LO's 4th bday party will be rainbow themed so I want to try making one but it looks intimidating!
Did you bake and freeze layers and assemble it later? How did your cake turn out? Any pics?
-
I did and it was soooooo painful, largely because I had to bake the cake from scratch (boxed mixes weren't available where i lived) and I wanted it to be a true white cake so the colors popped. I made it twice, and wow, never again that way. Oh, and one recipe didn't make enough batter for all the colors, so I had to make it again. So many egg yolks left over...I can't!
-
I just did an ombre cake for my son's 3rd birthday this past weekend. He really wanted a blue cake but I wasn't content to just dye it all one shade of blue. It was also a trial run for the cake I'm going to make for his birthday party next weekend. I think it turned out pretty well.
I used the Wilton Easy Layers! 6 in. Cake Pan Set. The website is down or I would have pasted the link. It was super easy to do and it only used one cake mix. However, as you can tell, 6 in isn't too big so the cake was sort of small. It is perfect for a small gathering though. I used the Wilton icing colors that are gels so they're concentrated.
The hardest layer to get right for you will be the red layer. I would recommend finding some sort of gel icing color so that it doesn't water down the cake too much.
I did freeze the layers before assembling as I read somewhere that it's easier to frost while frozen. I plan on scaling this up and making it a 5 layer cake with a normal 8 in cake pan. Let me know if you have any other questions.
ETA: pay no attention to all of the random crap in the background of the picture.
-
I made rainbow cupcakes for LO's 3rd birthday and they were moderately time intensive but VERY easy.
-
I did rainbow angel food cake and just baked the layers together.
If you don't care if its perfectly layered you could do 2-3 colors per box and just make 2 cakes and stack them
-
I baked and froze the layers a week or two in advance. I was lazy and used white cake mix (I *think* two boxes?), and just separated it into bowls and mixed food coloring in. I put in more than I thought I needed because I wanted very bold colors.
-
@lovehoneybee: awesome!!!
-
I did a rainbow cake for my DD's 5th. It turned out nice looking but I was not a fan of the cake recipe I used. Or the icing recipe. I used Mrs. Hopscotch's post on the blog and the links she referenced as a reference for the cake assembly. Freezing the layers helped since I made those in advanced and assembled and iced it the day of.
-
My friend did one for a shower!
-
@T-Mom:
-
@lovehoneybee: so gorgeous!
-
@looch: this Costco cake will be my backup!
I love the pics!
-
@Mamaof2: @knittylady: Thanks! I think that was the proudest I've ever been of something I've baked
-
I've done the rainbow cake when it's all in one dish and you pour the colors on top of each other. They don't blend and it creates a rainbow/colorful effect. I also did it as cupcakes. And from a scratch mix and a box mix....
It's pretty easy you just need to separate the batter into different containers add the dye, mix it up, and pour into the cake pan.
One piece of advise I can give is to make sure to use real food dye colors like the Wilton brand, not the liquidy ones. Sometimes to get the color vibrant like you want the cheaper liquidy ones can actually water down your cake.
You can get a rainbow pack of the Wilton ones at Walmart or craft stores. (and if you do Michaels/Joanns you can use a 40% of coupon!)
-
These all look & sound great! Does anybody know if gel colours are suitable? I'm aiming to do this over the festive period but want to use up my colours I already have if I can...
-
I attempted to for DH's birthday one year. I used a recipe requiring sprite as the mix in it. It turned out bad.
-
@Nutella: Yes! Gel is what I used. I couldn't think of the name. That's the best food dye for baking.
-
@autumnlove: I baked and froze the layers the weekend before & frosted the morning of the party. It was all thawed, moist, and yummy by mid-morning. It took some time, but I really enjoy baking & had fun. I think I got my info on freezing cake from the Smitten Kitchen website (wrap in plastic wrap & then foil). I also made a batch of cupcakes in the weeks leading up to the party to test the dye by dividing the batter (I was using natural dyes so I ended up needing to experiment).
-
I did, but.....my food colouring was all off so it wasn't quite the rainbow effect I was going for! I did freeze the layers for a couple of hours, but altogether, it wasn't terribly time consuming. I just used two box recipes for vanilla cake and split each recipe in half to give me four layers.
-
@lovehoneybee: yours looks perfect! Did you flatten the layers (cut off the top) before assembly?
-
@Ree723: still looks yummy!
-
@Mrs.KMM: Yep, with a long serrated knife. It wasn't perfectly straight, but as close as I could get
-
I did one that looked very similar to @lovehoneybee's and it wasn't too bad at all! Just a matter of waiting for all the layers to back and cool so I could stack.
-
No, not yet, but it's a cool idea. Maybe not rainbow but a few alternating colors would be nice.
-
I haven't but now I'm really inspired to try!! Maybe next year for LO's 2nd bday!
-
I find trimming the layers neatly to be really tricky, so I prefer doing more of a "tie dye" style when I'm in a time crunch, like @mamaof2: and @yoursilverlining posted.
There's even a Duff cake mix that includes the dyes if you don't feel like buying supplies. Target and Michaels/AC Moore both carry it.
-
I did for A's first birthday. I made the batter myself and used gel colouring for a more vibrant hue. I did freeze the layers, they were easier to stack and level out frozen. I felt the cake was dry, the frosting saved it. If I did it again, I would use a moist cake mix and save myself some of the work.
Random pic of my slice
-
I made one for DD1's 3rd birthday, at her request. I believe I used this recipe for the cake: http://www.marthastewart.com/256688/rainbow-cake
I borrowed some extra cake pans from a friend because of all the layers and I used a kitchen scale to divide the batter evenly. I definitely recommend gel coloring. I bought the Wilton gel colors from Walmart (Target doesn't carry them). I used a different vanilla frosting recipe but I don't remember which. I made the cake the night before the party, and I did not freeze the layers. It was good even though I'm not a super stellar cake baker (and not a super stellar food photographer, either)!
(I need to edit the picture of the inside of the cake; have to repost later!)
-
Wow! DD would love this!
-
A friend of mine made one recently...she said it was really easy. I believe she had some sort of kit for it? Anyhow, she said she made the cake, then just split it into separate bowls and colored them. She did say she used a gel food coloring and said it helped to create brighter colors without using a ton of coloring. It was super cute, and tasty!
-
@lovehoneybee: wow yours came out amazing!
It's been on my list of things to attempt but I can't gather up the strength to try...
-
@autumnlove: well, how'd it turn out??
You can get a rainbow pack of the Wilton ones at Walmart or craft stores. (and if you do Michaels/Joanns you can use a 40% of coupon!)
Reply
Subscribe to our newsletter
- Google Plus
- Stumbleupon
- Twitter
- Facebook
- Pinterest
- Favorite1
31 comments