How to Airbrush Cupcakes

I attending a class with my youngest over the summer on how to airbrush cupcakes and I had the most fun! We learned how to make rainbow cupcakes with only 3 colors! I couldn’t believe how easy it was. I am now addicting to my airbrush and always looking for fun ways to use it.

I should mention that I keep one airbrush specifically for food grade colors and another one I use for paints. I wouldn’t dare want to get these mixed up. My favorite model of airbrush is called the Iwata Eclipse airbrush. It’s a gravity feed airbrush that works perfectly for these types of projects. You will find these airbrushes at your local craft store but honestly, the best price for this airbrush I have found on Amazon. I’m talking a savings of almost $50!

Supplies Needed to Airbrush Cupcakes:

Iwata Eclipse airbrush

Americolor Food Grade Airbrush colors kit

Airbrush stand (optional but very helpful)

Paper towels

Pre-made frosted cupcakes

Frosted Cupcakes

You want to have your cupcakes done the day before or at least have them cooled to room temperature before you frost them. We prefer to use a whipped buttercream frosting when we airbrush our cupcakes. You can get a light and fluffy frosting that will stand tall which always makes for a pretty cupcake!

We use this Vanilla Buttercream Frosting Recipe:

2 Cups Confectioners Sugar
1/2 cup salted butter
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract
2 tablespoons whipping cream

Cream together the sugar, vegetable shortening and butter in a mixer on low speed with the whisk attachment. Once it’s blended increase the speed to medium and continue blending these ingredients for about 3 minutes. This will allow lots of air in the mixture to make it light and fluffy!

Add the vanilla and cream and continue to whip this mixture for about another minute.

Instructions on How to Airbrush Cupcakes into a rainbow design:

You only need 3 colors to make a airbrush rainbow design on your cupcakes. You need yellow, pink and blue.

First, you start in the center of the cupcake and airbrush on a wide yellow strip across the center as seen in the video. You are airbrushing enough of the yellow color eventually turning it into 3 different colors when you over spray them with the other colors.

Be sure to completely clean your airbrush in between color changes. I always wash it with warm water and spray just the air to make sure all the color is out before starting a new color. Even when I add a new color I always spray it into a paper towel to make sure the color doesn’t come out in clumps or a different color than I expected before I start coloring a cupcake.

Now add the pink color to your airbrush. You will spray the pink on the top part of the cupcake all the way to the top part of the yellow. You will spray a third of the yellow. This will leave the top part pink and the middle part orange (because when you sprayed over the yellow with the pink it turned orange). To finish with the pink color, you will spray the very bottom part of the cupcake with pink. This will eventually change to a purple color when you overspray it with blue. This will be the last color in the rainbow.

Next, you will add blue to your airbrush. Same instructions as above when changing colors. Always be sure to clean the color before completely and test spray it on a paper towel before spraying this new color on your cupcake. Start by spraying over the bottom third of the yellow all the way to the bottom of the cupcake. This will change the part of the cupcake that was yellow to green and the bottom part that was pink will now be purple. This completes your rainbow cupcake!

Here’s the video to help you see it done in action! I’m a visual person so this is very helpful for people like me.