[Edit: no children were harmed in the making nor consumption of this cake.
People seemed to miss the point that I am a 25-year-old woman on a diet with no kids. Since kids don't really need fat-free anything, there's no need to use the soda recipe if you don't like the idea, and if you don't like dye, don't make this for dinner for them every night for a month. Okay, folks, thanks for the allowance to disclaim.]
Aaannnndddd, she's back!
So I did mention something about health and/or diet food in my last post, and while this recipe is the latter, it is most certainly not to be confused with the former. I posted about my rainbow cake here, and it got a lot of traffic on over to my livejournal, and everyone wanted the "recipe." The cool thing is that if you're making something so distractingly colourful, people will think it's delicious no matter what.
This presents me with the option to use an old Weight Watchers trick—the one-point cupcake. Except I'm making a cake and I created my own frosting. Kinda. I've seen it done before, but I swear I made it up first!
This cake is suitable for many occasions:
- A child's birthday
- Your mom's birthday
- Coming out to your conservative parents
- If you're a lesbian, they'll be thrilled that you won't be forgoing your feminine kitchen duties.
- If you're the kind of gay dude who makes cakes for your parents, they were probably on to you anyway.
- Coming out to your conservative parents on your mother's birthday
- Your friend's jam band CD release party
. . . so I'm sure you'll find a use for this recipe soon.
And of course, you can use any white cake recipe you'd like. This is just how I make it because I have delusions of wearing size 2 someday.
Oh yes, and do me a favour: DOUBLE THE RECIPE AS PHOTOGRAPHED HERE!! The recipe at the bottom is accurate, but this made for a really REALLY small cake, and there was not nearly enough frosting, especially considering its lightness.
Okay, on with the ingredients.
That's all. Notice the lack of fat in here? Mmmmmm . . . chemicals. Though I don't need to defend my method thanks to the double-dub (WW) aspect, even when I make a "real" cake I usually use box mix because let's face it: Betty's been doing it way longer than I have, and has pretty much perfected the art.
Pour
The action shots weren't too thrilling. Now we measure it.
I'm going to round to
(the gel colours, while not as good as pigment dye, are much bolder than the very liquidy food colouring you probably grew up with)
The first colour you drop into the pan, use about 2/3 of the mix for that colour. Otherwise, the top (last) colour will really dominate. I used a heaping
Drop the colours, one by one, into the middle of the pan, in neat concentric-ish gobs. Remember the cake is going to be sliced in the side there, so mixing it around on top isn't going to make your slices any more psychedelic (trust me, I did the three-dimensional thinking for you already).
When you're three colours in, start doing the reverse with the other pan. Since I'm going in rainbow order: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, I got from red to yellow in the first pan, then purple, blue, green in the second. This is so that your two pans are equal if your measurements aren't exact (and they're not likely to be).
Now finish up.
Follow the box's baking instructions and do your dishes.
Such lovely dishes!
Now for the frosting:
Holy shit, the cake's done! Toothpick clean and everything! Get that shit out of the oven!!!
The purple top kind of made a little turkey silhouette.
The frosting will be a little tough to spread, so treat it like a buttercream (I guess, I've never frosted a cake with buttercream). Putting gobs all over, then smoothing in worked well for me.
And look at that thing! It's so pretty-lookin.
Here's what this particular cake looked like. See how it's tiny and too rounded and it kind of isn't all that great? That's because I didn't double the recipe. It's a mistake I'll only make once.
Here's what that really should look like: same process, twice the batter.
Mmmmm.
Sunny Day Rainbow Cake
2 boxes white cake mix
24 oz of clear diet soda (2 cans, ginger ale and sprite work well)
gel food colouring
16 oz whipped topping
2 oz instant fat-free sugar-free pudding mix (2 smallish boxes)
The Dieting
Mix the cake mix with the soda according to regular instructions on box. It will be lumpy afterward. Again, you can use any white cake recipe you want, this is just how I do it.
The Rainbowing
Measure the total volume (by my estimate, 64 oz), then divide by 6 and measure into separate bowls. There are 8 oz in a cup, so 64/6 = 10 to 11 oz, or 1 cup + 2 tbsp.
Stir colour into each bowl with its own spoon. For the first colour into the pan, measure out 2/3 to 3/4 of your mix (in this case about 1 c) as close to the middle as you can. Drop in your first three colours, then work on the other pan with the last three colours. So if you're doing rainbow order, the first pan should have red, then orange, then yellow, and now the purple, blue and green go into the second pan. As a recap, this is so both layers are roughly the same size.
Bake the cake as instructed on the box. Check it when the box says to, but usually it'll need an extra 5 or 10 minutes because of the density of the soda method. Just keep baking, checking back every 5 minutes or so until a toothpick to the center comes out clean. Let cool completely before moving to a wire rack.
The Frostinging
Meanwhile, make your frosting. Just mix the pudding mix in with the whipped topping for a few minutes. Dye if you're into that.
Frost your fat-free cake with your fat-free whipped frosting. Eat.
A note to Weight Watchers (the people on the diet, not the company):
WW has long advertised 1/12 of a cake mix with diet soda to be a "one point cupcake." I have no idea why they insist this is the case when according to the "as packaged" nutrition information, this much cupcake has 170 calories, 3g fat and no fiber . . . by my calculation, that's 4 points. That said, 1/12 of this recipe, (2 box mixes + 16 oz whipped topping + 2 oz or so pudding mix) works out to 10 points a slice. Not bad considering that a comparable cake would be 14 points.
