Rainbow Cake

It would have been about two years ago when I first glimpsed the widely admired Rainbow Cake. Six thin layers of cake, all in different colours of the rainbow, sandwiched by white buttercream and piled into a high and mighty stack of epic cakeage. At that time, it was one of those things you admire but never really have any intention to make. That of course made sense at the time, as despite the fact I loved baking, I hardly did anything more exciting than a packet cake mix decorated with a pretty but nonetheless ordinary dash of sprinkles. 

               Fast forward a few years and while I'm no Bakerella, making cakes has found itself a firm spot in my life. I've had my fair share of cake fails and have often vowed to stop baking after another sunken in or over-risen cake, but I always find myself back again. So i suppose it comes as no suprise that I too would one day attempt the six layer Rainbow Cake, made famous by Whisk Kid and replicated, appropriated and re-done by many, many people who shared the same awe for it that I do.

The description that accompanies the recipe on Martha Stewart's website mentions that it is "ideal for a child's birthday party, or any time you want to make a big impression." And big impression it made indeed!                 The cake I made was for my friend Vandy's 17th Birthday. Friends from the very first day of year seven, she has remained one of my closest friends all throughout my high school life. This being her last birthday we would share with her at school and also just to represent how I feel about her as a friend in cake form, I decided this would be the perfect opportunity to make this cake. 

             Making this cake after a day of school was not the wisest idea, I found myself so exhausted by the time I was done by the cake that I honestly could do little else but waste some time on Facebook before going to bed (perfect year 12 role model right there).

The cake itself is not incredibly difficult, the real trick is to make sure you have enough time to make the whole thing. And the dedication.

This was made no easier by the fact I have only one cake tin of a uniform size, but I did manage to get some Modern History homework done while I waited for each cake, so it wasn't too bad. :P

Below is the  general method I used. It varies quite a lot from the Whisk Kid cake, but I personally preferred this one better. The original cake has SO MUCH ICING, and while the white layers contrast beautifully with the cake layers, I did want my cake to be eaten and not cast aside due to unpalatable sweetness.

I also used two packets of store bought cake mix. As much as I prefer baking from scratch and had originally planned to do so, I realised that I would be in the kitchen for an even longer time if I baked the cakes entirely from scratch, so this did shorten the process a tad.

 Rainbow Cake

- Two packets Green's Golden Butter Cake Mix (or your preferred butter cake mix/recipe)

- Food colouring in red, green, blue and green

Use gel colours if you have them, I used liquid and it worked out perfectly well.

- A large amount of uncoloured buttercream

This is very ambiguous and I apologise, but I judged how much buttercream I needed by eye only and have no measurements :(

1.  Prepare the butter cake according to the packet's instructions.
2.  Divide the batter as evenly as you can into six smaller bowls. It doesn't need to be perfect, but you should be able to figure out if they're rougly even. This is very important for the end result of the cake.
3.  Colour the bowls of batter; red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple respectively.
4.  Grease and line a circular pan with baking paper. If you have more pans of the same size, do this to each additional one.
5.  Pour the red batter (and the orange one and so forth if you have additional cake tins) into the tin. Cover the rest of the bowls with cling wrap and put aside.
6.  Cook the first layer(s) in the oven at 180 degrees. This should take around 8-10 minutes, but may vary, so watch the cakes carefully!
7.  Allow cake(s) to cool in tin for five minutes. Place on a wire rack so cake(s) can cool.
8.  Repeat with each remaining layer until all six layers are cooked. As each layer cools, it is advisable to wrap them in cling wrap to avoid drying out.
9.  When each layer has cooled, prepare a large quantity of buttercream. As mentioned above, I have no specific measurement. You will need enough to cover the surface of six cakes, as well as the sides of the cake (which will, of course, be six layers tall). 
10.  Place the purple layer on the serving plate and cover with a layer of buttercream. You make make this as thin or thick as you like depending on how much icing you like. I made mine rather thin as I did not want it to be too sweet.
11.  Place the next layer on top and repeat process with each remaining layer, ending with the red layer.
12.  Cover entire cake with buttercream. I made this layer about twice as thick as the layers inside.
13.  If you wish to cover the cake with additonal sprinkles (as I have done), do so. Otherwise, carefully cover the cake with cling wrap and keep in a cool, dry place (e.g. pantry) until required.

    

    
    

    The worst part for me was not knowing how the inside would turn out. I was happy with the layers as I was making it, but I was incredibly nervous as to how successful it would be.

Low and behold, the moment of truth arrived and it turned out even better than I would have ever expected! 

The layers were bright and looked amazing, and the numerous online warnings about not using liquid food colouring were redundant.

The most important part was that Vandy absolutely loved the cake. All the time, effort and patience were well worth the smile it put on her face (and all those who saw it), and was definitely the best part of the whole... saga.

Happy (belated) Birthday again, Vandy, you "win4lyf."