rainbow birthday cake

This Rainbow Swirl Cake is made with three layers of homemade cake with rainbow swirl frosting decorating the cake around the edges!

Rainbow Swirl Cake

(390 grams) all purpose flour

tsp baking powder

salt

(168 grams) unsalted Challenge butter, room temperature

(60 milliliters) vegetable oil

(414 grams) sugar

eggs

tbsp vanilla extract

(400 milliliters) buttermilk*

Violet gel icing color

Royal Blue gel icing color

Leaf Green gel icing color

Lemon Yellow gel icing color

Orange gel icing color

Red gel icing color

(448 grams) salted Challenge butter, room temperature

(189 grams) shortening

(1265 grams-1380 grams) powdered sugar

water

Prepare three 8 inch cake pans with parchment paper circles in the bottom and grease the sides. Preheat oven to 350°F (176°C).

Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium sized bowl and set aside.

Add the butter, vegetable oil and sugar to a large mixer bowl and beat together until light in color and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes. Do not skimp on the creaming time. You should be able to see the change in the color and texture of the mixture.

Add the eggs two at a time, mixing until well combined after each. Add the vanilla extract with the second round of eggs. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed to be sure all ingredients are well incorporated.

Add half of the dry ingredients to the batter and mix until combined.

Add the buttermilk and mix until well combined.

Add the remaining dry ingredients and mix until well combined and smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to be sure all ingredients are well incorporated. Do not over mix the batter.

Divide the batter evenly between 6 bowls. It should be a little more than a cup per bowl.

Add gel icing color to the bowls (one color per bowl) and gently fold until the color is mixed throughout. You should have one bowl each of purple, blue, green, yellow, orange and red.

Add the colored cake batter to the cake pans. Starting with the purple batter, add spoonfuls of batter around the bottom of the pan. Divide each color evenly between the three pans. Give the pan a little side-to-side shake to distribute the batter around a bit between each color. After the purple, add the blue, then green, then yellow, then orange and finally red.

Bake for 28-33 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Remove the cakes from the oven and allow to cool for about 2-3 minutes, then remove to cooling racks to cool completely.

Make the Cake Layers

To make the frosting, add the butter and shortening to a large mixer bowl and beat until smooth.

Add about half of the powdered sugar and mix until well combined and smooth.

Add the vanilla extract and 2 tablespoons of water or milk and mix until well combined.

Add the remaining powdered sugar and mix until well combined and smooth.

Add additional water or milk as needed to get the right consistency.

Make the Frosting

To put the cake together, first remove the domes from the top of the cakes so they are level.

Place the first layer of cake on a cake plate or cardboard cake circle, then top it with about 1 cup of frosting and spread into an even layer.

Add the second layer of cake another layer of frosting.

Add the final layer of cake on top, the frost the outside of the cake. Feel free to use my tutorial for frosting a smooth cake, if you like.

Divide the remaining frosting between 6 bowls. I had about 1/3 cup of frosting per bowl, but you may have a little more or less, depending on how much you use to frost the cake.

Use the gel icing colors to color each bowl of frosting, using one color per bowl.

To make the rainbow swirl frosting border, add each color of frosting to a ziplock bag. Lay a piece of clear wrap out on the table. Trim the corner off of each ziplock bag. Pipe a thick row of each color of frosting in this order &#8211; purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, red &#8211; side-by-side onto the clear wrap.

Fold the clear wrap over into a long log (see photos above for guidance). Twist one end closed and trim the other end, if needed, so that the frosting is right at the end.

Put the log into a piping bag with the open end of the log going into the piping tip. I used piping tip Ateco 849.

Begin piping shells of frosting around the top edge of the cake. After each shell is piped, turn the piping bag just a little bit before piping the next shell. As you continue piping and turning the piping bag, you&#8217;ll get a rainbow that rotates around so you see all the colors.

To pipe shells around the bottom of the cake, create another log of rainbow frosting, add it to the piping bag and pipe shells around the bottom in the cake manner &#8211; turning the bag slightly after each shell.

