Bake a little bit of happiness...: Rainbow Cake

Ok, so I realise I promised that my next bake would be something healthier than the last few. Well, I hate to admit it, but I've broken my promise. And not just a bit either. Completely and utterly, sugary and buttery broken. But it had to be done. And it was 100% worth it. I don't even feel a tiny bit guilty. Because in all honesty, when the idea for this cake was first born I was very dubious as to whether or not it would actually work. Which is why, after slaving in the kitchen for a grand total of 6 hours (I kid you not!), I jumped around with joy (literally) when I saw the finished result. It worked!! It actually looked like a rainbow!! It was a small miracle. No it wasn't. It was a massive miracle. A little lopsided perhaps, but a miracle all the same. I couldn't stop looking at it, taking photos of it, dancing around it. Definitely a proud moment!

It all began last weekend when for some reason I found myself gazing longingly at beautiful photos of rainbow cakes on the internet. I casually mentioned to Nicky that I would love to make one, but didn't really think anything of it. I mean, I knew I had nothing celebratory to make a cake for, so there'd be no reason to bake a cake, right? But do you need a reason to make a cake? Stupid question. Of course you don't. So when Nicky said let's actually do this, I didn't say no. And that's how our Friday night came to be a night filled with baking. My perfect kind of night really.

Now, making a 6-tiered cake is quite a feat in itself, but we didn't stop the challenge there. No, we decided it would be a good idea to flavour each individual layer, so not only would the rainbow be colourful, but every tier would have a different taste. So eventually, we came up with 6 different flavourings that would not only colour the cake, but taste magical as well. Most of them were fruity, which actually made the sponges extra moist, but one was green tea flavour (!). And we did cheat a little on the red and green with a few drops of food colouring. The icing was a bit of a disaster as well, because for some reason the cream cheese frosting just refused to thicken, so it turned into a bit of a sloppy mess! (I have since learnt that this was because we over-mixed the cream cheese, which made all the air disappear, so it lost its shape...I'll know for next time!). After a few pretty decorations though, you wouldn't notice, and I have to say it tasted amazing! I think the blueberry layer was my favourite.

I would say give this a go if you fancy a challenge, but I think the recipe needs refining a bit first! We basically had a Victoria Sponge recipe and made just over double the quantities, which seemed just about right, then split the mixture into 6 (electronic scales come in very handy here!). And as I said, the icing needs some alterations, so I won't include that! The fruit fillings were wonderful though, but I may be inclined to cheat a bit next time and add some more food colouring to the other layers. Anyway, we had soooo much fun making it and will definitely be making challenging baking a Friday night regular occurrence I think! Nothing will phase us now, that's for sure!!

Rainbow Cake (serves A LOT!)

Ingredients:

Sponge (basically 1 and a half times the quantity for 1 Victoria Sponge cake roughly):

550g Butter

550g Caster Sugar
10 Eggs
3tsp Vanilla Extract
550g Plain Flour
5tsp Baking Powder

Flavourings:
Pack of raspberries
Tin of peaches
Zest of 3 lemons, juice of 2
The tea from 3 green tea bags
3/4 pack of blueberries
Handful of grapes and a few glugs of Ribena
Red and green food colouring

Method:

Grease and line 6 cake tins.
Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
Cream butter and sugar together in a large bowl.
Gradually beat in the eggs.
Add vanilla extract.
Stir in flour and baking powder so it is thoroughly combined.
Weigh the mixture using electronic scales.
Divide it by 6 and split into 6 different bowls (we actually only did three at a time!).
Purée the raspberries, blueberries, peaches (minus juice) and grapes.
Zest and juice the lemons.
Add each flavouring/colouring to each separate mixture and stir through.
Pour into cake tin and bake in the oven for about 35-40 minutes, until a knife inserted comes out clean.
Leave until cool enough to handle and then remove from tin and place on a cooling rack.
Once completely cool, sandwich together using your desired icing and ice the top and sides.
Decorate as you wish!
Cut a slice, be amazed and enjoy!