Rainbow Buttercream Cake Food

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:

• 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 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 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!

RAINBOW CAKE

Steps:

• Butter three 20cm round cake tins and line their bases with baking parchment. Heat the oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5. Beat the butter and sugar together in a large bowl until light and smooth. Gradually beat in the eggs until combined, then mix in the vanilla. Fold in the flour and baking powder to fully combine. Stir in the milk to loosen.
• Divide the mixture between the three tins, and bake the sponges for 20 mins until golden and a skewer inserted into the centre of each cake comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tins for 10 mins, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
• Meanwhile, make the Swiss meringue buttercream. Put the egg whites and sugar in a heatproof bowl set over a small pan of gently simmering water, ensuring the bowl doesn't touch the water. Whisk for 3-4 mins until the sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat and tip the mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer, or use an electric whisk, and whisk for 10 mins on a medium-high speed until you have a thick meringue. Gradually whisk in the softened butter 1 tbsp at a time until fully incorporated and the buttercream is fluffy. Mix in the vanilla extract.
• Put one of the sponges on a plate or cake stand, top it with 3-4 tbsp of the buttercream and spread out so that it's thicker at the edge. Add half of either the caramel or lemon curd and spread over the icing on the middle part of the cake - don't spread to the edges. Add the next sponge, and repeat. Top with the final sponge. Smooth a thin layer of the buttercream around the cake - this is called a crumb coat. Chill in the fridge for at least 45 mins, then smooth another layer of buttercream around the cake using a palette knife to fully cover the sponge, reserving half for decoration. Put the cake and reserved buttercream back in the fridge for another 45 mins-1 hr.
• Divide the remaining buttercream between 11 small bowls and mix in a different gel colouring to 10 of them, leaving the last bowl white. Use a different piping bag for each colour, either cutting a 1cm hole in the end or applying a round nozzle.
• Pipe one row of buttercream blobs in alternating colours from the top to the bottom of the cake, then use a teaspoon or small palette knife to very lightly smear each blob of frosting away from you. For the second row, choose the colour that is next in sequence to the colour alongside it, piping over the thinnest part of that smeared blob. As you continue to pipe around the cake following this pattern, you will create a swirl effect of colours.
• Continue the previous piping method in a circle on top of the cake, but this time smearing the icing in towards the middle of the cake until the cake is covered, then it's ready to slice and serve. The cake will keep in an airtight container for up to three days.