Rainbow Candy Cake

There's a rule with birthday money around here - Mom taxes half of whatever you get and puts it away for safe-keeping (aka puts it in a savings account). The other half, though. Go on with your bad selves. Be free, children! Make bad choices with it!

So, Mila got a bunch of money for her birthday. Alexis explained how this all works. "You can buy anything you want! But you should buy something that mom and dad won't buy because THIS. IS. YOUR. CHANCE." Which, that's accurate. Alexis has frequently used her birthday money for bad choices that I would never contribute to.

Mila pondered the situation for about three seconds before deciding we should go to the candy store. Which, THERE IT IS! There is the line I won't cross! I will not allow a child to waste her birthday money on $80 worth of candy. I am a monster, I know! I always knew it would be Mila who tested my limits the most, and there she goes.

So while we figured out an Option B, that little game certainly determined a path forward for her birthday cake. The only character she's really digging this year is Boss Baby, who makes for a lame cake (unless you go the fondant route, but I didn't want to). Candy, though? I can get behind a candy cake.

A Rainbow Candy Cake, at that.

It was just vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream frosting, but Mila was really very super happy with it.

That's the look of a kid who is counting how many lollipops she's going to try to shove in her mouth at once. Much focus. Big dreams.

If you're trying to make a rainbow cake of your own, I highly recommend these pans. They make it much more manageable. Also, stick with a white cake mix or use clear vanilla when making your vanilla cake. The brown tint of real vanilla will ruin your rainbow dreams. By the way, I have feelings about these Crunchy Gummy candies from Target. Mostly those feelings are "YAY! Rainbow candies!" but with a side of "Don't anyone touch them. THEY ARE MOM'S."

Ahem.

Vanilla Rainbow Candy Cake

(makes one 6-inch cake with 5 layers)

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon clear vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 tablespoon clear vanilla extract
5 cups powdered sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat the cake pans with butter and flour to prevent sticking.

2. Place the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Stir them up with a whisk.

3. In a separate mixing bowl, combine the sugar, butter, egg, and vanilla.

4. Put the wet ingredients in the bowl with the dry ingredients and mix at low speed until just combined.

5. Divide the cake batter into 5 separate bowls. Add gel food coloring and make that rainbow. Pour each color of batter into a prepared (see step 1) pan.

6. Bake at 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean when you poke at a cake.

7. To make the frosting, place the butter and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Mix at low speed for about 30 seconds. Slowly add the powdered sugar and keep mixing until it's all combined and happy.

8. For the rainbow candy explosion, I used a bunch of colors of Swedish Fish, the Crunchy Gummies, Rainbow Twizzlers, Airhead Extremes, and rainbow lollipops. There were also some gummy bears made into little totem poles by stabbing them with a toothpick.

Rainbow cakes are fun.

Comments

[Laura]

Awesome job on the cake!