Doesn’t the word rainbow just bring a smile to your face? This cake features stunning colors and it taste as good as it looks. It’s colorful, it’s light, it’s fluffy, it’s cake, and it’s pretty darn great.
Rainbow Cake or Rainbow Frosting?
The choice of rainbow cake or frosting is completely up to you. Is one option easier? Well…that depends on your perspective. To make the cake all those beautiful colors would involve a food scale. In order to ensure even distribution, the cake batter would have to be divided evenly into 6 bowls. Each batch of the batter should weigh roughly 14-15 ounces. Also, the size cake pan used will change the width of the cake. If aiming for extremely thin cakes, use a 8 inch or 10 inch cake pan. Otherwise, just use 6-inch cake pans to recreate the rainbow cake shown in pictures. For baking tips related to this cake, check the next section of this article.
So you think coloring 6 bowls of cake batter is too much work? Maybe try coloring the buttercream instead. We still recommend the Swiss Meringue buttercream because its light and fluffy. Also, it glides easily onto cakes/cupcakes, unlike American buttercream. To make the colors pop and not look like baby shower or pastel colors. Place a small amount of buttercream into the bowl. Using food gel concentrate the small batch of buttercream. Next, microwave it for 5-10 seconds. This step will allow the color to darken. Simply re-whip the buttercream along with the melted buttercream. BOOM! Vibrant colors are formed.
Rainbow Baking Tips
- Prepare the 6″x2″ cake pans. You might not have 6 cake pans, so work in batches. Refrigerating the cake batter until ready to use.
- Divide the cake batter evenly into 6 bowls. Each bowl should have 15 ounces of cake batter. Use a kitchen scale for accuracy.
- Add a few drops of gel food coloring at a time and mix well.
- Allow the cakes to fully cool in the pan for a little while, before transferring to a cooling rack.
- In order to remove the caramelized edges of the cakes. Freeze the cakes for 15-30 minutes, this will ease the process of trimming the cakes.
Swiss Meringue Buttercream
So you have these beautiful cake layers. The only thing missing is a show stopper buttercream. A Swiss meringue buttercream is airy, silky smooth, and tasty. It’s texture and taste is completely different for an American buttercream. To make an incredible Swiss meringue buttercream you’ll need the following ingredients:
- Egg Whites
- Sugar
- Salt
- Unsalted Butter
- Vanilla Extract or Other Flavoring
- Thermometer
To make the buttercream, first separate the egg whites from the egg yolks. Save the egg yolks for another recipe such as creme brûlée or brioche dinner rolls. Then in a bowl of an electric mixer add in the egg whites and granulated sugar. Whisk together. In a saucepan add water and place over medium heat. During this process, you’ll be creating a double boiler. Place your bowl over the simmering water. Do not let the bottom of the bowl touch the water. Whisk the egg whites and sugar consistently until the color of the mixture changes. At first it’ll appear transparent and thick but as time goes by the mixture becomes opaque and thinner. Another tip is to rub the mixture between your fingers, if it feels sandy the sugar has not yet dissolved. You should continue to whisk the mixture.
Next, transfer the bowl to the electric mixer. With the balloon attachment begin to whisk the mixture until stiff peaks form. After this has occurred, reduce the speed on the mixer and add one tablespoon of unsalted butter at a time. Make sure to beat the mixture after every addition. Fold in the salt, vanilla extract, and any other additional flavoring.
Looking for more cake recipes? Check out the links below:
- Funfetti Quarter Sheet Cake
- Yellow Cake
- Carrot Cake
- Strawberry Cake
- Lemon Cake
- Red Velvet Cake
- Apple Cider Bundt Cake
- Blueberry Lemon Ricotta Cake
- Olive Oil Cake
- Chocolate Pound Cake
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Rainbow Cake
Ingredients
- 2 cups Cake Flour sifted
- 1 cup All purpose Flour sifted
- ½ cup Light brown sugar
- 2 cups Granulated sugar
- 5 Large Eggs room temperature
- 1 tsp Kosher salt
- 1 tsp Baking soda
- 1 tbsp. Baking powder
- 1 cup Unsalted butter softened
- 1 tbsp. Vanilla extract
- ¼ cup Vegetable oil
- 1¼ cup Sour cream
- 1 cup Whole milk
- Food Gel (purple, blue, green, orange, yellow, and red)
Swiss Meringue Buttercream
- 6 Large Egg Whites
- 1¾ cup Granulated sugar
- 2 cups Unsalted butter softened
- 2 tsp Vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp Kosher salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Coat six 6-inch round cake pans with nonstick cooking spray and line with parchment paper.
- Combine the oil, whole milk, and sour cream together. Set aside.
- In a bowl, combine the cake flour, all purpose flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Whisk well and set aside.
- In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed for 5 minutes or until light and fluffy. Add in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl if necessary. Beat in the vanilla extract.
- Alternate between adding the dry ingredients and wet ingredients at low speed until just combined.
- Divide the batter evenly into 6 bowls (15 ounces of cake batter per bowl).
- Color each bowl with a few drops of food gel (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet). Scrape the cake batter into the prepared cake pans and smooth the tops with a spatula.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.
- Transfer the cake pans to a wire rack and allow to cool for 15 minutes. Invert each layer onto the wire rack and remove the parchment paper.
- Swiss Meringue Buttercream: Add water into a saucepan and heat over medium-low heat. Add the egg whites and granulated sugar to a bowl of an electric mixer. Place this mixer bowl over the saucepan filled with water. Whisk constantly until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture meets the temperature of 160°F. Once the sugar dissolves and the mixture appears to be opaque white remove from the heat. Transfer the bowl to the stand of your electric mixer. Using the balloon attachment, whisk the eggs whites and sugar at medium-high speed until stiff peaks form. Reduce the speed and add in the unsalted butter, one tablespoon at a time. Allow to fully incorporate before the next addition. Turn up the mixer to medium-high speed and fluff-up the buttercream for 3 minutes. Lastly add in the vanilla extract and salt.
- Assemble, frost, and decorate the cake. Enjoy!