How to Make a Rainbow Cake!
The Rainbow Cake was one of the highlights at my daughter's birthday party last week, so I thought I'd share a quick how-to for anyone else interested in this fun and (seriously!) easy cake. Her amazement at the colors inside the rainbow was a highlight for me!
I wanted it to be a surprise, so I waited until she was in bed before I started working on it. I might make another one in the future that she gets to help with, though, because I'm sure she would enjoy the process.
Simple Supplies:
* chocolate cake batter for one cake (I used a mix designed for a 9" x 13" pan to make each batter.)* vanilla cake batter for one cake
* food coloring
* measuring cup or scale
* cookie sheet and round cake pan
* 5 bowls
* frosting bag and star decorating tip
Easy How-To:
1. Pour your chocolate cake batter onto a well-greased cookie sheet and bake in a 350 degree oven until a toothpick comes out of the middle clean. It took me about 15 minutes. When it's cool, make sure all the edges are loose and carefully transfer it to your serving dish. I used a board covered in aluminum foil.
2. Evenly divide your vanilla cake batter into 5 different bowls. Add 5-6 drops of food coloring to each bowl and stir thoroughly.
3. Divide a round cake pan in half with aluminum foil, such that one half has an aluminum foil "boat" and the other half is empty. Grease each side well.
4. Pour a different bowl of vanilla cake batter into each half.
5. Bake in a 350 degree oven until a toothpick comes out of the middle clean. This also took me about 15 minutes.
6. Let the cakes cool for 15-20 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to finish cooling. Place the cooling rack in the freezer. Your cakes won't have time to freeze all the way, but the cold cake is much easier to work with.
7. Repeat steps 3-6 until you've cooked your 5 colored vanilla cake halves.
Assembling Your Cake:
8. Frost the chocolate sheet cake first. I used a white cream cheese frosting and added sprinkles.
9. I used white cream cheese frosting to glue the rainbow together and cover it. Be generous. Pull only one color out of the freezer at a time. Begin by frosting one color and gently (and firmly) pressing it into the frosting on the chocolate cake. Frost the next color and press it into both the chocolate cake and the first color. Continue until your "rainbow" is glued together, standing up by itself, and covered in white frosting. At this point it is best to refrigerate the cake to help everything set together a little more firmly.
10. There are many ways to color the outside of your rainbow. I mixed four different colors of frosting and used a star decorating tip to cover the rainbow. I also used the colors to cover up any holes or bumps in the rainbow--it worked wonderfully!
11. Final touches included a doll, a note, and candles. Happy birthday, Princess!
I may share at any of these parties!
Assembling Your Cake:
8. Frost the chocolate sheet cake first. I used a white cream cheese frosting and added sprinkles.
9. I used white cream cheese frosting to glue the rainbow together and cover it. Be generous. Pull only one color out of the freezer at a time. Begin by frosting one color and gently (and firmly) pressing it into the frosting on the chocolate cake. Frost the next color and press it into both the chocolate cake and the first color. Continue until your "rainbow" is glued together, standing up by itself, and covered in white frosting. At this point it is best to refrigerate the cake to help everything set together a little more firmly.
10. There are many ways to color the outside of your rainbow. I mixed four different colors of frosting and used a star decorating tip to cover the rainbow. I also used the colors to cover up any holes or bumps in the rainbow--it worked wonderfully!
11. Final touches included a doll, a note, and candles. Happy birthday, Princess!
I may share at any of these parties!
Comments
Mrs. Delightful
www.ourdelightfulhome.blogspot.com
Thanks, Jill! I bet she remembers it too!
Mrs. Delightful, Thanks for the invitation! I linked it up and look forward to your party!
Cheribaby 2215, My blue and purple actually came out the most vibrant! I have a lot of thoughts on your comment, so I'll get started right away! I used neon food coloring (I'm not sure of the brand) and made sure the cake mix I put it into looked white before I started--that's why I chose vanilla. The final result was some pretty bright colors! Sadly, the pictures do not have the same hue as the original. The "red" was actually a bright pink. If you look closely, you should notice that there were some issues with the lighting--the morning sun was right on the cake during the party! I took some pictures with the camera's normal setting (you can see the one that has some yellow tints to it) and some with it on the vivid setting (which shows the colors intensity, but the hue is a little off). The picture with the bowls is actually almost exactly the right color, and you can see how the "red" was more of a bright pink. Still, the colors were wonderfully vibrant, and I would attribute that to the neon food coloring and white colored cake mix. Also, I wonder if you used food coloring? I had about 8 drops in each bowl, so for a whole cake, that would mean about 40 drops. I know there's other ways to color food, but this has always worked well for me, so I haven't looked into them. Good luck! I hope this super long answer helps a little! ;)
Thanks, Lisa! It was very fun! The kids loved it, which means I loved it too!
Thanks, Mindie!
Beth
Thanks for sharing with the Kids Weekly CoOp.
Amy B at Bow of Bronze