Rainbow Cake Recipes

RAINBOW CAKE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour 2 (8-inch) round cake pans or spray with baking spray. Set aside.
• Combine flour, baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon salt in bowl; set aside.
• Beat sugar and 1 cup butter in another bowl at medium speed, scraping bowl occasionally, until creamy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add 1 tablespoon vanilla; mix well. Add flour mixture alternately with milk, beating at low speed after each addition, just until mixed.
• Divide batter evenly among 6 bowls with about 3/4 cup each. Tint cake batters red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. Spread red and orange batter into prepared pans. Bake 8-10 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Cool 3 minutes; remove from pans to cooling rack. Cool completely. Meanwhile, wash pans; grease and flour pans. Repeat with remaining colors until all cake layers are baked.
• Beat 2 cups butter in medium bowl at medium speed until creamy. Gradually add powdered sugar and 1/4 teaspoon salt alternatley with whipping cream and 1 tablespoon vanilla, beating at low speed until well incorporated. Beat at medium speed until smooth and creamy. Remove 2 cups frosting; set aside. Divide remaining frosting evenly among 6 bowls with about 1/3 cup each. Tint frostings red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. Set aside.
• Place purple cake layer onto serving plate, bottom-side up. Frost top with 1/4 cup white frosting. Place blue cake layer over frosting; frost with 1/4 cup white frosting. Continuing adding green, yellow, orange and red layers in that order, frosting with 1/4 cup white frosting between each layer. Frost outside of cake with remaining white frosting. This layer of frosting will be thin and cake will be visible through frosting. Once frosted, refrigerate cake 30 minutes. (This is called a crumb coat and will prevent crumbs from interfering when piping rosettes.)
• Place each tinted frosting into individual resealable plastic food bag; push frosting to one corner. Cut off 1/2 inch from tip of corner. Place 18-inch-long piece of plastic food wrap onto counter surface. Pipe each color onto plastic wrap to form wide 12-inch horizontal lines (using all of frosting) that are touching.
• Gently roll frosting lines into one large log using plastic wrap. Snip tip off one end of plastic wrap. Place cut-side down into piping bag fitted with size 1M open-star tip. Pipe rainbow rosettes onto cake beginning with middle of top of cake and working out and down sides so the most vibrant colors are on top of cake.

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 CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush six 9-inch-round cake pans (or as many 9-inch cake pans as you have, reusing them as necessary) with shortening. Line bottom of each cake pan with parchment paper; brush again and set aside.
• In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar. Slowly add egg whites and mix until well combined. Add vanilla and mix until fully incorporated. Add flour mixture and milk in two alternating additions, beginning with the flour and ending with the milk. Mix until well combined.
• Divide batter evenly between six medium bowls. Add enough of each color of food coloring to each bowl, whisking, until desired shade is reached. Transfer each color to an individual cake pan. Transfer to oven and bake until a cake tester inserted into the center of each cake comes out clean, about 15 minutes (working in batches if necessary).
• Remove cakes from oven and transfer to a wire rack; let cool for 10 minutes. Invert cakes onto a wire rack; re-invert and let cool completely.
• Using a serrated knife, trim tops of cakes to make level. Place four strips of parchment paper around perimeter of a serving plate or lazy Susan. Place the purple layer on the cake plate. Spread a scant 1 cup buttercream filling over the first layer with a small offset spatula so it extends just beyond edges. Repeat process with blue, green, yellow, and orange layers.
• Place the remaining red layer on top, bottom-side up. Gently sweep away any loose crumbs with a pastry brush. Using an offset spatula, cover the top and sides with a thin layer of frosting (also use any of the excess frosting visible between the layers). Refrigerate until set, about 30 minutes.
• Using an offset spatula, cover cake again with remaining frosting.

