Do you ever just feel in the mood to eat a rainbow and feel like a unicorn, cause I do! This rainbow cake is one of my favorites bakes its just so colourful and fun to make. The best bit of making this cake is obviously when you cut into it and look at the surprised look on peoples faces when they discover the rainbow.
For a rainbow cake you need a sponge recipe that can colour easily, I personally use the wilton colour pastes. You will want to make sure that you use a colour paste rather than a liquid food colouring as they will change the consistency of the cake. You will need the food colouring in the colours of the rainbow so something similar to red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. I didn’t have an orange dye so have to mix the yellow and the red together to create my colour.
For the recipe it is the same as my Classic Vanilla Cake Recipe and my Best Buttercream Recipe. However the quantities are obviously different. This is enough for 6×8 inch cake tins and enough buttercream to fully ice the cake. In the recipe for the Classic Vanilla Cake, you will need to colour the sponge. The best stage too this is when your adding the milk. I divide the milk into 6 and then colour the milk.
For the cakes –
9 tbsp. whole milk
1 ½ tsp. vanilla extract
Various colour pastes
750 g soft unsalted butter
750 g caster sugar
9 large free-range eggs
750 g sifted self-raising flour
For the buttercream –
400g soft unsalted butter
900g sifted icing sugar
5-6 tbsp whole milk
½ tsp vanilla extract
Ideally you would have 6 cake tins so that you can bake your cakes at the same time, however the first time I made this cake I only had two cake tins, so had to bake it in batches and wash the bowls and tins in between. It took an age, not going to lie, but it was totally worth it cause I saved the pennies. I did go and buy two more tins after baking this though, I didn’t really want to experience that again.
The most time consuming part of this bake is the construction of it and the cooling and setting period. I would normally bake the cakes the night before and leave to cool overnight, so that I can start fresh the next day with the decoration.
To assemble the cake I would put each cake on a sheet of greaseproof paper so they can get moved easily. I then like to trim the caramelisation off, I do this by using a cake leveler and also by placing a plate on top that is slightly smaller than the cake. I use a plate that has a diameter of around 7.5inches. Once the cakes are all prepped it’s now time to ice! I like to put a little icing on the cake board to glue down the first layer. I then ice each layer and put the cake on top obviously making sure the colours are in the correct order. Once the cake is built I crumb coat the cake (A thin layer of frosting called the “crumb coat” seals in stray crumbs before fondant, marzipan, or a second frosting layer is applied.) I usually then put the cake into the fridge or freezer and leave to set. After it’s set I ice the cake for the final time and try to make it look as neat as possible with sharp edges. [TIP-use a ruler or cake scraper to smooth the edges.] For decoration, I kept some of the colourful crumbs behind and then sprinkled on top.
Hope you enjoy baking this masterpiece,
Happy baking,
Lynsay
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Bake it Wright 