Magical UV Glow in the Dark Cupcakes that change colour

These cupcakes are green in normal light but turn pink in blacklight. What kind of sorcery is this?! It's actually pretty cool science! In this DIY video I will show you how to make UV reactive cupcakes that change colour in ultraviolet light.

Yes, they really are green in normal light, I didn't lie! In the above image you can see how they change colour in blacklight (ultraviolet light) and glow pink. Magic!

These UV glow in the dark cupcakes are perfect for a blacklight party! Not only are they quite trippy to see, they actually taste good as well and are not toxic. I used natural ingredients to make them.

The science behind these glow cupcakes is quite awesome. The ingredient that makes them change colour in ultraviolet light is chlorophyll; a green pigment you can find in green plants. Maybe you can guess one of the ingredients already I used in the glow buttercream.. Something green: mint! I extracted the chlorophyll from mint with butter and a technique called au-bain-marie.

After extracting the chlorophyll from the mint, you need to strain the butter and get rid of all the leftover mint.

You might have to do this a couple of times. I first used a normal strainer, and then a fine mesh strainer.

This is what the butter looks like in ultraviolet light after extracting it. It's still liquid, and the final colour hasn't properly set yet.

After the butter has hardened, this is what it will look like. Pink in blacklight!

For the basic glow buttercream recipe I used butter, whipped cream and powdered sugar. I also added some UV reactive chlorophyll oil made from chlorella supplements. I made this oil in one of my previous recipes: fake edible UV glow blood. The reason why I added it is because the UV reactive chlorella oil is more red than the mint chlorophyll butter. It made the cupcakes a brighter shade of pink. Because chlorella adopts strong flavours you won't taste it at all in this recipe: the mint and sugar overpower it.

If you had to judge the real colour of this cupcake in normal light you probably wouldn't guess it!

I decorated the glow cupcakes with UV reactive toppings. I've made these before in my edible fake caviar recipe (which doesn't include fish!). For the yellow toppings I switched the Tonic in the original recipe with vitamin B2 water, which glows in blacklight.

Enjoy your glow cupcakes! For more UV Glow Food ideas, click here.