EPIC RAINBOW CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Spray two 9-inch cake pans with cooking spray.
• Combine cake mix, egg whites, water, and applesauce in a large bowl using an electric mixer. Divide batter evenly into 6 bowls. Mix a different food coloring gel into each bowl. Pour the red batter and orange batter separately into the prepared cake pans.
• Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center of each cake comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes.
• Remove from the oven and let rest on a cooling rack in the pans for 15 minutes. Flip quickly onto the rack and remove cakes from the pans. Continue the baking and cooling process with remaining batter until all layers are cooled.
• Shave off the tops of the cakes carefully using a large knife so they will be flat. Place the red layer down, frost the top lightly; continue with orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple.
• Frost the top and outside of the cake. Cut through using a big, sharp knife and serve.

RAINBOW LAYER CAKE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 3 (8-inch) round cake pans with cooking spray.
• In large bowl, beat cake mix, water, oil and eggs with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, then on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Divide batter evenly among 6 small bowls, about 1 1/3 cups each.
• Using food colors, tint batter in 1 bowl blue, 1 bowl red, 1 bowl green, 1 bowl yellow, 1 bowl orange (using red and yellow) and 1 bowl purple (using blue and red).
• Refrigerate 3 colors of batter until ready to bake. Pour remaining 3 colors of batter into cake pans.
• Bake 18 to 20 minutes or until cake springs back when touched lightly in center and begins to pull away from side of pan. Cool 10 minutes. Remove from pans to cooling racks; cool completely.
• Wash cake pans. Bake and cool remaining 3 cake layers as directed.
• In large bowl, beat shortening and butter with electric mixer on medium speed until light yellow. On low speed, gradually beat in powdered sugar. Beat in vanilla. Add milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until frosting is smooth. Beat on high speed until light and fluffy.
• Trim rounded tops off cakes to level, if needed. On serving plate, place purple cake layer. Spread with frosting to within 1/4 inch of edge. Repeat with blue, green, yellow, orange and red cake layers. Spread light coat of frosting on top and side of cake to seal in crumbs, then frost with remaining frosting.

EASY RAINBOW CAKE...FROM SCRATCH!

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325 F.
• Generously grease and flour 6 (9-inch cake pans.) I only had 3 pans so I had to bake in two rounds.
• In a large bowl cream together sugar and butter.
• Mix in eggs until thoroughly incorporated.
• Mix in vanilla extract, buttermilk and heavy cream.
• Mix in half of the flour, baking powder, and salt.
• When mixture is combined, mix in the rest of the flour.
• Divide the batter into six bowls (about 1 cup of batter per bowl)
• Add food coloring to each bowl to create a vibrant red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. (see note on how to make colors)
• Pour each colored batter into the prepared pans and spread out into an even layer. (layers will be thin)
• Bake for 10-15 minutes or until center is set. Do not overbake. Keep a close eye on them as some ovens run hotter and these are thin layers.
• Remove from oven and let cakes cool in the pan until pans are warm enough to touch.
• Run a spatula around the edges of the pans to loosen the cake and then very carefully remove the cakes from the pans.
• Place on a cooling rack and cool completely.
• Meanwhile make the cream cheese frosting by creaming together cream cheese and butter.
• Mix in powdered sugar and vanilla.
• Place the violet layer down first and frost. Followed by the blue layer, green layer, yellow layer, orange layer and finally the red layer. (frost between each layer)
• Place a thin coat of the icing on the cake to create a crumb coat. This will make the cake even all around and seal any loose crumbs.
• Once the crumb coat is set, finish frosting the cake.
• Slice & serve!
• (To create more defined layers of frosting between the colors, place the frosted cake in the fridge to allow the cream cheese frosting to firm up before slicing)

RAINBOW LAYER CAKE

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Butter 2 x 20cm round sandwich tins and line the bases with baking parchment. Tip all the sponge ingredients, apart from the food colouring, into a mixing bowl, then beat with an electric whisk until smooth.
• Working quickly, weigh the mixture into another bowl to work out the total weight, then weigh exactly half the mixture back into the mixing bowl. Pick two of your colours and stir a little into each mix. Keep going until you are happy with the colour - the colour of the batter now will be very similar to the finished cake, so be brave! Scrape the different batters into the tins, trying to spread and smooth as much as possible - but try not to waste a drop of the batter - a rubber spatula will help you. Bake on the same oven shelf for 15-20 mins until a skewer poked into the middle comes out clean. Don't worry if that sponges are thin, there are many layers.
• Gently turn the cakes out onto a wire rack to cool. Wash the tins and bowls thoroughly, and start again from step 1 - this time using another two colours. Unless you're making the optional pink layer, repeat one more time to get 6 sponges, all of different colours. Leave them all to cool.
• To make the icing, very briefly beat the vanilla and soft cheese or mascarpone with an electric whisk until smooth. Sift in the icing sugar and gently fold in with a spatula. Be careful - the more you work it, the runnier it will get, increasing the chance of splitting.
• Smear a little icing on your cake stand or plate - just a splodge to stick the first sponge. Start with the red, then spread with some icing right to the very edge. Repeat, sandwiching on top the orange, yellow, green, blue and finally purple sponges. Spread the remaining icing thickly all over the sides and top of the cake. For more expert advice on how to create the perfect rainbow cake, check out our tips, below.
• Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Butter 2 x 20cm round sandwich tins and line the bases with baking parchment. Tip all the sponge ingredients, apart from the food colouring, into a mixing bowl, then beat with an electric whisk until smooth.
• Working quickly, weigh the mixture into another bowl to work out the total weight, then weigh exactly half the mixture back into the mixing bowl. Pick two of your colours and stir a little into each mix. Keep going until you are happy with the colour - the colour of the batter now will be very similar to the finished cake, so be brave! Scrape the different batters into the tins, trying to spread and smooth as much as possible - but try not to waste a drop of the batter - a rubber spatula will help you. Bake on the same oven shelf for 15-20 mins until a skewer poked into the middle comes out clean. Don't worry if that sponges are thin, there are many layers.
• Gently turn the cakes out onto a wire rack to cool. Wash the tins and bowls thoroughly, and start again from step 1 - this time using another two colours. Unless you're making the optional pink layer, repeat one more time to get 6 sponges, all of different colours. Leave them all to cool.
• To make the icing, very briefly beat the vanilla and soft cheese or mascarpone with an electric whisk until smooth. Sift in the icing sugar and gently fold in with a spatula. Be careful - the more you work it, the runnier it will get, increasing the chance of splitting.
• Smear a little icing on your cake stand or plate - just a splodge to stick the first sponge. Start with the red, then spread with some icing right to the very edge. Repeat, sandwiching on top the orange, yellow, green, blue and finally purple sponges. Spread the remaining icing thickly all over the sides and top of the cake. For more expert advice on how to create the perfect rainbow cake, check out our tips, below.

RAINBOW CAKE!

Steps:

