Sweetheart Cupcakes

1 . Stage

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a standard muffin tin with paper cupcake liners.

2 . Stage

Beat the cake mix, water, vegetable oil, and egg whites together on low speed for 30 seconds, then on medium for 2 minutes, until smooth. Fill cupcake liners 1/3 full with white batter; set aside.

3 . Stage

Stir 4 drops of red food coloring into the remaining bowl of batter to make the batter pink. Stir in the raspberry oil. Pour 1/3 of pink batter into a resealable plastic bag and set aside.

4 . Stage

Mix more food coloring into the remaining bowl of pink batter until it is an orange/red color and pour the batter into a resealable plastic bag. Cut a corner off the bag, stick the open tip into the center of each cup of white batter and squeeze in about two tablespoons of red batter.

5 . Stage

Cut the corner off the bag with the pink batter, stick the open tip into the center of the red batter and squeeze about 1 tablespoon pink batter into each cup.

6 . Stage

Bake the layered cupcakes in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool completely before frosting.