Rainbow Cake Recipe

posted on: Tuesday, April 12, 2011



Today Enzo goes in for his last dentist appointment and I'm finally getting around to posting the Rainbow Cake recipe from the post Dear Da, what inspires you? The irony of posting a tooth achingly sweet cake recipe while my son is getting cavities filled has not gone unnoticed. I hate that my 5 year old has cavities. What's even more ironic to me is that Christian ate more of this cake than anyone else, in fact he eats most of the sweets around here and he has never had a cavity in his life. Enzo certainly got Christian's hair why couldn't he also have gotten Christian's teeth. I really hope that Baby Maria has Christian's teeth because she goes to sleep with a bottle full of warm whole milk. 

Sugar is bad for you. You shouldn't make this cake. And not just because of the sugar but also because of the eggs and the fact that you practically eat your weight in butter with this recipe.

Why do we eat things that are so bad for us?
Oh I know...
because it tastes incredible.



Rainbow Cake
Cake Recipe
3 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
2 1/3 cups sugar
4 large egg whites at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups milk at room temperature
Red, Yellow, Green, and Blue, food coloring, the purple and orange can be made with the primary colors.
vegetable shortening and parchment paper for preparing the pan

Buttercream and Frosting Recipe
for the filling
9 large egg whites
1 3/4 cups white granulated sugar
2 cups unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla

for the frosting
4 large egg whites
1 cup white granulated sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, room temperature


  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. For this recipe you will need 9-inch-round cake pans. This cake has 6 layers so if you have 6 cake pans  use those otherwise re-use the same cake pan as necessary. Line the bottom of each cake pan with parchment paper and brush with vegetable shortening.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.
  3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar. Slowly add egg whites and mix until well combined. Add vanilla and mix until fully incorporated. Add flour mixture and milk in two alternating additions, beginning with the flour and ending with the milk.
  4. Divide batter evenly between six medium bowls. Add enough of each color of food coloring to each bowl, whisking, until desired shade is reached.
  5. Transfer each color to an individual cake pan. Transfer to oven and bake for 10-15 minutes then remove the cakes and transfer to a wire rack and let cool for at least 10 minutes.
  6. Make the butter cream by cooking the egg whites and the sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat, whisking constantly until sugar is completely dissolved. Then transfer to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment; mix on high speed until the egg whites peak. With the mixer on medium-low, add butter, one piece at a time, mixing well after each addition. Then remove the whisk attachment and switch to the paddle attachment. Increase speed to high and beat until buttercream comes together, about 5 minutes; beat in vanilla extract.
  7. Spread a scant ½-1 cup buttercream filling over the first layer of the cake with a spatula so it extends just beyond edges. Repeat process with blue, green, yellow, and orange layers.
  8. Make the frosting by repeating step number 6.
  9. Place the remaining red layer on top. Using an offset spatula, cover the top and sides with a thin layer of frosting. and refrigerate until set, about 30 minutes.

Other things that inspired me to make this cake: First this short YouTube video mainly because the song is awesome and then because the comment "it's all fun and games until someone gets food poisoning on all this food coloring," had me seriously rolling on the ground. I mean seriously, did you look at the recipe? Did you see the amount of butter, sugar, and eggs that are in this baby? I don't think the food coloring is the problem.


The second video is long but it's Martha Stewart (unfortunately no gem of a comment to accompany it) so it's pretty and informative and Kaitlin fron Whisk Kid is on the show. Kaitlin is cute, at the time she was a freshman in college. College students are the best that is why I should make this for my students. I'm also tempted to make this 28 layer rainbow cake before I turn 29. I'm now officially obsessed with rainbow cakes even though it will probably kill me in the long run.

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