Best 5 Epic Rainbow Cake Recipes

EASY SIX-LAYER RAINBOW CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease six 9-inch round cake pans and dust with flour.
• Sift together the flour, baking powder, and baking soda.
• Beat 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons butter, milk, sugar, egg whites, and vanilla extract in a large bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Stir in flour mixture and mix until just combined.
• Divide cake batter evenly between 6 bowls. Mix in different food coloring to each bowl, creating 6 different colored batters. Start with just 1 to 2 drops of food coloring in each bowl, then mix; you can always add more.
• Bake each cake in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 15 to 20 minutes. Set aside to cool.
• Beat cream in a chilled glass or metal bowl with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form. Stir together confectioners' sugar and mascarpone cheese in a separate bowl, then fold gently into the whipped cream until smooth.
• Spread frosting on each layer of cooled cake, placing one on top of the other. Cover the top and sides with the remaining frosting. Refrigerate for 2 hours before serving.

RAINBOW LAYER CAKE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 3 (8-inch) round cake pans with cooking spray.
• In large bowl, beat cake mix, water, oil and eggs with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, then on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Divide batter evenly among 6 small bowls, about 1 1/3 cups each.
• Using food colors, tint batter in 1 bowl blue, 1 bowl red, 1 bowl green, 1 bowl yellow, 1 bowl orange (using red and yellow) and 1 bowl purple (using blue and red).
• Refrigerate 3 colors of batter until ready to bake. Pour remaining 3 colors of batter into cake pans.
• Bake 18 to 20 minutes or until cake springs back when touched lightly in center and begins to pull away from side of pan. Cool 10 minutes. Remove from pans to cooling racks; cool completely.
• Wash cake pans. Bake and cool remaining 3 cake layers as directed.
• In large bowl, beat shortening and butter with electric mixer on medium speed until light yellow. On low speed, gradually beat in powdered sugar. Beat in vanilla. Add milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until frosting is smooth. Beat on high speed until light and fluffy.
• Trim rounded tops off cakes to level, if needed. On serving plate, place purple cake layer. Spread with frosting to within 1/4 inch of edge. Repeat with blue, green, yellow, orange and red cake layers. Spread light coat of frosting on top and side of cake to seal in crumbs, then frost with remaining frosting.

END OF THE RAINBOW CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour 2 (8 inch) round pans. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, cream together the shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla and almond extracts. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the milk, mixing just until incorporated. Pour batter into prepared pans.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool.