197 comments:
mmmm cake! this isn't rainbow at all, but i am partial to chocolate cake with diet cherry coke in it... but i had no idea how to make "diet" frosting. yum!
Hmmm... I'm sure I've seen those pictures before, or ones very similar. Not accusing you of anything, I mean! I'm not!
(Except maybe being an SA Goon?)
Yum! I bet this would be the HIT at some of the music festivals this summer! I vend clothing, but I'm always cookin' and people love to come and eat it! Thanks 4 sharin!
Wow what a great idea. I have seen the zebra cake before but not a rainbow. I may have to try this!
FUN! I totally have to make this. Like Danielle, I've seen the zebra version, but never thought of the possibilities with COLOR. Awesome!
Cool cake! Beautiful photography!! Love the combo of both. I posted a link to your blog and this cake on my edible crafts column, part of craftgossip.com (you can see your post at ediblecrafts.craftgossip.com). Thanks for sharing and the step-by-steps!!
Love the photos :)
Not only has Betty perfected it, apparently she's perfected it in Spanish too! (notice, on the box)
Thanks for posting this. I had admired your previous post in the past.
Great idea! I have seen this in cupcakes but I never thought "bigger"! I'd love to make for the kids but why the soda instead of regular ingredients?
So, do I double the recipe you've given or is that is doubled?
I found this from tastespotting.com this morning and thought I'd tell my friend whose favorite color is "rainbow", but then decided I'd just make it for her some time. Later today I got an email that she was just offered a job so now I have an excuse! She'll love it because the rainbow under the frosting is such a surprise!
a little too much food coloring for me. I've heard differing opinions on the health risks involved with eating too much of it.
...Plus I'd just be afraid of sh!tting rainbows.
Thanks for posting this! I always thought gel food coloring would be something you find in specialty stores. I was at wal-mart today and picked up all the ingredients and baked one tonight. Mine didn't turn out nearly as well formed as yours but it was pretty and it was fun and the whole family loved it. Thanks!
Actually my name is Leah I guess my husband has a gmail account on this computer. so the above comment is from me not him. :)
This looks awesome. I made cupcakes like this for my birthday. They're the best.
This is awesome! And what I love most about it is that you don't use eggs! :) Now even my boyfriend can enjoy it.
thank you so much for this post!
i am absolutely making this for my baby's first birthday!!!!
I'm fully cooking this up for my son's first birthday. He won't care too much, but my nieces will totally lose it. Thanks!!
NOTE TO ALL DIETING: This cake is beatiful, I would just like to inform some of you of the risks of adding diet soda to your cake. ANYTHING you want to replace in this cake is far healthier than diet soda. Diet soda contains an artificial sweetener called aspartame that is not only poisonous, but actually makes you retain fat instead of losing it.
heather - it's a nice substitute, and went over well with the didata crew this summer.
Anonymous Goon - DEF an SA goon. In fact, I'm surprised that thread was the only how-to I'd seen on this. ICSA inspired me to do food blogging. =)
Justine - OMG I'M SO JEALOUS. I almost hopped on a plane to go to Rothbury, most amazing line up ever. Instead I went to Gathering of the Vibes and Mountain Jam this year . . . next year: Camp Bisco!
Danielle, Kelly - My mom used to make checkerboard cakes too! So much fun. =)
Chic Cookies - Thank you so much! I love the attention ;)
Erin - HA! It's true. Ought I translate my page?
Anonymous on "why soda?" - I'm on a quest to lose my last 15 lbs to being totally hot.
Anonymous on "doubled?" - Follow the recipe. The pictures are just from a batch that was 1/2 too small.
Anne O - Don't spoil the surprise! It's a lot of fun.
Leah/Darrin - This is my second or third attempt. It's fun every time, but definitely gets easier with a homegrown method.
Hayley - I haven't yet tried cupcakes! But it's on my list.
Anonymous egg-free - Hooray! Glad I could help ya out there.
Anonymous first birthday - It's so perfect for kids' parties, eh?
b3ar - Try it for his third birthday. ;)
Anonymous food colouring hatah - I dig it, and if you come over, I'll make you a cake with no colours. I only ate one slice, but it's hard to discern any difference since I shit rainbows and burp perfume every day anyway.
Anonymous diet soda hatah - That's cool if you aren't into the diet soda part of this, just use your own cake recipe. There are also Splenda diet sodas, though of course the long-term effects of that aren't really known. This is not billed as health food, just low cal.
The coloured dough screams chemicals. How could one even think of eating something like this?
This is so fun and pretty! I bake a LOT of birthday cakes for little kids, and this technique is definitely going to become part of my repertoire. Came here from foodgawker and I love the blog - I'll probably spend the rest of tonight reading your older posts!
Sorry, as a chef, it looks diabolical. However, I'm sure the kids would find it amazing! Well, done!
AV
http://netherregionoftheearthii.blogspot.com/
http://tomusarcanum.blogspot.com/
http://thingsthatfizz.blogspot.com/
OMG I love it!!! It's so pretty!!
What fun! My kids would love this (actually, so would I).
You have a fantastic site.
that's great!
found this through stubleupon, the greatsest addon ever.
I'm gonna keep it greatstest, because that's a cool word.
Even the dirty dishes are beautiful.
I am usually a from-scratch baker and use butter not margarine and all that but this looks so cool I might have to break out the cake mix and food dye.
psychedelic!
That's just a little bit AWESOME! What a fun idea!
Thanks for pointing out my typo! My daughter and I were looking at your rainbow cake this morning! She loves it!
i kind of love the first mushy messy version. they are both very neat though.
