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Easy 6-Layer Rainbow Cake – Step by Step

April 2, 2012 By Kerry Cooks 728 Comments

Need to make a showstopping Rainbow Cake? Get my recipe for this Easy 6-Layer Rainbow Cake – Step by Step tutorial showing everything you need to do to make an awesome homemade Rainbow Cake 🌈🌈🌈

A super easy tutorial to make a stunning and delicious Six Layer Rainbow Cake! Perfect for childrens (and big kids!) birthday parties, it's made with a failproof Victoria Sponge mixture and cream cheese frosting.

A super easy tutorial to make a stunning and delicious Six Layer Rainbow Cake! Perfect for childrens (and big kids!) birthday parties, it's made with a failproof Victoria Sponge mixture and cream cheese frosting.

If you want to make yourself an Easy 6-Layer Rainbow Cake, you came to the right place! You'll love this cake if you're a big kid at heart (and real kids love it too of course!). If you want a recipe for a delicious Rainbow Cake, and to learn EXACTLY how to make it, you came to the right place! You’ll love this cake if you’re a big kid at heart (and real kids love it too of course!).

Thousands of people have made awesome Rainbow Cake’s using this recipe (see the comments and gallery of their awesome cakes!). Even complete beginners to baking have told me they’ve made this cake successfully (as well as 7 and 8 year old kids!).

Rainbow Cake is THE perfect cake for any celebration. Fun, pretty, delicious and AWESOME, Rainbow Cake never fails to make everyone smile!

Let me tell you right now – this cake is DELICIOUS! The concentrated gel colours have no effect on the flavour – a yummy vanilla cake sandwiched together with gorgeous thick cream cheese frosting! Soooo good!

If you have any questions not covered in this post, see my Rainbow Cake FAQs post, and if you need help, leave me a comment or tweet me @kerrycooksblog and I’ll help as soon as I can.

If you want to make yourself an Easy 6-Layer Rainbow Cake, you came to the right place! You'll love this cake if you're a big kid at heart (and real kids love it too of course!). There are not enough exclamation marks in the world to convey the JOY that this cake will bring you!

I first came across this awesome version over at sweetest blog ever Sweetapolita. I also came across this great version by Whisk Kid. Unsurprisingly, before I made this cake, I was SUPER intimidated by the idea of making a rainbow cake.

All the recipes I found used Swiss meringue frosting and supermarket cake mixes, so I decided to make an easy UK version using only everyday ingredients. It’s based on a victoria sponge recipe (with the quantities doubled) and topped with cream cheese frosting. It works a treat! And it tastes delicious too.

If you want to make yourself an Easy 6-Layer Rainbow Cake, you came to the right place! You'll love this cake if you're a big kid at heart (and real kids love it too of course!).

Rainbow Cake Secrets:

Essential tips about making this cake that will make YOUR life so much easier. Don’t skip this section!

      • SO IMPORTANT: To make a really bright and vivid rainbow cake, you need concentrated food colours. They’re called gel or paste colours and you can order them online. I get mine from eBay – they even sell kits of all the colours you’ll need for this cake, for Β£10-Β£12. It may seem a lot, but the gel colours last for years, and you’ll have enough to make many rainbow cakes, or Rainbow Cupcakes, or Rainbow anything! If you have a cake decorating shop near you, try there as they will definitely sell them also, as do Lakeland.
      • There’s no getting around the tip above – many readers have told me they’ve tried liquid food colouring (your rainbow cake will be a huge disaster) and some of the gel colourings available in supermarkets (in the UK at least, such as the Dr Oetker range of gel colours – also very poor results) – if you want an AWESOME rainbow cake, you need to use the recommended colourings.

    • Don’t have six same sized cake pans? You don’t need them! I use disposable tin foil ‘flan cases’ that I found in Wilko (I used these ones, which are 6 inches). Supermarkets also increasingly sell disposable cake cases, in loaf and other shapes. But don’t worry if you can’t find anything like this, you can just use regular cake tins – depending on how many you own, you’ll need to cook the cakes in stages (if you own three, two stages isn’t too much hassle, if you only own two cake tins I would consider buying/borrowing another one). Another plus of using tin foil tins is that you can cut down the sides and get the cake out easily if it gets stuck, plus there’s no washing up!
    • This recipe makes a 6 to 8 inch Rainbow Cake, depending on the pans you use. With 6 inch pans, your cakes will be thicker giving you a VERY tall cake. With 8 inch, they’ll be thinner (around 1cm for each layer, giving a more regular sized, though still tall, cake). If you’d prefer your rainbow cake to have thinner layers and be less skyscraper like, simply use 8 inch can tins rather than 6 inch.

A super easy tutorial to make a stunning and delicious Six Layer Rainbow Cake! Perfect for childrens (and big kids!) birthday parties, it's made with a failproof Victoria Sponge mixture and cream cheese frosting.Β 

Ideal Rainbow Cake Timeline

You absolutely CAN make, bake and decorate a Rainbow Cake all in one evening, BUT you will make it so much easier on yourself if you follow this timeline and make it over a couple of days. After all, last minute stress is the last thing you want before a birthday party or big occasion!

