Rainbow Cake

It's such an overcast and dreary day that we just had to brighten it somehow!  Sophia decided she wanted to make a rainbow cake, just like her new strawberry smelling Rainbow Bear that she made at Build-a-Bear.  She actually has a beautiful purple prom dress, corsage and sparkly shoes, but today she was "bare".

So how do you make a rainbow cake?  It's really easy. First you'll need a few things:

  • Your favourite vanilla cake mix & ingredients
  • Icing (if it doesn't come with the cake mix)
  • Decorations of your choice
  • Fondant gels - we used these because they retain their colour during cooking and are much brighter than just normal food colouring
  • As many zip lock bags as the colours you are using
  • Large spoon
  • Scissors
Okay first up you need to mix your cake mix up as per the the directions.  Then using a large spoon divide the mix into the zip lock bags.

Add a little of the fondant gel (This stuff goes a long way, so you don't need much).  Then zip the bag closed and gently mix the ingredients until the colour is evenly distributed.  Keep an eye on your little helper as frequent explosions can occur and also cake mix may be eaten :)

These bags were okay to use, the green one wouldn't even zip shut properly so we had to be extra careful when squishing and squeezing.  I didn't use specific measurements either in each bag, I simply scooped about 3 scoops each - it's not a bad idea to have less in each back consecutively so that the colours pour evenly into the cake pan as follows.
Next up Sophia and I took turns holding the bag or squeezing the bag.  We snipped the bottom corner out of each bag and then held it in the centre of the cake pan.  Most of the mix will pour out .  Then you just squeeze the rest out.  Using a bag instead of a bowl is much easier and you have no wasted cake batter.  It also helps to pour evenly and neatly into the centre when it comes from the snipped corner.

We snipped and poured for each bag, trying to pour directly into the centre.  The colours won't mix, they just push each other out of the way.

When all the colours were poured we very carefully put the cake pan into the oven and impatiently waited for the cake to rise.  Various checks and whinging is thought to help but I don't think it cooked any faster.  Once cooked, the cake looked like a volcano - high in the middle with cracks of lava down the side.  It looked awesome!  We popped the cake out on a cooling rack and tried to find something to keep our mind off eating it while it was hot.

When ready, trim your cake so that it's nice and flat on top - then run off with the extra bit and share it with your cat.  Flip your cake over as it can be hard to ice your cake with the crumbs on top.  We had ready made icing that Sophia will now demonstrate "nude chef style":
Once Sophia finished her cooking show, and her cake was decorated she went and gather her friends for Rainbow Bear's birthday/welcome party.

We sang happy birthday while Zeus jumped up and down at the window - he's the reason we have Rainbow Bear because he broke into the house and stole Sophia's pink Build-a-Bear and ate her ears and tale and made the poor bear smell like a stinky dog!  He also pulled all the colourful spikes of Sophia's and my favourite Hungry Caterpillar!

Sophia helped Rainbow blow out the candles and I cut the cake.  It looked awesome.  The colours stayed in place, were just as bright as the batter and made a really nice rainbow effect through the cake!

Thanks for joining us for our Rainbow Cake tutorial :)

1 comment

riablahgs said...

Super love this idea sis!!! :)