For those concerned about the food coloring, there are some healthier alternatives that you can find at places like whole foods or online health food stores. Actually, they are just glycerine and vegetables or fruit. Be warned: they are very expensive...like just under $10 a bottle. Ouch. But, for those with kids allergic to food coloring they would make a fabulous birthday cake...it's only once a year, why not have a $50 cake? LOL! :) Thanks for sharing!
Lost Your Marbles Cake?
On a food safety note, I assume the Betty Crocker colors are pretty safe but I have a kid who gets REALLY sick from some kind of red coloring that goes in cheap candy.
Well！cool cake~!but i am not going to eat it...just watch it.
Great Gay Pride cake!
Everyone loves rainbows, and everyone loves cake.
Its perfect!
OMG that cake is soooooo sweeeeet and cuteeeee
♥
photoshopped
Wow, this is great! I was looking for more ways to use all the evil chemicals found in artificial colors.
SIMPLY AMAZING! That's all I can say!
Gorgeous cake! The colors are fantastic!
Stop by my blog...there's an award waiting for you!
man I would hate to ice this cake and cover up how cool it looks! Although it's a totally fun surprise when you cut into it :) Too funny that we made the same cake for thanksgiving!! :D
I think it's a fun cake!
wow, great!
im makin' this one for valentines day, no doubt. thanks for the great recipe!
my daughter and i are in awe of this cake! we can't wait to make it. very cool
I think that this cake may have a lot in common with red velvet due to those colors... But it's working- It definitely looks delicious!
Wow! Very cool and way too easy. I Will be doing this for my next cake! Thanks.
Whoah, this cake is gorgeous. *bookmark!
I'm telling you -- I've read this post at least a dozen times in the past few days, and I keep getting distracted before I can post a comment!
LOVE the colors of this cake. I'd even overlook the nastiness of food coloring for the sake of this loveliness :)
can a person use regular soda...or is the diet pertinent to the baking process?
now only if you added in some grass, it'd be magical rainbow cake! perfectooo
This is GREAT. I can't wait to pass it on to my sis in law she's trying to build a cake business and I think she'd like to try this.....
Thanks for the time you put into the cake and this post.
Yum! All that artificial coloring should make the kiddies feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
This is awesome! I love it. Bring on the food coloring and boxed cake mix -- you've completely convinced me of their potential for gorgeous results.
who cares if it's not "healthy" or "organic?" it's cake! eat organic carrots if that's all that matters to you.
i love it. it would be fun to make it in color palettes for different events or seasons. oo, like an easter egg cake?
I am definitely going to make this for my little girls..they love rainbows. Also, I love that you used a WW tip! I have heard of that tip, but still have been leary of trying it. I guess there is always a first! Thanks for sharing this looks like fun.
question: i'm going to make this for a friends birthday on saturday... should i use regular icing? is it mean to make everyone else eat the fat free stuff just because i'm on a diet?? HOW GOOD IS IT REALLY??
You people and your nasty words. I don't think you are going to change her mind about anything or anyone elses, why don't you just shut up already and stop wasting your time?
I LOVE this cake, and plan on making it tonight!! Aspertame, food coloring, chemicals and all! NOMNOMNOM cake :D
A healthier way to make a no-fat cake is to use a can of pumpkin puree (NOT pie mix) and a box of mix. I don't know how well it would work for this, as the pumpkin is bound to skew all the colors, but you could experiment. That way no artificial sweetners, few calories, lots of fiber and beta carotene. I've made brownies with the pumpkin too, they come out GREAT!
That is a really pretty cake! My family wouldn't eat it (we don't do artificial anything) but that is great inspiration for an all-natural version! Pretty dishes too *g*
If I can get the natural food dyes, think I just might know what my daughter is getting for her next birthday cake :)
This cake looks fab!
I'm planning on making this and the no knead bread this week to see how it goes.
To all the negative commenters I think it's a shame you felt to be so nasty. Who on earth would plan on eating whole rainbow cake or feeding it to their children on a daily/weekly basis?
This cake is a fun surprise or treat for anyone once in a while so where is the harm? If you do see the harm then be more positive and offer up the alternatives like the other positive bloggers have done (thanks).
Ill post in my ex-pat blog when I've made it and hopefully found some gel-food coluring or natural in the health food shop.
Mmmm..yummy! :D
Wow! I am so impressed. And I loved seeing your wonderful photography to take us through it step by step. Actually, without the photos I wouldn't try it myself. Now - I still don't know, but it's not because of any ingredients. Nope, your ingredients are just fine for a special occasion, one slice, cake. I'm just not a good cook, that's all!
(but you never know, some day I might try this)
Holy shit that looks awesome! I'm going to send this site to my girlfriend, who's much better at baking than I am, and see what she can do with it!
I could not possibly love this any more. Your blog title, your writing style, and the fact that it's a fucking weight watchers friendly rainbow cake! Will you marry me? :D
your pictures are so scrumptious..a visual delight..:)
Sorry, but I think that honesty is quite important here, and I feel obliged to tell you that what you have made does not look fit for human consumption. Next time, try a Rum Baba, far tastier, and no artificial food colours involved.
Christian BS.
Why frost it when the surface is so pretty?
I loved this so much I made one myself! Thanks for the idea. Your recipes look scrumptious!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/29338486@N03/3209998043/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/29338486@N03/3209998001/
Mine doesn't look nearly as pretty as yours, but it still tastes good (except the part that got burned because I live in a dorm with a horrid oven!)
I made a toroid one.
Ignored your recipe though, because it sounded weird and made a normal Victoria sponge.
http://twitpic.com/14sv2
This cake is loaded with so many chemicals and preservatives, it's a health hazard.
