract, but you definitely don’t have to do this! If you decide to, it’s pretty easy.

Simply put raspberries into a saucepan over medium heat and stir with a wooden spoon until they break down into a sauce. Continue to cook until sauce thickens. Remove from heat and pour through a fine mesh strainer, pressing on seeds with wooden spoon to extract juice into a separate bowl.

A collage showing the making of raspberry puree for buttercream frosting, including raspberries in saucepan, raspberries cooking into puree in saucepan, and raspberry puree in bowl

Now, mix fresh raspberry juice (or extract) into the buttercream frosting in one bowl, mix orange extract into another, and mix fresh lime juice into the third. Then color each frosting accordingly. If you used fresh raspberries, you shouldn’t need any red food coloring.

I highly recommend the Wilton Color Right Performance System for getting the perfect shades! If the frosting is too thick, you can add more milk, 1 teaspoon at a time.

I also recommend the Wilton ColorSwirl 3-Color Coupler for getting the perfect buttercream swirl. If you don’t have one, here’s a tutorial for getting the technique down with just a regular pastry tip.

The Wilton coupler is incredibly easy to use, even for the buttercream decorating deficient like me!

The Wilton ColorSwirl 3-Color Coupler filled with three flavors of frosting in it, raspberry, orange, and lime

Now, frost those cupcakes!

Landscape view of multiple rainbow sherbet cupcakes with green, orange, and pink frosting on baking rack

Don’t they look like sherbet? They taste like it, too! Which basically means they taste like summer.

Overhead view of a rainbow sherbet cupcake with green, orange, and pink swirled frosting with raspberries, orange wedges, and lime wedges in background

The fruity flavors of the sherbet cupcakes are nice and light and slightly tangy, just like perfect bowl of sherbet. I could eat the frosting with a spoon. Or my finger. But the cake is also incredibly light and fluffy, also with a touch of fruitiness. I didn’t really have preference over cake flavors… They were all pretty splendid.

I almost always choose ice cream loaded with the good stuff, like chocolate, cookie dough, and Oreos… Except when I’m in the mood for sherbet. And then nothing else will do. It just screams summer and makes me want to curl up on the couch with the windows open and a light blanket.

Head-on view of a rainbow sherbet cupcake with green, orange, and pink frosting with baking rack with more cupcakes in the background and orange wedges, lime wedges, and raspberries all around

And probably a spoon and entire carton to myself. And one of these rainbow sherbet cupcakes on the side? Would that be so wrong? Everyone knows that cake and ice cream go wonderfully together.

Head-on view of a rainbow sherbet cupcake with green, orange, and pink swirled frosting with raspberries and orange wedges in background

And raspberry, orange, and lime should probably all get married or something. Because they just naturally belong together. Take one bite of this cupcake and tell me that’s not true. Dare you.

Are you a fan of rainbow sherbet?

If you like these cupcakes, be sure to check out my Rainbow Sherbet Meringues! I also love these Rainbow Sherbet Smoothies from Host the Toast!

📖 Recipe