Eat the Rainbow – Well, Sort Of
We created this cake as a fun project to do with kids. Younger kids can help add food coloring to the batter and learn about ROYGBIV (the colors of the rainbow). Older kids can follow the directions for rolling out the fondant. Everyone can have fun creating the colorful pattern of batter. The cake could be covered with a simple white frosting and served that way, maybe with a sprinkling of non-pareils – or take the craftiness a step further and create the fondant topper. It allows kids to make an edible “picture” that they draw and create.
With purchased fondant and edible markers this is a super-easy way to make a big impression.
As you can see in the image, we made this cake on The Better Show for a segment called Baking with Kids During School Break – Get Colorful and Creative!
We had so much fun with Kian, our 7-year old assistant, that we decided to go hog wild and instead of staying within the ROYGBIV structure we just used the colors that we liked best.
That’s what is so great about this project. There is no right or wrong. Just have fun!
- 1 recipe Easy White Cake batter
- Gel food colors in Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet, or colors of choice. We used Wilton
- 1 recipe Confectioners’ Sugar Frosting, smooth and ready to use
- 6 ounces of white fondant, such as Wilton White Decorator Preferred Fondant
- Edible markers, such as Wilton FoodWriter Edible Color Markers
- Rainbow colored nonpareils
- For the Cake: Position rack in center of oven. Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat the insides of a 9 x 13-inch pan with nonstick spray and coat the bottom with parchment; spray parchment.
- Have white cake batter prepared and separate into 7 equal amounts in separate bowls. Add one color to each bowl, whisking well to achieve a solid, saturated color. Add red to the first bowl, orange to the second, etc. until you have all the colors of the rainbow (or whatever colors you like). Now you are going to create the rainbow swirl effect, which all about technique. Using a large soupspoon or an ice cream scoop, start adding blobs of colored batter here and there, alternating colors as you go to create a colorful tableau. There really is no right or wrong way, just try and keep contrasting colors adjacent to one another. Gently swirl with a butter knife or small icing spatula.
- Bake for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle shows a few crumbs clinging. Cool pan on rack for 10 minutes, then unmold cake onto rack, peel off parchment (if it sticks to cake) and cool completely.
- For the Frosting: Place cake on display plate and smoothly frost tops and sides with frosting. Cake may be served as is, or add multi-colored non-pareils for a simple topping. If you want to make the fondant “picture”, follow directions below.
- For the Fondant: Roll out white fondant to about ¼-inch thickness and cut into a rectangle that will fit nicely on top of the cake (size can vary). With the fondant still on your work surface, draw a picture using edible markers. Again, there is no right or wrong way here. Have fun and encourage creativity!
- Transfer fondant picture to top of cake, centering it. Cake is ready to serve or may be stored overnight at room temperature.
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