I would be ashamed of feeding such poison to my children, and I am surprised you regularly feed this crap to your kids.
dear god....
that isn't food.
That cake is gorgeous! I don't eat gelatin...but if not for that, I'd let my inner cancer cells grow just for a little slice. I love those photos, too. The one with the empty bowls and spoons is just art. :)
I'll think of this if I have a friend who needs to come out to their conservative parents on their mom's birthday...or if I do.
Someone said it's crap: I would say it's worse than that. Giving kids this kind of rubbish... c'mon. For goodness' sake make a "normal" plum cake, it's easier and far tastier and healthier. Sodas, sugarfree or not, will slowly kill your kids or make them horrendously fat as 50% of Americans already are (guess why?). And yes, aspartame produces cancer in rats. Definitive research has been done already. It IS dangerous.
There are easier ways of killing your kids.
Is the cake mix sugar free? I am trying to make my mom a birthday cake that is low fat and sugar free!
I am baking this right now exactly same ingredients as you! Do you happen to know the point value of this cake per serving?
BY FAR
this is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. and probably the most beautiful thing that will ever pass through my digestive tract.
THANK YOU
Thanks for the comment. I made this, but it came out different because I realized my mom had one of my cake pans!! So I had to use one big pan. But my husband was still surprised and amazed at what came out!! I used regular soda though, lemon-lime and I just used Reddi-whip on top, I'm uber lazy hahaha, plus that way my two year old could help frost the cake. We loved it, all of it!! THE CHEMICALS MADE US HAPPY!! There are too many risks in the world to be worrying about what's gonna kill you eventually. We just try to enjoy what we can and live to the fullest. IF that means eating a fricking RAINBOW colored cake then that's what we're gonna do!!! And guess what?? MY two year old child ate it too!! *GASP!!!* AND I'm pregnant!! I "poisoned" my fetus with food coloring!!! WHAT A SINNER I AM!!!
HA!
My word - this is THE coolest cake ever! Can't wait to make this for my kids.
for everyone who seems to think that being a chef/eating organic foods makes you superior to all others:
it does not. in fact, it makes you look like a pompous ass when you post comments on here GASPING about the HORRORS of diet soda, artificial food coloring, etc. etc.
she does not claim to be a WHOLE FOODS cooking site, nor does she claim that everything she posts on here will be organic/good for you/chemfree. hell, if anyone can guarantee you won't get cancer then they are just plain lying to you.
there are chemicals in EVERYTHING and next time you bite into your organic *whatever* take into consideration that some parasite could possibly be living inside of it. or maybe consider the oversized box with individual plastic wrapped servings...how good is THAT? last i checked, overuse of nonbiodegradable materials (such as the plastic wrap used in TONS of organic packaging) also causes cancer (as well as walking across the street with your hand in your pocket).
have you considered the fact that this cake isn't the ONLY thing on here? it isnt. in fact, she makes whole wheat pancakes that are TO DIE FOR as well.
in the future, to avoid looking like you have your head so far up your ass that there is no possible way you've seen sunshine in the past 10 years, try to post CONSTRUCTIVE comments on how to rectify the "problems" you see with recipes.
diet soda is not required, just recommended.
as for me, i enjoy good food no matter what goes into it.
-sam
instigator..... THANK YOU! I showed my friend this blog because I could not believe the nasty comments being left on the site. I also made a comment a few days ago.
I am all for organic/natural/environmentally friendly products but I can't honestly say 100% It is a lot easier to do here in Egypt I have to say though.
People, if you see a flaw in this recipe or don't agree with the ingredients. Leave a constructive comment instead o resorting to anonymous school playground bullying tactics like I have been seeing.
Or as previously mentioned....Move on and find another blog to read!!
this was a HUGE hit at work. Instead of using pudding, though for the frosting, use obnoxious blue jello for more color and a fruity kick.
Thanks! This was excellent!
Did you mix the colours you didn't have yourself? I spotted that the Betty Crocker colour packet had 4 colours in..
wonder how hard it'll be to get this stuff in the UK
I agree with Instigator. It's a friggin' cake for christ sake, not a nuclear weapon. And no one is telling you to make it.
I'm glad she shared the recipe because I'm making it tonight with my little cousins! Weeee!! Hooray for people who make rainbow cakes from boxed cake mix full of "chemicals"!!!! Woohoo!!
Get over it and smile.
If you have time (lots of it) it is super fun to dole out the colors into cupcake liners and make rainbow (tie dye, really) cupcakes! I made seven colors and needed about 1/3 of a tablespoon of each color to fill the cup enough.
I made them recently for a birthday party and they were a HUGE hit! Everyone wanted to know how they were made.
Wow, your cake is gorgeous. I have a blog devoted to making stuff for kids and will be linking to this. Thanks for sharing!
you've been tagged in Time Out NY:
http://www3.timeoutny.com/newyork/kids/blog/?p=1394
I totally made this cake as soon as I could... I made them as cupcakes though and oh my they were so good! I dont know if I baked them long enough but they were so moist almost gooey... but not in a bad way! I was totally afraid of the bad food coloring taste but they were so sweet! I used Strawberry Creme pudding mix instead of the other one (I cant quite remember what it was) And I put rainbow sprinkles on them. I am not a baker I mean only a few weeks ago I learned the difference between baking powder and baking soda... and I even did this. My boyfriend was first afraid of them but then LOVED THEM. They are a trip and a great snack YAY RAINBOWS!
wow...ok...this cake is BEAUTIFUL!!! im making ASAP :)
and to everyone who says that this is horrible and unhealthy and whatnot...um, yea, its CAKE! duh :p and it wont kill anyone bc i highly doubt her kids eat this every day. once in a great while will not hurt anyone. get off your high horse and live a little!
