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Rainbow Cake for Pinktober … THINK PINK #birthday #pinktober

“Hope is a rainbow of thought.”
Harley King

Rainbow Cake for Pinktober. Ever tried baking with an 18 year old. Maybe , I should rephrase that. Ever tried with an 18 year old teen like mine who has a rainbow baking obsession? It’s a LOAD of work! LOTS!! Beware … but the fruits are sweet! Cut a slice and you know it’s so worth all the dishes, the messy kitchen, the batter splattered walls with ‘Ooops I did it again Mama!’, ‘Can Coco lick the bowl? Please?’

‘I’m gonna make Papa a rainbow cake for his birthday!  Coco’s gonna help me!‘ Coco was game of course … and the day began tediously! First to get the child out of bed, then to get her out of a shower, then to get her off the phone. By the time I was at my wits end, she was ready to paint the kitchen in rainbow colours! ‘Let’s start now!!

October 1st marks the beginning of breast cancer awareness month all over the world. American Cancer Society uses this time to boost their campaign to raise awareness to breast cancer and to inform people that there is now a 98 percent rate of survival if the cancer is detected early. October is the month where you will see pink ribbons everywhere, which has been the national symbol for breast cancer awareness since it was first introduced back in 1991.

It took us all day to get the cake going. Six layers and a small oven, only 2 baking tins and a load of power cuts, yet we marched on. Much to my chagrin, she took naps in between while I washed and cleaned the kitchen after every ‘round‘. Once again, be warned … there is tons of washing up!

Time for the frosting. We ‘amicably’ settled for a salted caramel butter-cream icing {after a battle of sorts of course}. It’s a delicious frosting and soon she was spooning more into her mouth than onto the cake. A few disagreements later, in this incessantly hot October, she  ‘splooshed’ the icing on. That was when the Dad called from work. ‘Is the cake PINK he asked? My cake is always the Pinktober cake.’

Next cue! PINK!! It’s nice to have a daughter who loves art. Also nice to have some marzipan on hand. She had fun doing the letters, the ribbon {that she was well aware of as it’s an annual feature} … the rest was a breeze. She did the whole cake on her own!

One slice later, the rainbow knocked our hearts away! This is the absolute joy of a birthday cake. Despite it being a butter rich cake, with an indulgent buttercream frosting, the Rainbow Cake is a fantastic ‘once in a while‘ baking adventure. A big {read greedy} slice is definitely on the sweeter side, but a thin slice hits all the right chords!

The cake tasted even better the next day, and being a butter cake, it keeps really well for a few days. However, the kids nibbled away at it and it was soon gone. The daughter later said that she was surprised I even let her make one! She knows that I barely ever make such heavily ‘buttery’ cakes. Then again, she has a thing for rainbows and a passion for baking rainbow cupcakes and cakes.

This cake was worth every dish I washed, worth the million times I cleaned the batter splattered counter and wall tiles, worth all the spoons she licked and all the piping bags she used up! It’s a fun cake to bake. You must try it for a special occasion bake!

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Recipe: Rainbow Cake

Summary:  This is the absolute joy of a birthday cake. Despite it being a butter rich cake, with an indulgent buttercream frosting, the Rainbow Cake is a fantastic ‘once in a whilebaking adventure. We loved the  salted buttercream frosting. Cake adapted minimally from the Whisk Kid

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour {plus cooling, chilling time}
Ingredients:

  • Cake
  • 360g plain flour
  • 4tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 225g unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 450g cups sugar
  • 170g egg whites, room temperature {about 6}
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 350ml milk, room temperature
  • Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple gel food coloring
  • Filling
  • 400ml low fat cream
  • 100g icing sugar
  • few drops almond extract
  • Topping
  • 200g sugar
  • 2tsp water
  • 100ml low fat cream
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • vanilla extract
  • 170g salted butter
  • 100g low fat cream
  • 200g icing sugar

Method:

  1. Cake
  2. Preheat oven to 180C. Brush six 8-inch-round cake pans {or as many 8-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.
  3. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.
  4. 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.
  5. 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}.
  6. 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.
  7. Place the bottom layer on serving platter {or lazy Susan} and spread with about a cup of buttercream. Repeat for remaining layers.I placed an adjustable dessert ring around the cake to hold the layers in place.
  8. Refrigerate until set, about 30 mins to an hour.
  9. Using an offset spatula, cover cake again with remaining frosting.
  10. Salted Butter Caramel
  11. Place sugar and water in a deep saucepan and simmer undisturbed until the sugar caramelises to a golden brown. Add the cream {CAREFULLY as it will splutter}, take off heat briefly to mix in, then return pan until it all comes together to a smooth sauce.
  12. Take off heat, add salt and vanilla extract. Allow to cool completely.
  13. Frosting
  14. In a large bowl, beat together the salted butter, cream and icing sugar until smooth and fluffy.
  15. Slowly pour in the cold salted butter caramel and continue whipping until firm and smooth.
  16. Chill until required.

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Also find me on The Rabid Baker, The Times of India

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