The Original!
Since I had a potluck to attend, I busted out my food colouring and got to work. It turned out to be a really easy project, with lots of great results. Here's how it looked, step by step, as I made my own rainbow cake.
Disclaimer: I can't actually bake. So to start, I went and bought myself two boxes of Betty Crocker white cake mix :) Whether you make it from scratch or from a box, trust me on this...use white cake mix. The colours will look way better than if you try to colour chocolate cake!
On to the process. First, tint the dye. I recommend actually having orange colouring instead of trying to mix it. I used the Wilton colour gels (available at Michaels or Wal-Mart) to get the vibrant colours. Next, you have to pour the batter into the pans.
I know what you're thinking, because I've already been asked 15 times. "How do you layer the colours like that?!" Easy - and I'll tell you. First, you'll notice the colour layering is opposite in each pan. This is to evenly distribute the coloured batter between both cakes. I recommend starting with one cake, and then doing the second (rather than doing both at once).
To layer the colours: Take the red batter, and pour about two thirds of it right into the middle of your pan. It will naturally spread out across the bottom - let it! Next, take slightly less than two thirds of the orange, and pour it directly into the middle of the red batter. It will also begin to spread, and this is good! As you proceed, keep pouring the next colour right into the centre of the previous colour, and you'll create the rings shown above. Use less of each colour as you go along, as when you do the second pan, you will start with purple (and therefore should have the most leftover purple from the first round.)
Once you're done, go ahead and bake. As you can see, baking isn't my strong suit. These are UGLY!
At this point, I thought I had a disaster on my hands. But...there was no turning back. I planned to torte and fill the cake right from the get go, so when I cut it open I was VERY pleased to see the inside of the cake looked lots better than the outside. Judge for yourself:
"ooohhhh....ahhhhh!"
From here, I filled the cake with white buttercream icing, and then covered the whole thing in more white buttercream icing. I wanted it to look really plain, so people would be dazzled by the inside when I cut it open. Here's how it looked all done:
Ta da! I couldn't wait to bring it to our party that night. When it was time for dessert, I cut it open and people were floored! I was too, actually. It turned out better than I had expected, and it tasted awesome! Here are some more pictures of the inside:
And there you have it - rainbow cake! Thanks to Pinterest for the inspiration and to Omnomicon for the how-to. Check out her page for the diet cake version!
- Meg
