(I had technical issues with my hard drive so this post is a week late. As they say on Spartacus, “Apologies!”)
Vin’s brother hit a milestone birthday and I knew I HAD to make something better than last year’s cake. At the same time, I was crrrraaaazyyy busy with work and other events so I needed to make something with impact, but nothing TOO complicated. Vin emailed me this really cool shot of a clean white and vibrant rainbow cake and I knew I had to make it. I know it’s totally ripping off someone else’s idea, but it just looks awesome. I had to save this for a special occasion, and FT’s birthday was perfect for it.
I made a crapload of basic white cake batter then divided it into 6 containers. (I think I’ve come up with the perfect white vanilla cake recipe. Extra steps make it time consuming as hell, but it’s so worth it!) Then I added food coloring to each plastic container (ROY G. BV–no indigo in this cake) and mixed in the color by hand. I only have two 8″ round cake pans so I couldn’t prep all the pans at once. I wanted Red to be the base layer of the rainbow cake, so I made this layer a little thicker so it could support the rest of the cake. Assembly was easy: cake layer, white frosting layer, cake layer, white frosting layer… wash, rinse, repeat till out of cake layers. Then I dirty iced it, let it sit in the fridge overnight, and then put the final crisp white frosting layer on the next morning.
From the outside, this looks like a clean, simple, plain @ss white cake. I mean, I feel like I did a REALLY nice job making the edges perfect and smooth. BUT, that can’t be an all boring white vanilla cake b/c 1) it’s a milestone birthday; 2) FT’s a really creative and artsy guy and would probably consider this cake “blah”; and 3) everyone expects more from me @ this point in the game. I can’t blame them; I would be pissed @ myself too if I presented a mediocre, bland-looking cake right now. AND, I’d also be pissed if I gave boring birthday presents. I LOVE picking out the right gifts for people, and knowing his love for Alice in Wonderland, I got FT a set of tumblers with John Tenniel illustrations… in January. haha When FT was about to blow out the candles, everyone asked what kind of cake it was, and I said, “You’ll just have to wait till it’s cut,” and someone even asked if the cake was going to ooze blood or explode. haha Maybe next time. But still, everyone was pretty surprised. I was looming over FT while he cut the cake to make sure the layers looked OK; I’m so technical about this that’s all I care about. Everyone else was like, “Ooohh it’s so colorful! It’s so summery!” and in my head I was thinking, “yeah that’s nice… I need to check to make sure everything is clean and even or I’ll be mad @ myself.” haha I didn’t eat any (I had a bite of one of the extra cupcakes to make sure it was ok) and was told that this was “the most amazing tasting and looking cake we’ve ever had.” Awww, shucks. =)
My co-worker (expert mochi reviewer) also asked me to make a small birthday cake for her husband, so I used some of the extra batter to make a psychedelic little cake with yellow filling. (Side note: her birthday is coming up later this month and I will make her something for that, too.) AND, it was also my friend J’s birthday (SO many August birthdays!) and she had requested, “All I want is one cupcake from you!” and so I made some trippy rainbow cupcakes with the last of the batter. In return, she showed me off to her office mates and booked me for birthday cakes for her family. What a good friend. haha
I have to say, this rainbow layer cake is perfect for recent NYS news (gay marriage!), kids’ parties, anyone who loves color, or any all around fun person that deserves a cool surprise in cake form. Actually, this would be pretty cool for weddings, too. It’s got the clean white look on the outside and the beautiful splashes of color inside, and it would be AMAZING in multiple tier form! Any takers on a rainbow wedding cake? I just want to have a reason to make it and see how awesome it would look as a massive multi-tiered cake!
Happy birthday, FT!