Wow, my 2 yr old is just getting over stomach cooties. This will be the perfect, "Yeah, we're healthy again" surprise.
'till next time...
Beautiful cake! LOVE the idea!
I'm completely ROLLING my eyes at the nasty commenters.
Lovely photography of the process too! :)
It'll never cease to amaze me how many haters there are on the internet. Who really sets aside the time in life to post vitriolic comments about food coloring? Really, guys?
That cake rocks! I linked over from the Goody Blog, and then linked to you on my blog, too!
I love the cake, sent your link to my niece who is an art teacher and she just made it. I put it on my blog witha link back to you.
http://foodfanataholics.blogspot.com
That's just awesome! Thanks so much for the recipe. :)
omg i am DYING to make this demented cake! Yours is gorgeous. Thanks for all the great tips! Gel coloring ... double the recipe.... got it.
I LOVE this cake! I'm not a big baker, but it was so pretty, I had to give it a try this weekend. Totally delicious & totally fun to eat. Thank you so much! (P.S. I used butterscotch pudding for the icing & sprinkled pecans on top, and it was really tasty.)
I just found your blog...um...want to make out? Seriously, this cake is the shit and your blog is all kinds of hilarious. If I could design a food blog in my dreams (i.e. if I had mad cooking and photog skillz), this would be it. I see from perusing your archives that you tend to take blogging breaks. Please refrain. I can't go back to a place where your blog doesn't exist.
wawawiwa! well thats something I'll be using in the fiture my mom's bday's actually coming up so THANK YOU!!!!! xox the J =P
This cake looks awesome. I will totally try it, but might just make the (gasp!) full fat cupcake version for all my non-dieting friends.
This looks sooooo much better than rainbow dot cake! I'm totally gonna try this!
LUV IT !!!!!
Wow ...das ist ein wunderschöner Kuchen. Hätte da gerne ein Stück ab. Leider nicht machbar...aber schauen ist auch schön.
Liebe Grüße von Ute
OM NOM NOM indeed! This looks like so much FUN! I think I might make cupcakes like this for a Super Bowl party or something. Thanks for posting, and I'm glad I've found your blog!
Ooooh, I love how you cover it up with a one color frosting - so sneaky! Love all this color!
This would be cool using your school's colors. Ours are purple and teal. My students would go nuts! GO HORNETS!
Ok, so I have a practical/technical comment... It doesn't look like you really spread the batter around, or try to get it to reach the sides of the pan. Do you just dollop it in and let it spread on its own? I can't wait for an occasion to make this, I've never seen anything like it!
And as other people have already said: if you want healthy, eat a dang carrot! Cake is supposed to be fun, and self-righteous food police whiners are not fun. I probably only eat cake 5-6 times a year, and when I do I want it to look like this one!
You people who think this cake is bad for your kids...GIVE ME A BREAK! Seriously, are you kidding...it's cake! Get over it!!!
I make this cake all the time, so its good to see someone else does too. I just follow the box directions, nothing more. Take it further and do themed color cakes like, for example, super bowl team colors! In order to get the colors vibrant after baking, you need to be a little heavy handed in adding the dye. So if you or your kids are sensitive to food coloring, don't make this cake :)
Wow, just the pictures of the cakes made me smile! It's beautiful, and who doesn't love a rainbow? (Well, besides those self-righteous "Anonymous" people who feel confident enough with the anonymity of the internet to say nasty things to strangers) Thanks for posting this, it really made me happy today :)
very presentability !
i have add, my face is about to explode, you are so cool. also, you forgot to mention youve got to stack the cakes, i would have been looking at birds and made two flat cakes. also, dont you have all six colors in ach pan by the end? i think my dog just whistled at me.
I have seen something similar on another site, only they iced it with grey icing, and did a rainbow on the top in varying shades of grey. Once cut into , of course, all the cool colours were on display!
It was called an "Over the Rainbow" cake!
How do you get all the colours to stay colourful on the top, and not go slightly brown from cooking?
Wow, I'd like to eat the cake!
I'm going to make my sister make this for me. I can't bake.
Caaaake!
omg perfect timing! today is my daughters 6th birthday and the party is on saturday. nom nom nom indeed!
Thank you! I enjoyed your writing even more than the wonderful recipe. I'd never heard the WW tip, but I really want to try it now. Do you think seltzer would work instead of pop? Usually cake mix is sweet enough for me already. If only there was butter-flavor pop... (okay, ew.)
nice tutorial!
I did one on my blogspot January 3rd, great minds, eh? =)
I think I may like yours better!
http://noshings.blogspot.com/
Love the idea, concept, execution, and the photography is literally the icing on the cake - it is amazing.
I am NOT a food snob or someone who goes around analyzing and commenting on people's food.
But I have to say something this time. Food coloring is now clearly linked to childhood hyperactivity and ADD. See: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/81599.php
Parents: try to cut out any and every articifial coloring from your children's diet. Their teachers' and your own sanity might just improve.
In regards to the previous post that cited "http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/81599.php", it should be noted that they were not testing food colouring exclusively. If you read carefully, what the researchers were testing was AFCA's, or Artificial Food Colouring and Additives - the additives being benzoate preservatives.
Also up for debate is the variance between children's results. I am setting aside the notion that ADHD may not need to be corrected - some children may be born to dance, rather than born to read. I'm more worried about my kiddo eating crap off the carpet than his ingestion of blue cake.
