Rainbow Cake

I have been absent. But I think I have a good excuse... my son turned 1? Yes, I think that excuse will do. Actually, it's not entirely true... he will turn 1 tomorrow. But it's been a long celebration, starting with my mom arriving from Minnesota on Wednesday, and his other grandmother driving in from Palm Desert on Thursday. Yesterday, we had an intimate celebration (if too many people sing "Happy Birthday" at once it freaks him out) in which I did what I said I was going to do... I made a rainbow cake!


Can I just tell you that it might have been the most fun I've had baking something, ever in my life. Have you ever met a rainbow that isn't joyful?! That doesn't emit feelings of happiness? Baking this cake made me feel like a giddy schoolgirl who skips and does cartwheels in meadows and thinks boys have cooties (Fact: I have never been able to do a cartwheel).


I did, however, make one mistake. I should have followed this blog's recipe, and stuck with a box cake. I mean really, when does a box cake steer you wrong? Never. But, I insisted on sticking my stuck-up nose high in the air and making my own white cake. Well, not exactly my own, Martha's. Mistake! The cake was dry, and sort of flavorless. I was disappointed, especially after I separated NINE egg whites. Luckily, I slathered the thing with cream cheese frosting and again, you're eating a rainbow, and that can't be bad. So, I will not blog about Martha's recipe or share my pictures of the cake batter process... b-o-r-i-n-g. I will just start with the ROYGBIV.

Rainbow Cake

Make your cake batter, whatever recipe or box you choose. Then, divide the batter into 6 bowls.


Add food coloring/gel/paste (I used paste) to bowls to make red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. Remember kids, red and yellow make orange, blue and yellow make green, and red and blue make purple.


Butter or spray 2 round cake pans. Add about 2/3 of the red batter to the first pan. Let it spread out on its own, just slightly. Now, add orange, about a cup. Then the yellow. Just make sure you add a little less of each color as you go. It will start to resemble a dart board, if you will. For the last color, purple, you will just use a small amount of batter. Then, for the next cake pan, start with the purple batter. Use it up. Then continue with blue, green, yellow, orange and red. Again, the last color you use, in this case red, will be the least amount of batter. Am I making sense? Shhhh.




Bake your cake as directed in recipe or on box. Ta da!



Martha did NOT mess up her cream cheese frosting recipe. I doubled it. Thanks for doing something right, Stewart.





I found these large, bright star sprinkles and let my Little Helper, Jack's cousin Jaden, decorate the cake.


I'm sorry did I say Jaden? I meant Snow White. (She gets upset when you confuse her alter egos.)

So there you have it, Rainbow Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting. I will leave you with some more images of sheer joy. Most of the pictures in this posting were taken by the lovely photographer, Katy Scanlan. I'm sure you can tell which ones were taken by amateur moi.