How to make kid friendly chocolate rainbow cupcakes from scratch. The recipe can even be vegan or gluten free, with no food coloring required!

Magical rainbow cupcakes

If you?ve ever wondered what unicorns eat for dessert, now you know. It’s these homemade dark chocolate rainbow unicorn cupcakes.

The vibrant and delicious cupcakes are a perfect choice for birthday parties.

Or turn them into gender reveal cupcakes, swapping the rainbow filling with pink or blue. You can also make galaxy cupcakes. (See these Galaxy Donuts.)

They may look like plain and ordinary chocolate cupcakes on the outside… but just one alluring bite reveals the sweet magical rainbow filling hiding underneath!

You may also like these Sweet Potato Brownies
Chocolate rainbow cupcake ingredients

The cupcakes call for cocoa powder, flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, water, applesauce or yogurt, oil, pure vanilla extract, white or apple cider vinegar, rainbow unicorn filling, and optional mini chocolate chips.

If you do not have applesauce or yogurt, use an equal amount of mashed banana or roasted sweet potato puree.

I use a combination of regular unsweetened cocoa powder and Dutch process cocoa powder, because Dutch cocoa gives chocolate baked goods a classic brownie flavor. It should be readily available at most grocery stores but can be substituted with additional regular cocoa if you prefer.

The recipe works with white sugar, evaporated cane juice, or un...