Making a Rainbow Cake for St. Patty's Day



Cake Supplies
2 boxed white cake mixes
2 cans of Sprite (diet is ok, too)
gel food coloring
6 small bowls
1 large bowl
ladle
wire whisk
nonstick baking spray

Icing Supplies
See link below for icing recipe
pastry bag (or sandwich baggie with corner cut off)
something to spread the icing with

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (click for conversions)

You can prepare the cake mixes as directed, if you like. I would have, except that I had boiled all my eggs a few days prior and begun the project without double-checking my supplies. Therefore, I used the old can-of-soda trick.

In the large bowl, pour 2 cans of Sprite. Empty both cake mixes on top. Use wire whisk to mix them together until the batter is not lumpy, and no more foam is left.

Using the ladle, divide batter equally among the 6 small bowls. Add gel food color to the first bowl. Mix well. You may need to add more depending on how vibrant you want the color. I added a dime-sized amount of each color.

Spray two 8-inch round pans (20cm) with baking spray. In one pan, pour in the color that will be the bottom layer, in the other pan, the next layer color. There should only be enough batter to cover the bottom of the pan. Bake for 16 minutes. Cool in pan for at least 10 minutes. Invert onto cooling racks. Wipe out pans and repeat with next two colors. As the cakes cool, begin stacking and icing the layers. I do it this way because I only have 3 cooling racks, and 6 cakes won't fit all at once.

Icing Your Cake
I use the Wilton recipe for buttercream icing and triple it for this cake. Storebought icing is not stiff enough and you will have a runny mess. Don't even attempt it, you'll be sorry. Using a pastry bag with no tip (or a sandwich bag with the corner cut off), pipe a thick ring of icing around the edge of each layer, then fill with a thin layer of icing. Begin with the bottom color, then stack accordingly. The ring of icing will assist the cake's structure and prevent the icing from squishing out the sides.