She made it for a special Magic Belles party and invited lots of little Flutterbud Friends! Cupcake Belle’s amazing Rainbow Cake has six layers – each one in a different rainbow colour! Here’s her secret recipe…
For the cake:
600g caster sugar
600g unsalted butter, softened
12 medium eggs, beaten
3 tsp vanilla extract
600g self-raising flour
3 tsp baking powder
5-6 tbsp milk
6 food colours in red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple
For the buttercream filling:
200g butter, softened
400g icing sugar, sifted
1 tsp vanilla extract
2-3 tbsp milk
For the icing:
1kg white ready to roll fondant icing or sugarpaste
How to make it:
- Before you get started, you’ll need six mixing bowls and six 20cm (8in) round cake tins. Grease each tin and line it with non-stick baking parchment. Preheat the oven to gas mark 5/190ºC/375ºF.
- In a very large bowl, beat the sugar and butter together until creamy, then add the eggs, gradually beating them into the mixture. Add the vanilla extract and stir it in.
- Sift in the flour and baking powder and fold it into the mixture until well combined. Finally, add the milk and beat until the mixture is smooth.
- Using a measure, divide the mixture equally between six mixing bowls and tint the mixture in each bowl a different rainbow colour. Start with a few drops of colouring and build up gradually.
- Pour each bowl of mixture into a separate cake tin, smooth with a spatula and bake for about 20 minutes or until you can insert a skewer and it comes out clean.
- Remove the cakes from the oven and allow them to cool in their tins for a while before turning them out onto a cooling rack. When they’re completely cool, wrap each one clingfilm and place in the fridge for at least two hours, preferably overnight.
- Once they’ve been in the fridge, the cakes will be easier to trim. Trim off the tops of each cake, so that they’re flat and even. Try to make each layer the same thickness. Trim around the sides to remove any crusts.
- Make your buttercream by stirring together the butter, icing sugar, vanilla extract and milk.
- Spread an even 3mm layer over the top of the purple sponge. Layer the blue sponge on top of the purple sponge, press down firmly and spread a layer of buttercream over the top of the blue sponge. Work your way up the cake, spreading buttercream between each layer. The order should be purple, blue, green, yellow, orange and red at the top.
- Once you’ve layered the cake together, do a final trim to make sure it’s even all the way around the sides.
- Now spread a thin layer of buttercream all over the cake - top and sides - to seal in any crumbs and give you an even layer for icing. Put your cake in the fridge for an hour or two to firm it up.
- Remove the cake from the fridge and roll out your white fondant icing to 3 or 4mm thick. Lift it carefully with a rolling pin and place it over the cake. Smooth it down at the sides with your hands and, if you’ve got one, use a cake smoother to get a nice, even finish.
- Finish off with an edible cake topper! We used a Magic Belles bell, but you could have anything you like – why not use your favourite Magic Belle or special wonder? Or a photo of your daughter?
