Line a muffin tin with paper liners and set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large bowl, whisk together cake mix and ingredients.
Once batter has been mixed up, divided evenly into 3 bowls.
Color one bowl of batter red, the other yellow and your last one, purple.
Using a spoon, scoop about 1 tbsp colored batter into each lined section of the muffin tin, alternating between colors.
Bake according to mix’s instructions. Allow to cool on a wire rack before decorating.
As the cupcakes cool, prepare your decorations: place softened butter, confectioners’ sugar and 1 tbsp milk into a large bowl.
Use an electric mixer to beat all ingredients, starting on low speed and gradually increasing to high.
Once all the ingredients are well-combined and form semi-stiff peaks, the buttercream is ready. Feel free to add a bit more milk if the mixture is a little stiff.
Use an offset spatula to spread a thin layer of buttercream on each cooled cupcake.
On a clean working surface, roll out blue fondant until it’s about ¼ of an inch thick.
Cut out 12 fondant circles using your cookie cutter. Press one on top of each frosted cupcake.
Scoop ¼ of the remaining buttercream into a piping bag with Wilton tip #8 attached. Set aside.
Evenly divide remaining buttercream in 3 separate bowls.
Color each bowl with its own gel coloring: red, yellow and purple. Mix each bowl until buttercream is completely tinted.
Scoop the buttercream into a piping bag (about 2 tbsp at a time) with Wilton tip #32 attached, alternating between colors.
Pipe out an arch at the top of each cupcake with the colorful buttercream. Dot white buttercream at the end of each arch to create buttercream clouds.
What’s great about these cupcakes is that you can use any color your heart desires! I’m totally a pastel-lovin’ gal, which is why I opted for shades of light purple, yellow and pink.