Rainbow cake
The cake itself is moist and most delicious. It accepts colours with grace and layers like a dream
Ingredients
- 420 gm plain flour or 3 cups cake flour is ideal
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 20 gm baking powder 1 tablespoon
- 250 gm unsalted butter
- 400 gm caster sugar/ granulated
- 250 ml milk room temperature 1 cup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 5 large egg whites only 70gm eggs
The buttercream
- 250 gm unsalted butter 2 sticks
- 2 teaspoons vanilla or a vanilla bean
- 20 ml lemon Juice 1 tablespoon
- 240 gm Icing sugar 2 cups powdered
- 1 tablespoon freeze dried raspberry powder optional, you can use essential oil
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 kg of white sugar icing ( roll out plastic icing)
- in Queen food colour gelswhat ever colours you like
Instructions
The cake
- Grease and line 20 cm / 8 in cake tin. Sift the dry ingredients together
- Using an eletric mixer and the paddle attachment beat the butter and sugar till light ( the mixture is quite sugary. Make sure you beat well, this will give you a light cake)
- Mix the vanilla and milk. Add 1/4 of the milk to the butter and continue beating. Add 1/2 the flour and 1/2 the remaining milk beating till just combined. Add the remaining flour and milk.
- Pour into a large bowl and set aside.
- Beat the whites in a very clean bowl of the electric mixer with the whisk attachment, till light and fluffy and white.
- Fold the white gently through the cake batter.
To make rainbow layers. Divide the cake mix evenly between 5 bowls. Add a 1/4 teaspoon of Queen gel colour and fold through the batter. Continue till you have 5 colours. The light green is approx 2/3 (the tiny 1/ 4 teaspoon) yellow and 1/3 green. The orange is approximately the same mix with red and yellow.
- The layers are very thin. Bake for approx 10 minutes or untill the cakes are firm in the centre when touched lightly. You may need to wash the cake tin between layers. Leave to cool completely on racks
- Beat the butter till white and very airy light and creamy. Add 1 cup of the sugar and beat. Add juice, raspberry, the rest of the sugar and vanilla and beat till light and creamy. Taste, if it is light and delicious and not too sweet dont be tempted to add more sugar.
- Set aside 1 1/2 cups of icing for the outside. Evenly divide the same amount of icing between the 4 layers and sandwich together as you go. The buttercream doesn't need to be thick. Finish the cake with the buttercream, smoothing all over and refridgerate to set.
- Cut off 1/4 of the roll. Knead the 3/4 of a roll till smooth then roll out evenly using a bit of pure icing sugar to stop it sticking to the bench. Measure from one side across the top and over the other side to work out how big you need to roll out your white icing.
- Roll the icing over a rolling pin and onto the cake smoothing down with a cake smoother or a soft piece of muslin or a teatowl. This prevents lots of finger marks. Set aside.
- Separate the remaining icing into 5 separate small balls and colour the same colours as the cake layers. Add colour gradualy and knead in. Stop when the colours are the desired depth.
- Once again roll the pieces out using a rolling pin and cut different sized circles with your cutters. Make all the circles in different colours and sizes before you begin to decorate. Lay them flat on a tray with parchment till you are ready.
- Make a decorators glue by adding 1/4 of an egg white to around 1- 1/2 cups of sifted pure icing sugar . Add the sugar gradually and mix till a smooth moisturizing cream, texture is achieved. This will glue on all of your circles.
- Lay them on the cake first and then stick them when you are happy. Spread a tiny amount onto your circle before adherring to the white icing.
- Customize this however you like. You could use whatever colours you like or perhaps another shape. It's up to you