Rainbow Cake

Remember this baby and this cake that I made for her?  Well, she's now 4 years old (!) and wanted a rainbow cake for her birthday. I decided to try out the petal technique, which looks pretty and seemed simple to do. And I envisioned an explosion of sprinkles on top - because what 4 year old girl (or grown woman) doesn't like rainbow sprinkles everywhere??

                                                 

Plus, check out this painting she made for me for my birthday this year!

Check out the verdict at the end of the post!

Vanilla Funfetti Cake

Adapted from here.

Ingredients

1 cup + 2 Tablespoon butter, room temperature

1 ½ cups sugar

4 + ½ large eggs, room temperature

3 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups pastry flour

1 ¾ cup all purpose flour

2 ¾ teaspoons baking powder

¾ teaspoon baking soda

1.5 cups buttermilk, room temperature

1/2 cup whipping cream

2 Tablespoons sprinkles

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Grease and flour 3, 8 inch rounds. Place parchment on the bottom.

3. In a bowl, sift flour, baking powder, and baking soda.  Set aside.

4. In the bowl of standmixer, beat butter and sugar until fluffy with the paddle attachment. 

5. Add eggs and vanilla and beat to incorporate.

6. Alternately mix in flour and milk, starting and ending with flour.

7. In a small bowl, whip whipping cream to a soft peak. Fold whipping cream into batter.

8. Add sprinkles and fold into the batter. 

9. Distribute between pans and bake for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

10. Cool in pans for 15 minutes before cooling completely on rack.

Rainbow Swiss Meringue Buttercream

1. Make full recipe from here for 10 cups.

2. Divide buttercream into 5, with one portion a little bit bigger for the crumb coat.

3. Colour each portion with a different colour of gel food colouring.

Assembly

1. Put a small dollop of buttercream on the cake plate. Place the first cake layer on the plate.

2. Add a layer of buttercream (any colour). Place a layer on top and add more buttercream. Top with the final layer.

3. Crumb coat the entire cake with the extra portion of buttercream. Place cake in freezer for 15 minutes.

4. Place each colour of buttercream in a piping bag with the same round tip or with the tip cut to the same size.

5. Follow these directions for the petal technique or check out this video.

I had leftover frosting so I made this 5-inch rainbow cake. Thought I'd give you an alternative way to decorate a rainbow cake.

Verdict: I didn't try this cake, but the guests at the party, and the birthday girl loved it! Apparently the moms at the party initially wanted smaller portions, but ended up going for seconds! And the birthday girl's brother, who normally doesn't like cake, asked to bring it to school the next day! I'd say that's a success!