First, I make TWO boxes of Pillsbury's White Cake - yes, two boxes - it's a HUGE cake! Made with my dad's farm-fresh eggs, of course! I really love their cake because it has a cup of pudding in the mix for extra moist cake! :)
Next, I separated the batter into six bowls (yep, a lot of dishes!).
Then, I dyed the batter six different colors with gel food coloring (the liquid might work, but I've heard it isn't as bright!). I went classic rainbow (purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, red), but you could also do neon, or just pick your favorite colors!
A cool tip for colors that are made of more than one primary color: get the proportions by drawing lines, like I did here for purple!
I only had three round cake pans, so I had to cook two batches. After spraying the pans with Pam made for baking, I put them in the oven for about 11-12 minutes each (until a toothpick put in the center of the cake came out clean!).
I then let them cool for about 15 minutes, then cleaned the pans and did the next batch!
While the second batch was cooling, I started on the amazing frosting recipe! Really - you're going to LOVE this frosting...it's not too sweet or overpowering, but it's mostly chocolate so it's super decadent! Plus, as dad pointed out, it's the perfect slightly "gluey" consistency to keep the six layers together!
For the frosting, you will need:
- 1.75 cups whipping cream (heavy cream)
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter
- 6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 4.5 tablespoons light corn syrup
- 16 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate (we used bittersweet) (2 2/3 cup of chocolate chips)
- 1.5 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp powdered sugar, more to taste (we did about 6)
First, whisk first four ingredients in medium saucepan over medium
heat until butter melts and mixtures comes to a simmer
Then, remove saucepan from heat and add chocolate and vanilla extract, whisking until chocolate is melted and smooth. Add confectioner's sugar until satisfied with the sweetness
of the frosting.
Lastly, refrigerate frosting until slightly thickened but still
spreadable, stirring occasionally. About 1-1.5 hours...
After the cakes are cooled, you simply stack them in the order you'd like your rainbow to go (I went red to purple from the top down), and put a layer of frosting in between while stacking! I even put a little surprise in between the layers...crushed M&M's! Originally I wanted to use them for decoration, but I thought it'd be a nice touch inside the layers. In reality, you couldn't reeeally taste them, but it was a cool idea anyway! I'd suggest putting more M&M's if you'd like to get the full effect :)
Now for the decoration:
Betty Crocker Frosting. Your best friend here if you want to look super professional. I made flowers with leaves from the tips that come with the package when you buy them! The instructions are on the back of the can, and it's SO much easier than it looks, and comes out awesome! It's a nice touch to the cake to disguise it as just a normal cake - no one is expecting a rainbow to come out of there!
Next comes the worst part: waiting for the birthday boy or girl to EAT the cake! I was looking forward to seeing my dad's reaction all day! (Plus, I wanted to get my inside-the-cake shot for the blog!) It was so worth the wait - I got a great reaction, and the cake was absolutely delicious (if I do say so myself!).
Happy baking!
-C (and N, it was his chocolate frosting recipe after all!)
Special thanks to Lori (Noah's Mom!) again, for letting me borrow the camera for these great shots!! :)
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