I've made this cake twice now, and frakkin' dig it. OMNOMNOM.
Thank you SO much for sharing this recipe! I stumbled across it, and I have to have a birthday cake for someone in my office tomorrow, so I'm making two tonight (One for practice... and myself)!
And thank you so much to others that shared pictures :) I wasn't sure if I would be able to pull this off, but since others have been... maybe I can too!
Sure, it's not the healthiest recipe I've ever seen in my life, but is anyone planning on making this one of their every day staples? I doubt it! It's fun and probably tastes delicious. I think a treat like this once or twice a year is plenty acceptable!
Justine :o )
I wonder... how do you think this would taste with coconut shavings all over?
Fuck all the haters, that is one sweet-ass cake and you even got the side effect of cool pictures in the process :)
Thank you for posting and keep up the awesome!
This was on Somethingawful.com a looong time ago.
Hmmm, Hypnocake! All hail the Hypnocake! LOL
RT
www.Privacy-Center.net
too cool!
Regardless of whether you believe in the safety of aspartame in general, It's important to know that it isn't really heat stable, and may give off harmful chemicals when used in baking.
The manufacturer admits that it breaks down, though they claim it's still safe.
It might still be safer to go with sucralose (splenda) instead though, if you really want to use an artificial sweetener in baking.
Wow that's the first time I've been inspired by and felt sick from a recipe. For extra diet-chemical goodness why not sprinkle meth-amphetamine or similar 'dieting' substance over the grey icing?
Well done ;-)
I think this would make Sandra Lee super jelous! Awesome :)
let's put an end to the horrors of aspartame v. splenda:
the chemical structure of aspartame is all covalently bonded and these structures need A LOT of heat in order to break down. i would seriously doubt that any big chemical reaction is taking place within the baking process that would weaken the molecule enough to cause it to give off harmful vapors of any sort.
now for splenda, there is a different problem. the chemical structure contains 3 covalently bonded Chlorines, a chemical that your body cannot use unless it is in an ion form (it needs to be an ion so it can dissolve and liquids and be excreted). assuming there is no chemical reaction that can break off these Cl, the Cl stays in your body and last I checked, Cl isn't super amazing for your body (just think of the havoc a chlorinated pool has on your hair and skin...nevermind your internal organs).
personally, i'm not a fan of fake sugar either, but let's not start any riots here over the health factor. if you want to read more about either go here: http://nutrition.about.com/od/calories/p/aspartame.htm
i read that article and its legit.
my credibility? pharmacy student who understands the chemical structure of both materials.
bake on!
What a pretty cake! So pretty, I went and looked for the Betty Crocker gels, and, like others have mentioned here, found only a 4-color pack. Plus, I am so *NOT* on a diet, I think I will make a regular white cake mix. Now, I did go online and find a retail site that sells individual gel colors in normal-person sizes. (Not just bakers gallons!) I just did a search on "gel food color", got a bucnh. I ended up sepnding just under $15 for six 3/4 of an ounce gel food colors, including first class shipping...I think the site was bakerstools.com. I wanna try 3 minute frosting (or "boiled frosting" that my Grandma used to make), but will probably just use a premade white frosting on my first try. Hope it will be good enough to photogrpah! This will be practice for a May Day cake!
Qestion for the Blogmistress: the first cake looks MUCH more colorful than the second...is that just a trick of the photo? Did you use the same amount of coloring in each cake? It looks like if you want that incredicble vibrance form the first cake, you need to double to coloring as well as the cake mix!
And I agree:
1) The photography was amazing, especially those empty rainbow batter bowls!
2) The plain white frosting hiding the rainbowy cakeness...brilliant!
3) If you're gonna bitch about the unhealthiness of the dye, diet soda, etc., offer up some constructive suggestions on improving it, instead of just complaining and being such a highstrung tightass whiney biatch. Or just move along and get a life.
4)This was a great blogpost, and the instructions gave me the impetus and confidence to try this, even though I won't make it the same way. (Full fat, thank you! After all, it's a cake, not a regualr thing you eat all the time! It's not SUPPOSED to be non-fat or healthy!)
I'm sorry, but this is getting ridiculous!
Everybody complains about foods containing "chemicals"
What, do you suggest a cake should be made of? electricity? light?
the concept that anything not derived from a play is not "natural" and will riddle your body with cancers before killing you of liver failure is blatantly untrue fear mongering.
Additionally, Splenda and other sugar alternatives have shown np real detrimental health effects in recent studies.
hey.. is it possible to get the same result if i make the cake the usual way, plus eggs and butter instead of soda?
please reply to my email: fudgiepuppy@gmail.com
i wanna make this for my friend on her birthday :)
That picture of the dishes is awesome.
Oh, the cake looks cool too.
The photos are beautiful. The cake is nice, too. What kind of camera and setup were used?
Baking (and eating) are all about fun! Whether you're making an elaborate cake with expensive fat and sugar or breaking out the mix and food dye. You and your cake are awesome! :)
I made a cake like this and posted on my blog about a month ago:
http://girlsloveaguywhocancook.blogspot.com/
Omigosh i made this last night after reading your article. It was yummy yummy goodness! Also a lot of fun to make. I might want to make the comment that you need to let the cake cool before you move it...it completely fell apart, but it was still delicious.
for everyone who has asked:
this cake can be made with seltzer or another soda type product (I did it with Cream Soda once)
it can also be made according to the box directions (it will probably spread out more in the pan because the soda directions make a thicker batter)
if you can't find the colors you need, just mix the gel colors according to a color wheel to get every non-primary color you are looking for
Anybody noticed all the nasty snarky comments are coming from "anonymous"? They wont even post their name beside there comments tsk tsk.
