A bright, cheerful rainbow cake is the perfect choice for a little boy or girl's birthday party. With layers of red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple, this cake is an instant attention-grabber. This article provides instructions on how to bake the layers and assemble the cake. Scroll to the bottom for a shortcut method - the rainbow swirl cake.
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 3 cups flour
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 2 ½ cups sugar
- 5 egg whites
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 ½ cups milk
- Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple food coloring
For the Icing
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 cup butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 tablespoon cream
Steps
Making the Layers
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Do this before you get started making the batter, so you'll be able to pop the cakes in the oven right away.
- Mix the dry ingredients. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt in a small mixing bowl. Use a whisk to stir the ingredients and make sure they are fully incorporated.
- Combine the wet ingredients. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar using a hand or stand mixer, or by vigorously mixing the ingredients with a spoon or spatula. Keep beating or stirring the ingredients while you slowly add the egg whites to the mixture. Add the vanilla and milk and continue mixing until all of the wet ingredients are combined.
- Stir in the flour mixture. Place half of the flour mixture into the large bowl with the wet ingredients. Use a spoon to stir it in, then add the other half of the flour mixture. Keep stirring until the flour is completely mixed in.
- Divide and dye the batter. Pour equal amounts of batter into six different bowls. Dye each bowl of batter a different color of the rainbow by pouring in a few drops of the six different food colorings. Stir each bowl of batter well, continuing to add more food coloring until the batter reaches the hue you desire.[1]
- If you use gel food coloring, you only need a drop or two to achieve a rich hue. If you're using liquid food coloring, you may need to use several drops.
- If you have a standard set of food coloring that comes with red, yellow, blue and green, create the extra colors by combining the colors you have. Make orange by mixing red and yellow, and make purple by mixing blue and red.
- Pour the batter into greased cake pans. Each layer must be baked in a separate cake pan. If you have six cake pans, go ahead and pour the bowls of batter into the different pans. If you have fewer cake pans, pour batter into the pans you have and reserve the extra bowls of batter to be baked when after the first round of layers is done.
- Bake the layers. Place the cake pans in the oven and bake the layers for about 15 minutes, or until a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean. Don't over bake the layers, as this could affect the brilliant rainbow colors; avoid letting the tops get brown.
- When the layers are ready, remove them from the oven and let them cool.
- Reuse the cake pans if you still have additional layers to bake.
Assembling the Cake
- Make the frosting. In a large mixing bowl, beat the powdered sugar, butter, cream, and vanilla on high, until the mixture becomes light and fluffy. If it seems too soft, add more powdered sugar until it becomes thicker and stiffer.[2]
- Get the layers ready. Use a serrated knife to slice a thin layer from the top of each layer of the cake. Slicing off the slightly rounded tops that puffed up during the baking process will help the layers stack together neatly.
- Frost the layers. Place the purple layer on the cake stand or plate that you'll be using to serve the cake. Use an offset spatula or icing knife to scoop a small amount of frosting onto the center of the cake. Spread it evenly across the surface of the purple layer, all the way to the edges. Add the blue cake to the stack and frost it using the same method. Repeat with the green, yellow, and orange layers, finishing with the red layer on top.
- There's no need to use a scientific color order - create a rainbow using any color order you'd like.
- Be sure to conserve enough frosting to finish by frosting the entire cake, rather than using most of it up between layers.
- Frost the assembled cake. Scoop frosting onto the top of the cake and spread it evenly to the edges. Use more frosting to cover the sides of the cake. Be sure to use plenty, so that the layers beneath are invisible. The brightly-colored interior of the cake will remain a surprise until the first slice is cut.
- Decorate the cake. Finish the cake with rainbow sprinkles or nonpareils, or use a contrasting frosting color to pipe a message across its surface.
Making a Rainbow Swirl Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Make the batter. Using the same recipe outlined above, make a white cake batter. Mix the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet in another, then combine the two and beat until they are well incorporated.
- Divide and dye the batter. Put equal amounts of batter into six separate bowls. Use food coloring to dye the bowls of batter red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple.
- Scoop the batter into two greased cake pans. Use a small measuring cup to scoop some red batter into a a cake pan. Use a different cup to scoop some yellow batter into the same pan. The two colors can touch, but don't pour one directly on top of another. Continue scooping different-colored batters into the cake pan until you've used half the batter from all of the bowls. Repeat with the second cake pan and the remaining batter.[3]
- Bake the layers. Place the two cake pans in the oven and bake them for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean. When the cakes are done, let them cool completely before assembling the cake.
- Make the frosting. Beat the powdered sugar, butter, cream and vanilla together until the frosting becomes light and fluffy.
- Assemble the cake. Use a serrated knife to cut off the rounded tops of the two cakes. Place one layer on the cake plate or stand you're using to serve the cake. Scoop frosting onto the cake and use an offset spatula or a frosting knife to spread it across the cake's surface. Place the second cake layer on top of the frosting. Finish frosting the cake by covering the top and sides.
- Decorate the cake. Add edible glitter, birthday candles, or other cake decorations as the final touch. The cake is now ready to serve.
Tips
- You can easily use white cake mix to create a rainbow layer cake for a faster cake.
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