Store cake in an airtight container until ready to serve. Cake is best for 2-3 days.

Assemble the Cake

Hi Lindsay, thanks for the lovely recipe ... I baked the cake and the taste was awesome.. however my cake was a bit crumbly .... would u have any idea why.
I followed d recipe as mentioned only that I used 2 pans instead of 3 and baked the cakes at 175 degress for 45 mins each... 
Thanks Blossom

Hi there, my cake didn't rise ??   Did I mix it to much when folding in the food coloring?   It looks so pretty, just wish each cake was taller.

We made this cake for my daughter's first birthday this weekend. It turned out amazing! Thank you so much for posting this. It was exactly what I wanted to do. Although we did it teared instead of one whole cake. I'd share a picture, but it won't let me. It was beautiful though and everyone talked about it. 😊

Hello, sorry to respond and someone else is comment, but I couldn’t seem to respond to the recipe in general, probably because I’m not a member of the site.

Anyway, this recipe looks absolutely amazing I found it by accident but I intend to use it anyway LOL. But I have a few questions, and I’m a fairly new at baking, so please bear with me. I prefer 9 inch pans to 8 inch, do I just need to increase the amount of batter I’m creating? Also another important question, is the height of the pans you use. The pans I have are a little on the shallow side compared to yours. Is that going to be a problem? I would honestly prefer not to go out and have to buy new pants that are higher if I can avoid that.

As for cake/batter height, height, should I only go one spoon each section  in terms of the height? At least it looked like you only did one layer of colorful spoonfuls in the batter. I assume you’re going for less height per cake because you’re using three cake layers instead of two? 

Finally, one more question. I have a really nice KitchenAid stand mixer. Is there a reason I shouldn’t use that, and should instead use one of those small portable mixer’s that you use in the video?

This really does absolutely look amazing and I intend to make it!

Hello Lindsay,

Your little boys are just too cute!  Enjoy every minute as they grow up too fast.

When my four year old granddaughter saw this cake, we had to make it for her birthday.  I opted for cupcakes (yes - more work).  It made exactly 24 which was the amount needed for her Preschool class.  When I picked her up from school, her teacher ran over to me and said the cupcakes were "the best we've ever had in class."  She said the children loved the colors and spent a great deal of time discussing the cake.  My granddaughter was so proud to tell her class that she was a helper.  

Thank you for sharing your multitude of yummy talents.  They were a hit!

My granddaughter also saw this cake and wanted it for her fourth birthday celebration at her Preschool.  I made the recipe in cupcake form (a little more work to say the least).

When I arrived to pick her from school in the afternoon, her teacher came over and excitedly told me that the children were thrilled with the colors.  She went on to say that the cupcakes were the best the class had ever eaten.

This is quite a testament to your talents, Lindsay.  Thank you for sharing!

Hi Lindsay, 
This cake is gorgeous! I decided to make cupcakes and a small 6in cake for my nieces 1st birthday. Everyone loved them, the taste as well as the colors. My niece also enjoyed smooshing it all over!???? 
Happy Birthday to your little guys. It's amazing how quick they grow. I'm expecting twin grandbabies in May. I'm so excited, we get a boy and a girl, Selena and Sampson. They can't get here quick enough!????
Thanks again for another amazing recipe!????

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvkbRRy6gRA

This Rainbow Swirl Cake is made with three layers of homemade rainbow cake, then decorated with rainbow swirl frosting around the edges! It’s a moist, delicious cake that’s easy to make and perfect for a celebration, kids birthday party cake or even St. Patrick’s Day! Recipe: https://www.lifeloveandsugar.com/rainbow-swirl-cake/

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Rainbow Swirl Cake

Rainbow Swirl Cake

Top 2 rainbow birthday cake recipes from across the web

The most viewed rainbow birthday cake recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 6,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

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Rainbow Swirl Cake

Rainbow Swirl Cake

The most viewed rainbow birthday cake recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 6,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine