Rainbow Butterfly Cake Recipes

BEAUTIFUL RAINBOW BUTTERFLY CAKE

Steps:

• Divide Creamy White Frosting evenly among three medium bowls. Add a toothpick tip's worth of pink gel food coloring to frosting in one bowl; stir until frosting is evenly tinted. Repeat with the remaining two bowls of frosting, tinting one with sky blue food coloring and the other with lemon yellow food coloring.
• Place a decorating bag fitted with a large open star tip (such as Wilton brand #1M) into a tall wide-mouth container (this holds the decorating bag in place while you fill it with frosting). Using a long metal spatula, scoop up the pink frosting and carefully transfer it to the decorating bag, spreading the frosting from bottom to top in a strip that covers about one-third of the inside of the bag. Wash and thoroughly dry the metal spatula. Repeat with the blue frosting and then the yellow frosting, being careful not to mix the colors. (The decorating bag will have three strips of frosting side by side. These colors complement each other so if they run together some, they'll form a pretty rainbow.) Pipe the frosting onto a piece of waxed paper or parchment paper just until all three colors start to pipe, giving the rainbow effect.
• To pipe a rainbow rosette, hold the decorating bag perpendicular to cupcake top with the decorating tip barely touching the center of the cupcake. Pipe swirls of frosting onto cupcake, moving decorating tip in a counterclockwise motion from the center to the outer edge. Repeat to pipe rosettes on all remaining cupcakes.
• For the face, roll the pink fondant according to package directions to a 3-inch-diameter circle. Using a 2-inch round cookie cutter, cut out a circle; place the circle on top of one of the frosted 2-1/2-inch cupcakes, pressing gently into frosting. Divide the black fondant into five pieces. Roll each of the pieces between your fingers into a ball. For the antennae, attach a black fondant ball to two of the wooden toothpicks. Position the antennae at the top of the face, gently pushing toothpicks into the cupcake. For eyes, position two more of the black fondant balls on the face (slightly moisten the underside of each eye so it will stick to the face). For the mouth, roll the remaining black fondant ball between your fingers into a thin rope; slightly moisten the underside of the rope and position it on the face.
• To assemble the butterfly, arrange the five larger cupcakes in a vertical line in the center of your serving table, platter, or cake board, placing the head cupcake at the top of the line. Arrange the smaller cupcakes into arched or triangular wing shapes (see photo), using 18 cupcakes for each wing. (You want the wings to mirror each other, so rearrange the cupcakes until you find a shape you like.)
• If desired, sprinkle confetti or paper shapes around the butterfly. Creamy White Frosting
• In a large mixing bowl beat shortening, vanilla, and almond extract with an electric mixer on medium speed for 30 seconds. Gradually add about half of the powdered sugar, beating well. Beat in 2 tablespoons of the milk. Gradually beat in the remaining powdered sugar and enough of the remaining milk to reach spreading consistency. Decorating bag Large open star tip (such as Wilton brand #1M) Tall wide-mouth container (such as an empty 32-ounce yogurt container) Long metal spatula 2-inch round cookie cutter

BUTTERFLY CAKES

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Line a cupcake tin with 10 cases. To make the sponge, tip the butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, flour, baking powder and milk into a large mixing bowl and beat with either a hand whisk or electric mixer until smooth, pale and combined. Divide the batter between the cases and bake for 15 mins until golden brown and a skewer inserted in the middle of a cake comes out clean. Leave on a wire rack to cool.
• While the cakes are cooling, make the buttercream by beating together the icing sugar, butter and vanilla until pale and fluffy. Mix in the extra milk if the icing feels too stiff.
• Once the cakes are cool, use a sharp knife to slice off the tops, then cut the tops in half. Pipe or spread the buttercream on top of the cakes, then gently push two semi-circular halves into the buttercream on each cake, doing this at an angle to look like butterfly wings. You can serve the cupcakes at this stage, or decorate them with a little blob of jam in the centre and a scattering of sprinkles, if you like.

