Rainbow Swirl Cake Recipes

RAINBOW BUNDT CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 12-cup bundt pan with nonstick spray.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda.
• In a separate larger bowl, use a hand mixer to combine the sugar, butter and oil on medium speed for 4 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Add the vanilla and beat for 2 more minutes.
• Alternately beat in the flour mixture and buttermilk, making three additions or flour and two of buttermilk, and beating until incorporated.
• Divide the batter equally among 6 small bowls, about 1 1/3 cups in each bowl. You can leave one portion in the mixing bowl. Stir in 4 to 8 drops red food coloring into one bowl and stir until thoroughly blended and the color is even (see Recipe Notes for color tips). Repeat with other food coloring and batters.
• Transfer the red batter to the prepared pan, spreading evenly using a spoon or an offset spatula., Repeat the process with the remaining batters in the following order: orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. Do your best to layer each color evenly without swirling into other colors (expect imperfections). The batter requires no swirling, since the batters will magically swirl on their own during the baking process.
• Bake for 55 to 65 minutes or until puffed and golden brown and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then carefully invert the cake onto a wire rack to cool completely.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, zest and 4 tablespoons juice until smooth. Whisk in more lemon juice if necessary (1 teaspoon at a time) until the glaze is thick, but pourable.
• Pour the glaze over the cooled cake, letting it drip down the sides. Let the glaze set for at least 15 minutes before serving.

RAINBOW SWIRL CAKE

Steps:

• 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.
• 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.
• 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 - purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, red - 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'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 - turning the bag slightly after each shell.
• Store cake in an airtight container until ready to serve. Cake is best for 2-3 days.

VIBRANT RAINBOW CAKE

Steps:

• Grease two 9" round cake pans with shortening and then lightly flour each. Preheat oven to whatever the cake mix directions calls for.
• Mix cake according to box directions, then seperate into 6 bowls (if doing the full rainbow). Since the first color gets spread the furthest it is a good idea to put slightly more in one bowl and a little less in each subsequently after that so the last color has the least amouont of all.
• Mix in GEL coloring until desired color is achieved. Use a little for pastel colors, and use a bit more for bold and vibrant colors. Take care to put the appropriate color in each bowl if you took the extra step to put a little more in your outside color bowls. The rainbow pattern is red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet.
• Take the first color (red if you are doing the rainbow, and this will be your outside color) and spoon half into the very middle of each cake pan. You can then lightly tip it around a bit to get the color to spread some, but don't worry about it not reaching the sides, because it will by the time you are done.
• Take your next color and carefully pour it directly into the middle of the first color. Once in you can again tip it a bit to spread it out some, but don't stir it or anything as that will mess up the pattern. Do this with each color until you have used all of them -- by this time your outside colors should be pushed out to the edges.
• Bake as stated on your box, and allow to cool for a couple minutes in the pans before trying to remove them. Carefully tip them out onto a wire rack to cool completely (after a couple minutes I also carefully then flipped them right side up so the bottoms were on the rack since the tops tend to stick to the rack if left for too long).
• Once cool, shave a little off one layer to make a flat surface (this is so the other piece can stack without tipping). You can put some sort of filling in between the layers if you want, but I just left them without for mine. Then frost your cake and top with sprinkles!
• *NOTE* this can also be done in a rectangular dish if you prefer and then you would obviously just pour all of each color at a time, and frost it directly in the pan. It might also be fun to try a splatter type pattern, just taking scoops and dropping them into the pan in a swirl motion (not stirring in the pan) or putting into cupcake form. The person who told me about this also mentioned that you can use 2 cake mixes for the round pans and then just use the leftover batter for extra cupcakes or something, but for my family I didn't need quite so much cake.