I think it's super cute and since my sister loves tie dye, I will probably be making it for her bday chemicals and all :)
Since when was a dessert product supposed to be good for you? To all you haters on this blog, try limiting consumption of these supposedly deadly products and odds are you will be just fine. Almost everything you eat out there is fine for you in moderation. No one is telling you to eat or feed your kids an entire cake in one sitting.
Now, onto the blog itself. I love this recipe! I want to make it so badly :) Thanks for sharing it!
So.... I would love to make this for my 18th birthday party, which is going to be kind of classy but insanely immature at the same time. But I can't stand cake. (I know, I know.) Do you suppose this would work with cheesecake? Is that even possible?
oh my god! Oh my jesus god almighty! This is the cake from Hook! It's the never never land cake! I NEED this in me!
^ that comment made me giggle and say "That's what she said"
DIRTY!!!
I tried it and it is way too much batter and making a huge mess aand wont cook. Ugh, dang it
Ok it took a huge amount of time but it baked, I think. The biggest problem is the unlevel house with unlevel oven so cake batter dripping out side. Pictures will be on my blog at some point. Tastes like cake, yeah!!
This looks amazing! My mom's birthday is on Monday so I'm planning on baking this for her. My friend showed it to me . . . good job on creating this beautiful thing!
good god that is one ugly cake! it looks like the vomit jimi hendrix choked to death on. or was that janis joplin? I mean kudos for originality but... Ugh Lee.
Gorgeous photography though. ALSO, not too sure how all that food coloring, diet soda, fake whipped topping, and sugar-free pudding powder would actually taste - isn't a little plastic-ish?
I mean cake should taste like eggs and butter and milk and sugar and stuff, right? people be goin crazy!
Your pictures are gorgeous -- most food photography makes me want to lie down with an ice pack on my head.
After seeing this on Reddit I HAD to make my own! And I usually don't bake (as evidenced by my first cake breaking into delicious pieces). Mad props. Here's my pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/29745333@N02/tags/cake/
can you make this into rainbow cupcakes?? since the single box of cake mix attempt didn't turn out well, i'm afraid of cutting it down even more...
My sister, her boyfriend and I made this cake on Sunday together. We had the best time- thank you sooo much!!
I used ginger ale instead. (I'm preggie, so no diet sodas for me.)
I've never baked a cake with soda and so much food coloring so I suspect that's where I failed.
The cakes took a very long time to bake. Unusually long as a matter of fact. But watching it rise in the oven was so exciting!
The whipped topping was so good, as a matter of fact, my nephew couldn't keep his hands out of it!
One tip, to anyone trying this, LET THE CAKE COOL FIRST!! WE were so excited that we only waited about one hour before we started making our little tower- and the cake was so moist it just collapsed!
I have to say, it was still worth the time and effort.
Thank you again!! I love your blog!
thank you :)
I just used the same basic principal to make devils food cupcakes - carbonated water instead of eggs/oil/water (to avoid the aspartame) with the devil's food mix (Delicious!) and for the icing I used sugar/fat free white chocolate jello instead of vanilla, the whipped topping, and a few spoonfuls of Raspberry Jam.
It worked perfectly! I'm so glad I found this entry! Thanks!
And to all the naysayers out there - if you don't like it, don't eat it. My body is my temple and I'll put whatever I want into it! You can pick what you put in yours, tyvm.
This cake grosses me out. I've always been a health-conscious person, and have learned that your best bet is to use real natural ingredients and watch your indulgence. One time I tried making a quesadilla using non-fat cheese, it was disgusting! So sticky, I knew it'd be sitting in my intestines for weeks! I had to throw it out and use the real stuff instead. I do get that I can choose to use my own cake batter and color it just the same, so cheers to that idea!
This is a terrible idea: Diet soda and food coloring? Uhg. Wow.
Wow! You totally just made my day. I'm doing a baking event with kids tomorrow night, and wanted something fun that they've never seen before.
I had no inspiration, and voila! Here it is! As to commenters who don't like fake sugars, neither do I. I'll just use real soda. Super excited too, not to have to deal with eggs & water and crap - pour the soda in, and let the good times roll!
Thanks!
THis cake is so much fun! May a piece a couple of times in a lifetime, not 3 meals daily for a lifetime...so getta grip everyone! Enjoy!
BTW, photos are great! The empty dishes and spoons make one lovely artwork...and using for a watercolor painting would be divine!
Awesome! My kids will LOVE it someday!!
I'll surely lik back to your post! Thank you!!
Holy crap. I'm making this.
Awesome cake!
p.s. STAIRS
How many WW points is this cake?
sorry that you're dealing with some weird backlash about the dyes and soda lol. this cake looks so awesome! i posted it on my blog w/ a link to your site (stole your pic, sorry, i didn't bake it yet, hope that's okay). i'm absolutely making this for my daughter's b'day! Thanks so much for the idea and inspiration.
amazing color~~~~
i like the cake so much .. jzt like the fruit sugars :)
Hey, this is an awesome idea! I just tried it last night and it was a big hit. I went a little heavy on the food coloring though so the colors are REALLY bold, haha..probably not something people should eat on a regular basis.
Anyway, I made a small modification: Instead of substituting everything with soda, I just replaced 1 1/3 cups of water with 1 1/3 cups of soda, and then used everything else as the box indicates (1/3 c veggie oil and 3 eggs). I also didn't use egg whites as some mixes call for - I just used the whole egg so as not to be wasteful, and it turned out fine! This is of course only if you don't want a fat-free cake.
