Rainbow Cake With Marzipan Vegetables And Smash Cake Recipes

RAINBOW CAKE WITH MARZIPAN VEGETABLES AND SMASH CAKE

Steps:

• For the cake layers: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and line the bottoms of three 8-inch cake pans with cooking spray and parchment and set aside.
• Sift together the flour and baking powder in a large bowl, then lightly stir in the salt and set aside.
• Cream together the butter, coconut oil and granulated sugar in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Reduce the mixer to low and add the vanilla and sour cream. Gradually add the dry mixture and mix until about 80 percent combined. Divide the batter evenly among 3 bowls. In the first bowl, stir in the carrot juice and 1/4 cup milk and fold together until smooth and just combined. In the second bowl, add the beet juice and 1/4 cup milk and fold together until smooth and just combined. Blend together the mint leaves and remaining 1/2 cup milk in a blender until very smooth, scraping the sides as needed. Add this to the third bowl and fold together until smooth and just combined. Transfer the batters to the cake pans and spread them out evenly.
• Bake until the tops of the cakes are thinking about starting to turn brown and a toothpick inserted in the centers comes out with a few crumbs on it; begin checking for doneness at 30 minutes and try your darnedest not to let it overbake. Let sit in the pans for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
• For the buttercream frosting: Beat together the butter and cream cheese in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment until creamy. Gradually add the powdered sugar, then mix in the salt, vanilla and heavy cream. Mix until creamy.
• Level the tops of the cake layers, retaining the scraps, then stack them up with a layer of frosting in between each. Frost all over and decorate as desired.
• To make a mini cake, stack up the cake scraps that were cut off from the layers and cut out four 2 1/2-inch circles. Stack them on top of each other and frost all over. (The scraps should be moist enough that they'll all stick together!)
• Use food coloring to dye the marzipan (deep purple for beets and orange for carrots). Mold into vegetables, using rosemary for the stems. Place on top of the cake.

RAINBOW CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to the temperature called for in the cake mix instructions. Lightly grease five 8-inch cake pans and dust with flour, tapping out excess flour.
• Place the ground bananas, blueberries, mangos, peas and raspberries in separate medium mixing bowls.
• Prepare the cake mix batter according to package instructions, using the eggs, egg whites and oil. Divide the batter among the five mixing bowls. To the raspberry batter, add 4 drops red food coloring. To the mango batter, add 1 scant drop red and 3 drops yellow food coloring. To the banana batter, add 4 drops yellow food coloring. To the green pea batter, add 3 drops green food coloring. To the blueberry batter, add 3 drops blue food coloring. Mix each bowl of batter until well combined and uniform in color.
• Scrape the batters into the prepared cake pans. Bake in batches (3 pans in the first batch, 2 pans in the second), rotating the pans halfway through the baking time, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from the oven; when cool enough to handle, turn the cakes out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
• To assemble the cake, place the blue cake layer onto a cake platter and spread the top with 1/3 cup frosting in an even layer. Top with the green layer and spread with 1/3 cup frosting. Repeat with the yellow, orange and red layers until you have stacked all the layers. Frost the sides and top of the cake in an even layer. Use the reserved bananas, blueberries, mangos, peas and raspberries to decorate the top of the cake in a rainbow pattern. Any remaining fruit can be crushed lightly, mixed together and used to decorate the sides of the cake.

RAINBOW LAYER CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease six 6-inch round cake pans with cooking spray and line the bottoms with parchment paper. Set aside (if you don't have six pans, you can bake in batches).
• Sift the flour and baking powder together into a large bowl, then lightly stir in the salt and set aside. Whisk together the heavy cream and sour cream in a large measuring cup and set aside.
• Cream together the butter, coconut oil and granulated sugar in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla and almond extract, if using. Reduce the mixer to medium-low and add the dry mixture and cream mixture in 3 alternating additions, stopping right after you add the last of the dry mixture and cream mixture; don't mix them in completely, because when you mix in the food coloring you'll continue to mix, and that's when everything will get fully combined. (Prevent overmixing at all costs!)
• Divide the batter among 6 medium bowls (using a scale is the most efficient way to do this) and stir in good big plops of food coloring until the batter is bright. Distribute the batter among the cake pans and spread it out evenly.
• Bake until the tops of the cakes are set and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few crumbs on it; begin checking for doneness at 22 minutes and try your darnedest not to let it overbake.
• Let cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.
• Level the tops of the layers with a serrated knife, then place a layer on a cardboard cake round. Stack layers up with a thin layer of Strawberry Buttercream in between each. Frost all over and decorate with sprinkles as desired. Enjoy!
• Beat together the butter and preserves in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment on medium-high speed until creamy, about 4 minutes. Gradually add the powdered sugar, then mix in the salt, vanilla, heavy cream and pink food coloring, if using. Mix until creamy.