Rainbow Cake

So, last post I was telling you about how I was going to make THE Rainbow Cake to celebrate the last week of school. 

Well. It's official.

The Rainbow Cake ROCKED. IT. OUT.

It took some time, but really, it was quite simple to make.

I used 2 boxes of regular white cake mix, but I'm sure you could get all fancy and make some really delicious cake. I might do that next time. But for our first go round,  I wanted it as easy as possible.

I just made the batter according to the directions on the box.

I used this Wilton icing color gel. I got mine at Walmart for $1.50 each. It was a baking investment for that price, but I can probably get at least a good 4 or 5 more Rainbow Cakes out of them.





And technically, when you are photographing your color gel, Ella says you should arrange them into a happy face, like so:



Miss Ella and I had fun while we made the cake batter and separated it not-so-evenly into 6 bowls. Then we added about 1/2 teaspoon of gel color per bowl. Supposedly the two boxes of cake mix should divide into about 1 1/2 cups of batter per bowl. Our purple layer ended up much bigger than the others, but purple is Ella's favorite color, so it worked out well for us.

Ella is the stir master!





We baked and we cooled (in two batches because even though I bought two brand-spanking new cake pans for this endeavor, that only brought my cake pan ownership up to a whopping four pans).









See how big the purple is? I tried to cut the rounded tops off all the layers to make them flatter and more layer-worthy, but our purple layer was still huge. And, also, my layers were never actually layer-worthy. Not straight AT ALL I tell you!



I assembled and frosted. I also tried to do that trick where you place pieces of wax paper underneath the edges of your cake before you frost it. And then, when you're done frosting, you pull the paper out and your plate is all sparkling clean and frosting free. Except I placed a couple of the pieces of wax paper too far in and the whole purple layer tried to escape when I tried to pull the paper free. So I had to hold the bottom layer in place and get frosting all over my hands while trying to rescue the wax paper.

Note to self: Try not to be an idiot.



And then I frosted some more. I used this buttercream recipe because I had never made buttercream frosting before and it sounded yummy and easy. And it was, but I had to double the recipe, and even that wasn't enough to frost every layer and the entire outside of the cake, soooo.... Every time I took a bite I was thinking about the 4 STICKS OF BUTTER that I used. Next time I'll try something else.



Peyton and Ella were in charge of the sprinkles, so most of those either got dumped on the cake or were rolling willy-nilly on the table and onto the floor.

Ten seconds worth of sprinkling:



And then the sprinkle pour and pat down technique:



Then we stuck it in the fridge until after dinner.

Isn't my new platter adorable? I won it in a giveaway from Ampersand. I love it!!!

Back to The Cake!

I was excited, because I've never made a 6-layer cake before, and apart from it being semi-naked from lack of frosting, it looked nice from the outside. And when I cut out the first slice OH MY GOSH! I was jumping up and down and squealing with joy!

It's so beautiful and rainbow-y!!!



And James and Peyton and Ella were as thrilled as I was! Even though Peyton and Ella helped me make the cake, they were still totally in awe of their fantastically skilled baking mama. And even though it took absolutely no great baking skills, I will take all the kid admiration I can get. I love this cake!

My sweet family has declared that The Rainbow Cake needs to be a new Last Day of School tradition.

I'm in!



Oh Rainbow Cake, how I love thee.



Thanks for rocking it out.