• Preheat your oven to 160ºc/140º fan and line three 8"/20cm springform tins with parchment paper and leave to the side for now.
• Weigh 5-6 medium eggs in their shells and get as close to 300g as possible (e.g. 312g)
• Then add 312g of butter and caster sugar to a bowl and beat until light and fluffy.
• Add in the eggs, and 312g of self raising flour and beat again until smooth.
• Split the mixture evenly into three bowls, and add three of the colours each (for example, red, yellow and orange.)
• Bake the cakes in the oven for 30 minutes (or until baked - test with a skewer).
• Once baked, leave the cakes to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool fully.
• Repeat this process again and use the other three colours (for example, green, blue and purple!). Once all the cakes are baked, leave them all to cool fully.
• (You can wrap the sponges in clingfilm once they have cooled and freeze over night to make decoratin easier but this is optional!)
• Once all of your cakes are cooled, you can make the buttercream.
• Beat the room temperature unsalted butter on its own for a few minutes to soften it and make it supple.
• Gradually add the icing sugar beating very well each time until its all mixed in.
• Keep beating and add the white food colouring and vanilla extract and beat for a few minutes.
• Using a 10" cake board, add your first sponge. I start with purple as its the bottom colour.
• Add a couple tablespoons of the buttercream on to the sponge and smooth over. Repeat this with blue sponge, then green, yellow, orange and finally red at the top.
• Using a small amount of buttercream, smooth over the sides of the cakes and fill in any gaps and create a crumb coat.
• Refrigerate or freeze the cake on the board for an hour or so to chill and firm to make the next stage of decorating easier.
• Once chilled, add on lots more buttercream around the sides of the cake with a small angled spatula, and smooth over using a large metal scraper until the sides of the cake are smooth like in the photos!
• Carefully press some of the sprinkles into the bottom of the cake using the palm of your hand to create the sprinkle effect!
• Once this has been done, refrigerate again whilst you make the drip!
• Add the white chocolate and double cream to a bowl and heat in a microwave in short 10 second bursts stiring well each time.
• Once melted and combined, add the pink food colouring and mix until smooth!
• Add the pink ganache to a piping bag and carefully cut off the end and drip down the sides of the cake. The more you push over the side of the cake with the piping bag, the further it will drip!
• Add the leftover buttercream to a piping bag with your favourite piping tip and pipe swirls of buttercream onto the top of the cake (like I have done in the photos)
• Finally sprinkle on some etra sprinkles and leave the cake to set in the fridge fully.
• In the hot weather I store the cake in the fridge until it has been portioned.

RAINBOW CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 170C/150C Fan/Gas 3. Grease 6 x 20cm/8in loose bottom sandwich cake tins (approximately 4cm/1½in deep) and line the bottoms with greaseproof paper. Dust the tins with flour, then shake out the excess.
• Beat the butter and sugar together in a stand mixer or with a handheld electric whisk on a high speed until pale and fluffy. Turn the mixer to low speed and add the eggs bit by bit, mixing on high speed after each addition. Add the vanilla, then add half of the flour. Mix until combined, then add the rest of the flour and mix until you have a smooth cake batter.
• Divide the batter equally between 6 medium-sized bowls and add dashes of each of the food colourings. Mix until you have a pink, yellow, orange, green, blue and purple batter. Pour each colour into one of the prepared tins and bake for approximately 25 minutes, turning after 18 minutes so they colour evenly. Once baked, cool the cakes on a wire rack, then wrap in cling film and store in the fridge.
• To make the buttercream, place the salted butter in the bowl of an electric mixer. Sift the icing sugar on top, bring the mixture together at a low speed, then beat at high speed for a few minutes until the mixture is pale and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and beat to combine.
• Remove the cakes from the fridge and trim the domes off so they are flat. Discard the off cuts. Place the 18cm/7in non-slip mat on the turntable and put the 20cm/8in cake board on top. Put a dab of buttercream on the cake board and place the purple sponge on top. Spread a ¾cm/½in thick layer of buttercream on the top, then place the blue sponge on top. Repeat this process for the green, yellow, orange and pink sponges until you have assembled the whole cake with five layers of buttercream in between. The final top sponge should have the base facing upward. Gently press the top of the stack to ensure the cake is level and free of air bubbles. Chill in the fridge for 10 minutes.
• Using a knife or a cheese grater, trim the sides of the cake to within a few millimetres of the cake board it's sitting on. Add a splash of milk to the buttercream and beat for 30 seconds to loosen. Put 2 spoons of the buttercream on the top of the cake, then spread the buttercream towards the edges and down the sides with a palette knife. Scrape of any excess and discard. This layer should be very thin, almost translucent in parts. Return the cake to the fridge for 10 minutes.
• Divide the remaining buttercream into 6 equal portions and place in bowls. Colour the buttercream in the same way you coloured the cake batter, then place each colour into a separate piping bag.
• Put the 25cm/10in non-slip mat on the turntable and place the 30cm/12in cake board on top, along with the cake. Pipe concentric rings of each colour buttercream around the outside of the cake, in the same order as the picture. Add enough pink buttercream to cover the top of the cake. Scrape the excess buttercream off the sides of the cake using the side scraper. Turn the turntable in a fluid motion while ensuring you keep the blade at a 45 degree angle against the side of the cake with your other hand. Repeat until you have a nice smooth finish.
• Using your palette knife, carefully brush any excess buttercream that's gathered at the rim of the cake towards the centre, aiming all the time for sharp edges, straight sides and a flat top. If the buttercream has 'torn' in places, dip your palette knife in hot water and use that to smooth over any imperfections. Put the cake back in the fridge for 10 minutes, or until you're ready for the next stage.
• Put the cake directly on the turntable. Pipe 6 swirls on top of the cake with your remaining colours and sprinkle them with the multi-coloured sprinkles.