RAINBOW CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Spray the bottom and sides of six 8-inch round cake pans; dust with flour and tap out excess.
• Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.
• Beat the butter, sugar and oil in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until light in color and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then the vanilla seeds, until combined.
• Transfer the creamed mixture to a very large mixing bowl, then alternate folding in the flour mixture and the milk with a spatula, adding the flour in 3 additions and the milk in 2, starting and ending with the flour, just until smooth. Divide the batter equally among 6 mixing bowls. Using gel food colors, tint each bowl with one of the colors of the rainbow. Pour each color into its own prepared cake pan.
• Bake, rotating the pans halfway through, until a toothpick inserted in the centers comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes. Cool the cakes in the pans on a rack for 10 minutes, then remove the cakes to the rack to cool completely.
• Level the tops of any cake layers that have domed by slicing the domes off with a serrated knife. Put some buttercream into a pastry bag fitted with a large round tip. Put the bottom cake layer onto a cake plate. Pipe around the edge of the cake layer to create a frosting "dam." Fill the center with a thin layer of jam (about 1/2 cup). Top with another cake layer and repeat until you have stacked and filled all the layers. Frost the outside of the cake with the remaining buttercream and decorate as desired.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the confectioners' sugar, butter, milk, vanilla seeds and salt. Beat on low speed for a while. When the sugar is incorporated, turn the speed up and beat until the buttercream is fluffy and smooth. If it's too wet, add a bit more confectioners' sugar. If it's too stiff, add a bit more butter. Be sure to scrape the sides of the bowl once or twice to make sure everything is combined.
• Use immediately or store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 24 hours or in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. Rewhip cold buttercream before using.

RAINBOW BUTTERFLY CAKE WITH CLOUD BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350º F (180º C). Grease both the bottom and sides of 3 (9-inch) round pans. Cut 3 (9-inch) circles out of parchment paper and cover bottom of each pan. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, milk, yogurt, oil, and eggs. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds and then on medium for 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally.
• Divide batter into 6 small bowls (about 1-1/2 cups into each small bowl). Mix 1 tablespoon of lemonade powder and 1 teaspoon of lemon extract into one of these divided batter batches and add a bit of pink icing gel until obtaining a bright pink. Set aside.
• Pour 1/2 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract into each of the other 5 small bowls and stir to combine. Mix in the following icing gel colors to color each batter individually: Bright blue, yellow, violet, orange, and green.
• See photo of the gel food coloring colors that we used.
• Using an ice cream scooper or small cups, divide each of the six colored batters into the 3 prepared baking pans, first pouring one color into the center of the pan, and then sequentially pouring the next color into the center of the pan on top of the first, and so on, in a concentric bullseye pattern. Bake for about 36 - 42 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cover each pan loosely with a sheet of aluminum foil after half of the baking time has elapsed, in order to avoid browning of the top of the cake layer.
• Remove pans from the oven and place on a rack to cool completely. Remove each of the 3 cake layers carefully from their pans, as well as from the parchment paper on the bottom. Assemble the layers of the rainbow butterfly cake, frosting between each layer with the buttercream and then frosting the top and sides of the cake (For the second layer of frosting, spread the frosting in swirls to make a cloud effect). Decorate as desired, and serve with a scoop of ice cream.

RAINBOW CAKE

Steps:

• NOTE: It is SUPER IMPORTANT that all the room temperature ingredients listed above are room temperature and measured by weight so that the ingredients mix and incorporate correctly. Heat oven to 335º F/168º C
• Prepare six ( 8"x2") cake pans with cake goop and place a round piece of parchment paper in the bottom of the pan for easy removal of the cake
• Combine 8 oz of the buttermilk and the oil together and set aside.
• Combine the remaining buttermilk, egg whites, and vanilla together, whisk to break up the eggs and set aside.
• Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Mix 10 seconds to combine.
• Add your softened butter to the dry ingredients and mix on low until mixture resembles coarse sand (about 30 seconds).
• Add in your milk/oil mixture and let mix until dry ingredients are moistened and then bump up to med (setting 4 on my KitchenAid) and let mix for 2 full minutes to develop the cake's structure. If you don't let your cake mix on this step your cake could collapse.
• Scrape your bowl and then reduce speed to low. Add in your egg white/milk mixture in three batches, letting the batter mix for 15 seconds between additions. Scrape down the sides again to make sure everything has incorporated.
• Divide your batter into 6 bowls. Weigh 15 ounces of batter for each bowl.
• Color each bowl with your Electric food colors. 1/2 tsp for pink for the pink layer, 1/4 tsp yellow plus 1/4 tsp orange for orange layer, 1/2 tsp yellow for yellow layer, 1/4 tsp yellow plus 1/2 tsp green for green layer, 1/2 tsp blue for blue layer, 1/4 tsp pink and 1/2 tsp purple for the purple layer.
• Bake your layers for 20-24 minutes or until the edges JUST start pulling away from the cake pan. Do not under-bake or the middle of the cake will collapse.
• IMMEDIATELY TAP PAN FIRMLY on countertop once to release the steam from the cake. This stops the cake from shrinking.
• Let cakes cool for 10 minutes inside the pan before flipping them out. The cake will shrink a bit and that is normal. Freeze your cake layers 30-60 minutes before trimming your cakes. Frost and fill with buttercream frosting.
• After your buttercream is smooth, place the cake back into the fridge for 15 minutes before you apply your drip.
• Wait for your drip to set before painting with gold paint. Finish the cake with buttercream rosettes and more sprinkles.

