Tuesday, April 21, 2015

R is for Rainbow Cake

I almost backed out of today's planned (yes, I really do plan these things) Pinterest project for the A to Z Challenge. I woke up at 5:00 a.m. yesterday morning in a panic over how complicated the whole thing was probably going to be and searched through Pinterest for another project, but nothing jumped out at me, and besides, this was something I really did want to try.

Here's the pin:




Knowing it was a Martha Stewart recipe, I anticipated this to be complicated. I was right.

After a trip to Hobby Lobby for gel food coloring from the cake decorating department in all the colors of the *ahem* rainbow, I went home and got to work. (The total I've invested in this year's A to Z Challenge is now up to roughly $23,297, I believe). 

Several of the ingredients in the cake recipe needed to be at room temperature, which they weren't, so I set them (egg whites, milk, and butter) on top of the stove to hurry them along with the help of the vent from the oven that I was pre-heating. Half an hour later, I was able to start the cake. (The cake recipe wasn't difficult, but I thought the consistency of the batter was awfully thin. I realize a scratch cake and a cake mix cake are very different animals, but it still seemed a little runny to me 


See? Runny. Didn't seem right.


The next step is when the whole thing turned into a pain in the ass.

The batter had to be divided equally into six different bowls. In case you wondered, there really is no good way to do this, and certainly no NEAT way. I finally decided on using the ice cream scoop to divvy up the batter and keep each bowl as equal as possible, and I must say, it was ingenious, because three scoops per bowl was EXACTLY right.




Next, I squeezed in the gel food coloring, one color per bowl, and stirred them into the batter. Piece of cake (tee hee!).




Pain in the ass part again: each layer had to be baked in a 9" round cake pan that was greased (I used cooking spray), lined with a piece of parchment paper, cut to fit the bottom of the pan, and the parchment greased (or sprayed with more cooking spray). Dear Martha said to do this to all six pans.

WHO IN THE HELL HAS SIX 9" CAKE PANS LYING AROUND THEIR KITCHEN?!

I had exactly two pans, so I had to bake two layers at a time, then wait for the finished layers to cool for ten minutes before turning them out onto a rack, washing and drying the pans, and tracing and cutting out two new parchment paper circles to go in the bottom for the next two layers.





Three hours later, the layers were baked and cooled. Instead of Martha's frosting recipe, I went with a recipe of my own that I like rather well (1 cup butter or margerine, softened, one jar of marshmallow cream, two cups of powdered sugar, and a pinch of salt) and put the cake together. I thought the layers had a bit of a rubbery feel to them, but they LOOKED pretty.


Dig my early 1980's era Tupperware cake holder?

L


Does that look as tall as Martha's cake? I'm onto her.
Smoke and mirrors.


Looks pretty much like Martha's.


Yeah, I did this. 


The cake had a coarse crumb, but it tasted good. I think if I were to make it again (and I might, but not for a long, long time), I would forget Martha's recipe and use a white cake mix. 

Yes, it was a huge pain in the ass, but I'd still call it a Pinterest win.

***Special Note*** If I were to serve this cake to my preschoolers (or any other vibrantly colored food, like electric blue-frosted cupcakes), I would give them the same talk I'm about to give to you. After eating this, your poo most likely will turn green. You can test it if you don't believe me.

***Another Note*** I am aware of the hypocrisy of telling you this after writing in "M is for Magic Oil" that I am too ladylike to talk about such things, but if I make it a general statement that is not directly about me, then I can justify it.

***Yet Another Note*** My preschoolers always come to school the next time and tell me how I was RIGHT and THEIR POOP WAS GREEN! It is not necessary that you report your findings to me, but if you do, you won't be the first one to do so.

21 comments:

  1. It looks beautiful! The only people who have six cake pans are bakers - serious bakers. I agree, next time, just use white cake mix and eliminate half the trouble.

    Hope it was a tasty breakfast!

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    1. It's the WAY Martha says to prepare those six pans. She makes me feel stupid.
      It was a DELICIOUS breakfast.

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  2. We've done similar with cupcakes. It's a whole lot easier and more fun, because you don't bake the layers separately, and you can make things besides plain old rainbows.

    *Note* I totally knew you'd be talking about poo before the end of the post.

    **Another note** Purple is another option for the poo color.

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    1. I remember you doing something like this with cupcakes. I saw some on Pinterest, and yes, much easier than 6 separately baked layers.

      *note" I remember your poo story

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  3. OHHHHHHHHHHHWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWW

    THAT LOOKS SO TOTALLY AWESOME! *yearns, just a little bit*

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  4. Been there... done it... green. I have four 9" pans and was a baker to get through college... no one but Martha has more than that! Also done the stupid pain in the ass cupcakes with the heart in the middle of them! My sister the decorator had planned to make them for her daughter's wedding shower then promptly landed her ass in the hospital and couldn't do it... she can barely talk but managed to ask me to make them... what was I supposed to do... I made the damn things...

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    1. Meant to add... you did a fabulous job on this!

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    2. Definitely green.
      I have two 9" and two 8". And I don't think I even want to know how you get a heart inside a cupcake, but you were quite the sport to do it for your sister.
      And thanks!

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  5. It's beautiful. Wow! I would love to eat a piece of rainbow cake. Such a lot of hard work! More impressive every day.

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    1. The only real problem with the cake was that it was kind of blah. Vanilla cake, vanilla frosting. But so prettyyyyy!

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  6. I think yours looks MUCH better than Martha's - her frosting layers were as tall as her cake layers! WAY too much frosting. That looks wonderful, a total WIN!

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    1. I can't imagine the sugar overload you would get eating Martha's cake with all that frosting! THANK YOUUUUU!!!

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  7. You are totally awesome! So how long to eat the entire cake? :D

    I love that it's so colorful!!

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    1. I sent some home with my parents and we're STILL working on it.

      Colorful, it certainly is!

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  8. love it... i would do it with white cake mix.... then tell my kids they will be pooping a rainbow! LOL

    your cake looks marvelous :)

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    1. Now that I have the right food coloring, I feel the need to try it again using a cake mix.

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  9. Color me impressed (har har). We tried this once. Never again! Yours looks waay better.

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  10. This is awesome!!! I saw this a while ago but I always thought it was only for experts, you gave me hope! Congrats!

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    1. You can do this! It's all about using the right food coloring. I just wish it had had more flavor. Vanilla cake, vanilla frosting. Kind of boring.

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