Thanks so much for the idea, it inspired me to bake more! :)
My 3yr old loves to take rainbow baths... water + clear plastic bottles of food colored water= hours of bathtub fun and happy clean kids. She recently started asking me to make a rainbow cake. I had no idea what to do but googled Rainbow Cake and shazaaam!!! We had a ball making it for my moms Birthday party and I was such a hero for answering her rainbow request! It's so darn cheerful! A huge hit with everyone and my mom is a Weight Watcher to boot!
PS I fucking love all the cursing about cake!
Yum! I just made this cake, and it's now baking in the oven. I'm making it for my nana's 85th birthday. She'll get a kick outta this! Thanks!
I love this and am grateful for the post. Trying to make this tomorrow with four little kids for their grandpa's 60th Birthday. I love it. I love the colors and cannot wait to see if the kids poop colors! :) Thanks for all the time you put into this post. I am not that great in the kitchen, but I think even I can do this with all your direction!
I din't know that som many people could mean something about cake making ;-) Anyways; I am Norwegian and tried to make this cake with ingredients bought here. It was so much fun, and I even tried to make a photo session like you did. The photoes you made made me wanna try the cake! So I made you for my kid's birthday. I made the same mistake as you did the first time. I should have doubled the cake mix. And I didn't bother with the diet stuff. And last but not least. The coloring in Norwegian coloring isn't as strong as yours - but it was still cool :D
I am sorry it is in Norwegian, but you can watch the photoes: http://olava.wordpress.com/2009/02/08/regnbuekake-noe-moderert/
that looks so cool, yummy, and fun!
http://www.queersunited.blogspot.com
Betty Crocker supports gay rights.
xP Okay, I'll probably get on peoples bad side by saying that, but it had to come out.
Anyway, excellent idea. I love the colors. I'm definately making that for my friends on their birthdays
What a fantastic idea. Thank you for sharing it.
BEST thing ever! I LOVE IT!
I'm not even kidding, I am going to plan my son's entire bday party around this cake. It is too awesome. I love it!
Lindo bolo. Adoraria fazer mas para isso necessito que alguem ajude a traduzir. Grata
whooooaaaaa FOODGASM.
made a comment about your site on my blog, btw. :)
Hey, I'm here by way of beagoodmom.com
I tried making this cake for my husband's birthday, but instead of rainbow I wanted to make it purple and white all mixed up (he's a senior at TCU and those are the school colors). However, when I tried to double the recipe there was too much batter and I didn't realize it until it started bubbling over the side of one of the cake pans in my oven! Now I've got a terrible purple and white mess in there. Just thought you might want to add a caveat that you should definitely use larger pans if you plan on doubling the recipe. Way to go me for screwing up the easier than easy cake!
Made this cake in a bundt pan and it turned out great. As the colored layers cooked they curved up the side of the pan and when sliced looked like a rainbow! Thanks.
Made this cake in a bundt pan and it turned out great. As the colored layers cooked they curved up the side of the pan and when sliced looked like a rainbow! Thanks.
I don't see why you would want to fit in a dress size 2. There is no point. Enjoy food and life, don't make yourself unhappy dieting. It's a waste of your time!
Quote: "I dieted for 2 months and I'll I've wasted was... 2 months!"
genius!
Very cool idea and recipe. Could you use a toothpick to pull the colors into each other, swirl, etc. - Sort of like what's sometimes done with two colors of icing? I guess you'd have to swirl downwards though, to see it when it was cut.
What about little blobs of color in between to make polka-dots?
It would also be cute to make cupcakes with daisies or hearts made with a contrasting color in a squeeze bottle on top of each one.
OK, you've inspired me!
Thanks!
Lira@zandapanda.com
wowowowowowowowowwowow that is SO pretty, and SOOO chemically!
I LOVE it, and will DEFINITELY be making it for some fun future occasion! maybe even in all reds, pinks and white for valentine's day or something?!?
Visually stunning! I am going to be making this cake quite frequently..the rainbow poops are just a bonus!
I made this cake last night and it tastes DELICIOUS! I ended up using store bought frosting and the top layer had a removal-from-pan incident, but it was still lovely!
http://i44.tinypic.com/1z71qts.jpg
I "Stumbled Upon" this recipe and made this cake a couple weeks ago for my birthday and it was amazing!
I made the regular cake mix on the box, partly because I'm not really watching my weight and I just love making it the way Betty intended..and partly because I was bringing it in to school, where there would be about 13 hungry drummer dudes I had to feed (I am a music/ percussion major, and the only girl!), and I don't really think a bunch of grungy, poor, college guys would be into the low-fat taste of the cake. Anyways, they called it "Maura's Hippie Cake" because of all the colors and how it looked like Tye-dye so much. The colors were so bright and it came out wonderful and so delicious. I did not double the ingredients because I didn't need THAT much cake, but it still came out almost perfect! Thank you so much for the recipe! This was a great idea!
How colorful! I am definitely going to try this!!
this is freaking amazing!!!!!! i have never seen a cake like this in the world!!!!! thank you so much for the step by step. i will definitely be trying this out!!!!! you rock!!!!
This cake is amazing! :D
Just made one for myself and it's AMAZING! Not only does it look amazing, it tastes great!
Will be making this more in the future, too!
Thanks so much!
this page redirects to www.omnomicon.com/rainbowcake which is sadly a blank page, unless you stop it manually.
Can you please fix this?
That is lookin pretty cool :)
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