Taste the Rainbow!

My Nana turns 81 tomorrow and is probably the sweetest person I know.

My mom threw her a birthday bash this past weekend and when Mom asked me if I would be willing to make the cake for the party, I of course said "yes!" How could I pass up the opportunity to do something special for a woman who has been so dear to me throughout my life?! Not a chance.

I called Nana to ask her what her favorite kind of cake is and she said "I don't know dear! Just make your favorite." That answer didn't surprise me in the least. Not only does that statement embody her sweet and giving personality....it also reveals my Nana's deep indifference to cake. You see, my Nana is very much an ice cream person. A trait that has been passed on through the generations - first to my mother, then to my sister, it skipped me in the form of a dairy allergy, but has definitely shown itself to be a powerful force in my sweet son's life -- even at the tender age of 2!

So when I set about to make a cake for this party I knew my mission was not only to provide a cake, but it had to be one that would melt some of the icy indifference to cake that is inherent in my family. (hehe) This cake had to be a show-stopper. And because I like to be able to taste the things that I make; it had to be dairy free. :)

I searched a bit on the internetzz, finding some delicious sounding cakes....flourless chocolate almond cake for example....and I found some really complicated cakes...

(Steel Magnolias anyone?)

But I was having trouble finding THE cake.

Until....I remembered a post from MckMama's blog...about a RAINBOW cake.

Behold....the heavens parted and she saw...THE CAKE!

I was so stinkin' excited to make this cake I can't even tell you.

My version looked a little different (partly because my pictures were taken by a phone camera, partly because I used strawberry frosting and partly because, well, I'm not as neat of a baker as the woman who made the original cake!) But it still turned out pretty cool and I was super happy with it.

So here's how I did it:

I made 2 batches of this Dairy Free Vanilla Cake Batter:

2 cups sugar
1 cup Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks, softened
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
3 cups cake flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup soy milk mixed with 1 Tbsp white vinegar

Preheat oven to 350.

Beat sugar and buttery sticks at medium speed with a heavy-duty electric stand mixer until creamy and fluffy, about 5 minutes.

Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until yellow disappears after each addition. Beat in vanilla and almond extracts.

Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl; add to sugar mixture alternately with the soymilk/vinegar mixture (aka "buttermilk"), beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat a medium-low speed just until blended after each addition. (batter will be thick)

If you are so inclined, and not allergic to it like me, you can use boxed cake mix instead of making your own from scratch. Just use 2 boxes. It will considerably cut down on the time it takes to make this cake! Just a note -- if you do use boxed cake mix, use 1 cup of batter in the next steps instead of 1 1/2 or you will run out! :)

Baking the Rainbow:

Need --
Red, Yellow, Green and Blue Food Coloring
2 batches of Vanilla Cake Batter
3-6 9 inch round cake pans
Crisco for greasing the pans
Cooling racks
Wax Paper

Preheat the oven to 350

When you have 2 batches of cake batter; separate the batter into 6 bowls -- about 1 1/2 cups of batter per bowl.

Follow the directions on the food coloring to add colors into the bowls. You will want to make one layer of each of these colors: RED, ORANGE, YELLOW, GREEN, BLUE and PURPLE. Take care to only mix your batter as much as you need to. Overmixing your cake batter will activate the gluten in the flour and make your cake dense and heavy.

When you have reached the desired shade of color for each layer pour each color of batter into its own well greased cake pan.

You can put up to 3 pans in the oven at a time to bake.

Baking time will vary depending on how many layers you have in the oven at once, so check the cakes after 10 minutes and then again every 3-4 minutes after that. The cake is done with a toothpick inserted in the thickest part of the cake comes out clean.

When your layers are finished baking (and if you only have 3 cake pans like me) you'll want to remove the cake from the pan asap. You can do this by turning the cake pan over onto a well greased cooling rack. Then wash your cake pans and refill with other colors.

After all your layers are baked and cooled, you can either wrap them in wax paper and freeze them to assemble the next day or you can get to assembling right away!

Frosting the Rainbow:

I made a big fat triple batch of Strawberry Vanilla Vegancream

1/2 cup Earth Balance Vegan Butterysticks, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
1 (16 oz) package powdered sugar
1/2 cup of fresh strawberries, chopped

Beat first 3 ingredients at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy.

Gradually add powdered sugar alternately with strawberries, beating at low speed until blended and smooth after each addtion.

Assembling the Rainbow:

Level the tops of each layer of cooled cake with a large bread knife. Slice into the cakes horizontally so that the centers of the cakes are no longer higher than the edges (something that usually happens to them when they are baked). This is important so that the colors will display evenly when the completed cake is cut. Your rainbow will appear warped and not even unless you level the tops of each cake first.

Begin assembly with the purple layer. Set the purple layer on your cake stand or plate. Add enough frosting to cover the layer with enough to spill over the edges (about 1/2 to 1 cup of frosting). Run the flat, smooth side of a large knife around the cake to smooth out the frosting.

Add the blue layer of cake on top of the frosted purple one. Put more frosting in the middle and spread again with the flat, smooth side of a large knife so that the frosting covers the layer and falls out over the edges. Run your knife around the outside edge of the cake as well, to smooth out the sides.

Put the cake into the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or the freezer for 1 hour.

Repeat with green layer and then yellow layer.

Put the cake into the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or the freezer for 1 hour.

Repeat with orange layer and finally with red layer.

Freezing between each two rounds of layers is recommended. The cake can get really heavy by the time you are adding the 4th, 5th and 6th layers. If it is somewhat frozen at this point, the cake will not get smooshed or crushed. Additionally, it is much easier to frost the cake when it is relatively solid, not wobbling all over the place.

Cover the cake with frosting and run the flat, straight edge of a knife around the top and the edges of the cake to smooth out frosting. Add wording or decorations to the top of the cake as desired.

Voila! Rainbow Cake.

Taste it.

For the record, my Nana, Mom AND Sister all loved this cake.



So did my little Seth. ;)