Rainbow Layer Cake With Buttercream Frosting Recipes

RAINBOW CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a 9-inch by 13-inch pan with cooking spray.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine the sugar, vegetable oil, butter, eggs, egg yolks and vanilla extract. Beat on medium speed until the eggs and oil are well incorporated and the batter is lighter in color, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the bowl as needed. Next mix in the sour cream and beat until well combined.
• In a separate bowl, combine the remaining dry ingredients. Alternate adding half the dry ingredients and half the milk at a time and mix just until the flour starts to incorporate. Then add remaining dry ingredients and milk and beat until well combined. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl and stir the batter from the bottom to the top to ensure it's well mixed.
• To dye the cake batter, divide it into 6 bowls about 3/4 cups + 2 tablespoons per bowl. Dye each of the 6 colors. See the notes section on the recipe card for specific recommendations.
• Spoon the batter in the pan, alternating between colors. Once finished, tap the pan on the counter a couple times to settle the batter. Bake at 350°F for 25-30 minutes. Test the cake for doneness by inserting a toothpick into the center of the cake. If the toothpick comes out clean, the cake is done. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.
• Cut butter into pieces. Using the paddle attachment, whip the butter for 5-7 minutes, scraping down the bowl occasionally. Beat until the butter looks light in color.
• Alternate adding 2 cups of powdered sugar at a time with the liquid ingredients: vanilla extract & heavy cream. Ensure the powdered sugar is well combined, then and whip for 1-2 minutes before adding more powdered sugar. Repeat until all ingredients are added.
• Once all the powdered sugar has been added, increase speed to medium-high and beat for another 3-5 minutes to whip additional air into the frosting.
• Set aside 1 cup of undyed frosting. Then divide the remaining frosting into 6 bowls, about ½ cup each. Dye each of the 6 colors and then place each color into its own piping bag. See the notes section on the recipe card for specific recommendations.
• To fill a multicolored bag, place a piping bag in a pint glass, folding the bag over the top edge. Pipe a line of each color (except white) into the bag. Fill 2/3 full and shake the bag to allow the colors to settle. Make 2-3 bags until you run out of frosting. Cut off the end of the bag, and then drop it into a second piping bag fitted with the piping tip.
• Start with the white, piping large rosettes with a 1M and/or Ateco 866 piping tip. Reserve some of the white to fill in later.
• Next pipe rainbow rosettes with a 1M and/or Ateco 866 piping tip. Then start adding in smaller rosettes using Tip 21 and Tip 199. Fill in remaining large areas with a ribbon using petal tip 104, with the skinny end facing up.
• Continue to fill in the holes with remaining white and rainbow frosting using any variety of these tips until the cake is frosted.

RAINBOW LAYER CAKE WITH BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

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.

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!