Rainbow Revisited

It was a busy couple months for first birthdays. After Jonah's birthday in August, a co-worker's granddaughter had her first birthday party in mid-October. She asked me if I would make some rainbow cakes and cupcakes in sticking with their loose theme of vibrant colors. She wanted 4 dozen cupcakes, a rainbow layer cake with a rainbow inside AND out and a smaller layer cake for the birthday girl to have to herself. I was a little concerned about getting the bright colors for both the cake and the frosting, but that is what she wanted, so that is what I did! After learning my lesson - and using most of my gel dye stash - for Jonah's cupcakes, I ordered the Ateco Spectrum Gel Paste Food Dye. It was cheaper to get the 12-pack on Amazon than to try to track down individual colors, so that is what I went with.

These were spectacular. I usually like Wilton products, but based on my rather limited experience I prefer these. They gel produced vibrant colors without having to use the entire bottle. I was also really pleased that the dye didn't alter the flavor of the buttercream that significantly. Bonus: The squeeze bottles were so much easier to use than the little pots that the Wilton's gel comes in and I didn't end up with dye all over my hands ands counter. Leery of the frosting not being vivid enough I prepared it the night before.

Of all of the colors. I will say I was most displeased with the red. It worked and I think I'm probably the only person who cared...but I have never found a red dye that I was happy with...this did come the closest though. The next day it was time for the batter. The recipe I decided to use was from Whisk Kid. I have lots of other white cake recipes I could have just colored, but I wanted to make sure the batter was sturdy enough to hold up in the thin layers, so I went with the recipe from someone who had previous success. If I was going to make this rainbow cake again just for a friend, it would have to be a GOOD friend, as this was a LOT of work, I would go with the white buttercream on the outside with the rainbow surprise!

The cupcakes looked so pretty before going in to the oven!

And Just as pretty once they came out!

A swipe of vanilla buttercream and some coordinating sprinkles...and the cupcakes were done!

I didn't do much in the way of process for the cakes...but here is the inside...

...and the outside as was requested.

It was an interesting experience...and a far cry from our first attempts at rainbow baking back in 2008.