RAINBOW BUTTERFLY CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour an 8 1/2x11-inch butterfly-shaped cake pan.
• Mix flour and baking powder together in a small bowl.
• Combine sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy. Add eggs and vanilla extract and mix until well blended. Add flour mixture in 2 batches, alternating with milk, beating batter briefly after each addition.
• Divide batter equally into 4 or 5 small cups and add several drops of food coloring to each cup, mixing well to color batter evenly. Layer small amounts of colored batter randomly in the prepared cake pan, using a toothpick to swirl colors gently. Continue until all batter has been added to the pan and colors have been swirled.
• Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 30 to 45 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Run a table knife around the edges to loosen. Invert carefully onto a serving plate or cooling rack. Let cool completely.

RAINBOW BUTTERCREAM CAKE

Steps:

• Supplies:.
• Five 7 x 2 inch round cake pans.
• Gel color in red, pink, yellow, green, purple, blue.
• Piping bags each fitted with a variety of different piping tips such as an open star tip, a grass tip, etc. I used Wilton 1M, Wilton #234, Wilton #4B, and an open circle tip.
• 5 medium bowls (you can use large cereal bowls or a mixture of whatever you have!).
• To Make The Cake:.
• Spritz the cake pans with vegetable oil and line with parchment paper circles cut to size. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• In a large bowl, sift together the cake flour, baking powder and salt.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar on high speed until light and fluffy, about two minutes.
• With the mixer on low speed, add the eggs one at a time, gently incorporating. Add the vanilla extract.
• Whisk together the cream and milk.
• With the mixer on low speed, add the dry flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the milk and ending with the flour mix, about one minute in total, until batter is smooth and free of lumps and bumps. Do not overmix.
• Divide the batter evenly into the five medium bowls. Add a different color of gel food coloring to each bowl, mixing gently to combine. To get a bright shade of red, you will need more red gel color than the other colors. Start with less and add more as needed.
• Pour each colored batter into its own separate cake pan. Gently rap the cake pan a few times on the counter to discourage air bubbles. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until cake pulls away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs. Let cool completely on wire racks before frosting with buttercream.
• To Make The Buttercream and Frost The Cake:.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, icing sugar, vanilla and tiny pinch of salt on high speed until light and fluffy and doubled in volume, about three minutes.
• With the cake layers completely cool, fill and frost the cake with the plain white vanilla buttercream, stacking the layers following the ROYGBIV colors. If you want the red layer to be on the top, start with the purple layer, top with frosting, then stack the blue, then green, yellow and finish with the red. Frost and coat the entire exterior of the cake, using a cake bench scraper to smooth as you go.
• To Decorate:.
• Divide the remaining buttercream into five or six bowls, depending on what shades you want for your rainbow piping.
• Add ¼ teaspoon of gel color to each bowl to start, mixing in the color to get the desired shade. Again, with the red gel color, you will need more gel color to get that vibrant red.
• Fill your piping bags fitted with the various piping tips each with a different buttercream color. Pipe rosettes, drop stars and furry bits of grassy buttercream all over the cake. I start on the top and pipe the top of the cake first, making sure my colors and patterns are evenly dispersed! I tend to work with one color, piping all over, then switching colors, then adding more colors and then filling in any naked spots at the end.
• Tip: for a sharp, clean cut - chill your cake for 10 minutes in the freezer first before slicing!

BUTTERFLY CAKES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Line a muffin tin with medium-sized cupcake liners.
• Combine 3/4 cup butter and 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons white sugar in a large bowl; beat with an electric mixer until fluffy. Beat in eggs and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Beat in flour gradually. Divide batter evenly among the cupcake liners.
• Bake in the preheated oven until golden, 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool, about 20 minutes.
• Beat 1 cup plus 2 1/2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract together in a bowl to make buttercream filling.
• Scoop some of the center out of each cupcake, keeping it in one piece. Fill each hole with raspberry jam. Top cupcakes with buttercream. Cut the scooped-out centers into 2 pieces and position them in the buttercream to look like butterfly wings.