RAINBOW CAKE

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease three 9-inch round cake pans with nonstick cooking spray, then add a couple tablespoons of flour to each pan. Shake and rotate each pan until the flour fully coats the inside. Discard the excess flour.
• In a medium bowl, whisk the 3 2/3 cups flour with the baking powder and salt to combine. In a separate medium bowl, whisk the egg whites vigorously until lightly foamy, about 1 minute. Add the milk and whisk to combine.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the sugar, oil and butter on medium speed until light and fluffy, 4 to 5 minutes, scraping down the sides as needed. Reduce the speed to low. Add the vanilla extract and mix to combine.
• Add a quarter of the flour mixture to the bowl and mix on low speed until combined. Add a third of the egg white mixture and mix until combined. Continue to add the dry and wet ingredients, alternating until both are fully incorporated and the batter is smooth, scraping the sides as needed.
• Divide the batter evenly among the three cake pans. (You'll want about 2 1/3 cups/575 to 600 grams of batter in each pan.) Spread the batter in each pan into an even layer. Bake until the surface is evenly golden brown, the cake appears to have pulled away from the pan at the top edges and the center of the cake springs back gently when touched, 30 to 35 minutes.
• While the cakes bake, make the frosting: In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine the milk with 1/2 cup/100 grams granulated sugar, stirring occasionally, until the mixture comes to a simmer. Meanwhile, whisk the remaining 1 cup/200 grams granulated sugar with the cornstarch and salt in a large bowl until combined. Add the egg yolks and whisk until smooth.
• Pour about 1 cup of the hot milk into the yolk mixture and whisk to combine. Add the yolk mixture to the saucepan and whisk to combine. Reduce the heat to low. Cook, stirring constantly with a silicone spatula, until it thickens enough to coat the back of the spatula, 3 to 5 minutes.
• Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a medium heat-safe bowl. Cover the surface directly with plastic wrap or a wet paper towel and refrigerate until no longer warm, about 1 hour. If making the piped version, make a separate half-batch of the custard now (see Tip 2).
• When the cakes are baked, cool them in the pan for 10 minutes, then invert them onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
• When the custard has cooled, finish the frosting: Transfer the custard to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whip attachment, and beat on medium speed until smooth, about 1 minute. With the mixer running and a splash guard attached or a kitchen towel draped over your mixer to contain splashes, add the butter about 2 tablespoons at a time, mixing until the butter is combined between each addition, about 20 seconds.
• Increase the speed to medium-high. The mixture may look uneven and lumpy, but keep whipping until it becomes silky smooth and lightens in color, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the vanilla and mix to combine. (If making the piped version, finish the extra half batch of frosting now. Combine batches before dividing, coloring and frosting.)
• Use a serrated knife to slice each cake horizontally into two even rounds to form six cake layers: Place the first cake on a cake decorating turntable or flat plate. Use the knife to cut into the cake by holding the knife horizontally with the sharp side facing the cake, halfway up the side of the cake. Lightly cut into the cake by slicing into the outer perimeter of the cake all the way around, rotating the turntable or plate as you score it. Once you've created a marker around the outside of the cake as a visual guideline, continue rotating and moving the knife deeper into the cake to divide the cake into two even layers. Repeat with the other two cakes.
• Evenly divide the frosting into six bowls (you should have about 1 1/4 cups each). Use food coloring gel or paste to color the frosting red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. Start with a few drops and add more as needed. Mix thoroughly.
• Working with one cake round on the cake decorating turntable or flat plate, use a pastry brush to brush away any extra crumbs that have collected before frosting. Scrape about 1/3 cup red frosting on top of the cake layer, in the center, and use a medium offset spatula to spread it into an even layer, spreading it all the way to the edge of the cake. Wipe the spatula clean. Top with another layer of cake, bottom-side up, then scrape about 1/3 cup orange frosting on top of the cake layer, in the center, and spread into an even layer. Continue this process, spreading three more cake layers with 1/3 cup of the yellow, green and blue frostings and wiping the spatula clean after each application. Top with the final cake layer, bottom-side up. (You'll use the purple frosting later.)
• Run a clean offset spatula around the sides of the cake to flatten the edge and smooth out excess frosting between layers that has leaked out on the sides. Refrigerate for 20 minutes to help the frosting set.
• Starting at the bottom of the cake, use a small offset spatula to apply a 1-inch thick stripe of red frosting. Wipe the spatula clean and repeat this process just above the red frosting with the orange frosting. Repeat, wiping the spatula clean between each application, with the yellow frosting, green and blue. The blue should be at the top edge of the cake and around the outer edge of the top surface of the cake. Cover the remaining top of the cake with the purple frosting. (If making the piped version, refer to Tip 3.)
• Hold a clean spatula horizontally flush against the top surface of the cake and slowly rotate the cake to smooth the surface. Clean the spatula and do the same to the sides of the cake, holding the spatula vertically. The colors will blend together to create an ombré effect. Add extra frosting to fix smudges and smooth the surface again. If desired, chill another 15 minutes before serving (this will make it easier to slice).

RAINBOW CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush six 9-inch-round cake pans (or as many 9-inch cake pans as you have, reusing them as necessary) with shortening. Line bottom of each cake pan with parchment paper; brush again and set aside.
• In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. 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. Mix until well combined.
• Divide batter evenly between six medium bowls. Add enough of each color of food coloring to each bowl, whisking, until desired shade is reached. Transfer each color to an individual cake pan. Transfer to oven and bake until a cake tester inserted into the center of each cake comes out clean, about 15 minutes (working in batches if necessary).
• Remove cakes from oven and transfer to a wire rack; let cool for 10 minutes. Invert cakes onto a wire rack; re-invert and let cool completely.
• Using a serrated knife, trim tops of cakes to make level. Place four strips of parchment paper around perimeter of a serving plate or lazy Susan. Place the purple layer on the cake plate. Spread a scant 1 cup buttercream filling over the first layer with a small offset spatula so it extends just beyond edges. Repeat process with blue, green, yellow, and orange layers.
• Place the remaining red layer on top, bottom-side up. Gently sweep away any loose crumbs with a pastry brush. Using an offset spatula, cover the top and sides with a thin layer of frosting (also use any of the excess frosting visible between the layers). Refrigerate until set, about 30 minutes.
• Using an offset spatula, cover cake again with remaining frosting.