Rainbow cake

Its father in law's birthday today and i wanted to bake a really special cake for him rather than the usual chocolate/coffee cake that i would generally do. Was going through a wide variety of cakes in the internet to find something that would make him happy since he has a sweet tooth!  But nothing really caught my eye, also i had just a day to buy all the ingredients and bake as well. And suddenly i remembered the rainbow multi-layered cake i had once seen ages ago on the internet and was in love with it and wanted to bake it ever since then and luckily for me this was the perfect occasion!

Its pretty easy to make and the food coloring just makes it look so lovely. I made a three layered cake and you can go up to 6 layers if you have the patience and tins! I had just two round tins so had to quickly wash up one tin when the other two were in the oven. The ingredients are mostly available at home since its basic and is the reason why i opted for this one to bake in such less time. Also mother in law is a pro at baking so i had some good help from her and had some really useful tips coming in.

After last night's preparation, i was so excited to surprise my father in law in the morning and was waiting anxiously( so was my mother in law!) Finally the moment came and he cut the cake,was pretty impressed with the final outcome, obviously i was super excited! Mother in law was present on his birthday after a very long time so it was even more special. The only thing that has'nt convinced me are the pictures. There was absolutely no time as father in law and my husband had to leave quickly for work, so i could manage only this of what you see!

The best part about this cake is cutting into it and revealing its true colours!

Ingredients:

285 grams self raising flour
285 grams castor sugar
285 grams unsalted butter or margarine (softened)
5-6 eggs (room temperature)
2tsp vanilla extract/essence
A little milk
Food colouring ( i chose 3 colours for 3 layers)
Icing sugar 350-400 grams

Baking process:

1: Pre-heat the oven to 180C/350F

2: Grease the cake tins with butter or butter paper and set aside.

3: Cream the butter  with an egg beater either electric or by hand till softened and gradually adding the castor sugar.

4: Pour in the eggs one by one and the vanilla extract and mix until smooth.

5: Sift the flour in a separate bowl and fold it in the butter mix.

6: Divide the batter into three different bowls equally and the add the food colouring of your choice into each bowl.

7: Pour in the batter into the greased cake tin and bake each layer for 20-25min. Check with a skewer or tooth pick by inserting it in the centre, if it comes out clean then its done.

8: Cut off the extra topping on the cake for an even effect or else your cake will not be even for spreading the butter cream icing

9: Until the cake's getting ready in the oven, start to cream the remaining butter by gradually adding the icing sugar until nice and thick. For a glossy and whiter effect add just a tsp or two of milk and  add  the same amount of lemon juice, it helps cutting down on the sweetness of the cake overall.

10: Take the first layer onto a plate or a cake board and spread the butter cream icing and repeat with the other two layers and then gradually onto the entire cake with a flat knife or spatula. A palette knife is the best option for an easy spread. Do this in two batches by first spreading a layer of the icing and leaving it in the fridge for about 15min and then remove and again spread the remaining icing, because the colours of the cake are pretty transparent after the first spread. So by placing it in the fridge the icing sets and helps you for an even final coating.

11: Lastly stick some gems/m&m's onto the bottom of the cake rim like shown in the above picture and grate some dark chocolate on top or use colourful sprinkles of your choice.

Tips:

Powdered sugar can be used in place of castor sugar.

If self raising flour is unavailable, just use plain flour and add baking powder. ( In this recipe 2-3 tsps of baking powder should be good )

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