RAINBOW CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to the temperature called for in the cake mix instructions. Lightly grease five 8-inch cake pans and dust with flour, tapping out excess flour.
• Place the ground bananas, blueberries, mangos, peas and raspberries in separate medium mixing bowls.
• Prepare the cake mix batter according to package instructions, using the eggs, egg whites and oil. Divide the batter among the five mixing bowls. To the raspberry batter, add 4 drops red food coloring. To the mango batter, add 1 scant drop red and 3 drops yellow food coloring. To the banana batter, add 4 drops yellow food coloring. To the green pea batter, add 3 drops green food coloring. To the blueberry batter, add 3 drops blue food coloring. Mix each bowl of batter until well combined and uniform in color.
• Scrape the batters into the prepared cake pans. Bake in batches (3 pans in the first batch, 2 pans in the second), rotating the pans halfway through the baking time, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from the oven; when cool enough to handle, turn the cakes out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
• To assemble the cake, place the blue cake layer onto a cake platter and spread the top with 1/3 cup frosting in an even layer. Top with the green layer and spread with 1/3 cup frosting. Repeat with the yellow, orange and red layers until you have stacked all the layers. Frost the sides and top of the cake in an even layer. Use the reserved bananas, blueberries, mangos, peas and raspberries to decorate the top of the cake in a rainbow pattern. Any remaining fruit can be crushed lightly, mixed together and used to decorate the sides of the cake.

RAINBOW CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour three 9 inch square pans.
• Beat eggs in mixing bowl until frothy. Gradually beat in 1 cup sugar. Beat until light colored and thick.
• In another bowl, mix flour, baking powder, and salt together. Fold into egg mixture.
• Into hot milk, stir vanilla and butter until melted. Fold milk mixture into batter. Divide batter in 3 equal parts into separate bowls.
• Add a few drops of red food colouring onto one batter. Stir to mix. Spread into a prepared pan. Add a few drops of yellow food colouring into another batter. Stir to mix. Spread into a prepared pan. Add a few drops of green food coloring into remaining batter. Stir to mix. Spread into remaining pan. To summarize, make three different coloured batters, and pour each into a prepared pan.
• Bake in oven for about 10 to 15 minutes until an inserted wooden pick comes out clean. Let stand 8 to 10 minutes. Turn out onto racks to cool.
• Trim cake layers of rough edges. Cut each layer into 2 even layers.
• Mash apple or crabapple jelly with fork. Spread some over 1 pink layer on tray. Spread 1 green layer with jelly, and place on top. Spread yellow layer with jelly, and place on top of green strip. Repeat with remaining 3 layers in same order, making 6 layers. Spread jelly on top and sides if preferred, but it is not necessary. Trim edges if needed.
• To Make Strawberry Fluff: Place 1 egg white, 1/2 cup sugar, thawed strawberries, and 1/8 teaspoon salt into top of double boiler. Beat with electric beater to mix well. Place over rapidly boiling water. Continue beating while it cooks until stiff peaks form when beater is lifted. Remove frosting from heat, and spread over cake.

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.