How to Make a Rainbow Cake

Rainbow Cake

You Will Need:

Duncah Hines French Vanilla Cake Mix.

The amount of cake mix depends on the size you want your rainbow cake to be. Remember, you will be dividing your batter into 6 bowls, or 7 if you make the Indigo color.

You want your layers to be thin. I’ve posted step by step photos showing all the layers but this was a large cake. I would think for a 8 or 9 inch cake, 2 boxes would be plenty, if you divide them out equally. You have to bake one layer at a time, or more depending on how many you can put in your oven at the same time.

Follow your cake mix directions and then add 1 Tablespoon Wilton Meringue Powder to the dry cake mix before adding the water, eggs and oil.

One your cake batter has been made, divide into 6 bowls. I use Wilton gel food coloring as this does not leave an after-taste like the liquid dyes do. You want to make your colors vivid and bright. Remember, the colors will get even darker after the cake is baked.

Once you have your batter divided and colored with gels, your ready to start baking! Since the layers will be thin, you will not have to bake them as long. For an 8 or 9-inch cake, you might bake it for 15 minutes, but please check often as each oven is different, and for a larger cake, you may have to bake 20 minutes…but, check it ofen.

Gel food coloring in Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Violet and Indigo (I use Wilton’s Gel, sold at Michael’s and Wal-Mart, but you can find Wilton products at other stores.

Colors of a rainbow:

Red
Orange
Yellow
Green
Blue
Violet
Indigo (combination of black and purple (bluish purple)

Grease and flour (8″ or 9″) inch round cake pans (or larger).

The photos below will show cake as a sheet cake. I usually make my rainbow cakes using a sheet cake pan. The cakes below are very large sheet cakes so you will see the layers in sheet cake size 17.” Just starting out, I’d do this cake in 8 or 9″ pans. Once you get comfortable with baking rainbow cakes, you can increase the size.

To dump cake out of pan, use another cooling rack to flip cake out of pan. Once cool, you can slide a piece of cake cardboard under cake and gently slide cardboard under cake. To put the cake on top of another layer, just line the cardboard up aside of the first layer and flip over. If cake breaks in the center, don’t worry, just push it back together and no one will ever know. Also if it flips too far over, just gently push layer back in place.

Using a spatula, spoon and spread each color of batter into its own cake pan.

Bake in a 350 degree oven, for 15-18 minutes, or until tops spring back when touched lightly. Allow to cool completely.

Frost with Buttercream Icing Below

Buttercream Icing:

1/2 cup butter (room temperature)

3 and 1/2 cups sifted confectioner sugar

3 to 4 Tablespoons light cream or milk

1 and 1/2 teaspoons vanilla or clear vanilla extract

1 Tablespoon meringue powder (Wilton) (optional)

Directions:

In a medium bowl, mix butter with sugar, 3 Tablespoons cream or milk and vanilla and cream until smooth and creamy. Sift meringue powder and confectioner sugar together and slowly add to creamed mixture and mix until light and fluffy.

Add Wilton gel to cake batter for each color separately.