Baking the cakes then freezing them straight away also means that the cake stays super fresh and it’s so much easier to frost too.

Assuming you want your Rainbow Cake to be eaten on Saturday Afternoon:

Thursday evening: Bake your cakes! It takes me about 60 minutes to mix, colour and bake all the layers. Let them cool, then remove each cake from the tin and wrap in foil, then pop into the freezer.

Friday evening: Remove the cakes from the freezer and put them into the fridge to defrost overnight. Make the cream cheese frosting and put into the fridge overnight.

Saturday morning: Frost your cake – it will be much easier once it’s been frozen, even for a little while!

If you have any questions, see my Rainbow Cake FAQs post, and if you need help, leave me a comment or tweet me @kerrycooksblog and I’ll help asap!

4.9 from 51 reviews
Easy 6-Layer Rainbow Cake
 
Save Print
Prep time
60 mins
Cook time
10 mins
Total time
1 hour 10 mins
 
A gorgeous 6 layer rainbow cake topped with cream cheese frosting!
Author: Kerry Cooks
Ingredients
  • For the cake

  • 350g self raising flour
  • 3tsp baking powder
  • 350g soft soft unsalted butter
  • 350g caster or light brown caster sugar
  • 6 large free range eggs (I tend to go for happy eggs)
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • up to 40ml milk - any kind

  • For the frosting

  • 100g butter, soft
  • 250g cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 600g icing sugar, sifted
Instructions
  1. For the cake

  2. First, preheat your oven to gas mark 4/170 degrees/360 degrees Fahrenheit and prepare your disposable tin foil tins by melting a couple of tbsp of butter in the microwave, and brushing the bottoms and sides of the tins with melted butter. Set aside.

  3. Use a stand mixer if you have one, but if not, don't worry - just get out your biggest bowl and a spatula!

  4. Cream your butter and sugar until combined and light and fluffy - a couple of minutes of beating on high speed in a stand mixer. Then, add eggs one at a time followed by a little of the flour and mix well (with the mixer now on slow) before adding remaining flour, baking powder and vanilla extract.

  5. If your mix is a little thick as mine was, add up to 40ml of - adding a tablespoon at a time and stopping when you get to a consistency that you're happy with.

  6. Next, divide your mix into 6 bowls (including your original bowl) to do your colours. I divided my mix by eye, not bothering to weigh my mixture and divide it exactly equally (hey, I'm not on the bake off!).

  7. Drizzle on some of your red gel colour and mix in. Using a silicone spatula works well here. Keep adding and mixing a little until you have the vibrant shade you want. Its actually very hard to go overboard with gel colours, but don't add too much at once or you may get a darker and less vibrant colour than you wanted. I usually add around a teaspoon of each colour. Ten minutes and an aching arm later, you'll have a beautiful rainbow of cake batters!

  8. Use a spatula to scoop all of your batter into a disposable tin (per colour of course - don't mix them up unless you want a tie dye rainbow cake!). Use the back of a spoon to smooth down each cake - this will help them to bake flat.

  9. Pop them into the oven and keep a close eye on them - you don't want them to get browned. I really recommend rotating your cakes so that none of them are on the top shelf of the oven for too long - you don't want domed cakes ideally. I rotated my cakes on the oven shelves throughout the cooking time (mine took around 20 minutes total), taking them out as soon as a skewer to the centre came out clean.
  10. When your cakes are cool, preferably wrap them in clingfilm and pop them into the fridge for a day (or freeze if following my ideal timeline).

  11. For the frosting
  12. Follow my foolproof method for thick cream cheese frosting.

  13. When all the icing sugar is incorporated, pop the frosting into the fridge to chill. As with the cakes, ideally, do this the day before you want to decorate the cakes.

  14. To assemble

  15. Put a little of the cream cheese frosting on the plate or cake stand you'll be using to adhere the first layer of cake. Pop it onto the centre of the plate, and then frost and put on the next layer. Careful not to use too much frosting, as the weight of the cake will push it out the sides of the cake- just a thinnish layer is best. After the first three layers, put the cake into the fridge for thirty minutes to chill.

  16. Continue stacking the cake, taking care to position the layers as evenly as possible, so that the sides of the cake are as straight as they can be.
  17. Apply a crumb coat of frosting to the cake, filling any gaps between layers. The colours of the cake will be very apparent, but don't worry. Chill for 1 hour.
  18. Apply a second coat of frosting. Chill for 1 hour.
  19. Apply a third coat of frosting. Chill until set.
Nutrition Information
Serving size: 15 Calories: 541 Fat: 31g Saturated fat: 19g Unsaturated fat: 13g Trans fat: 0g Carbohydrates: 84g Sugar: 54g Sodium: 481mg Fiber: 1g Protein: 8g
3.5.3226

Pin it to save this Easy 6-Layer Rainbow Cake – Step by Step for later

Β Rainbow Cake Recipe - How to make a Rainbow Cake! A delicious step by step UK-friendly recipe to make a bright and vibrant layered Rainbow Sponge Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting - perfect for birthdays! Rainbow Cake Recipe - How to make a Rainbow Cake! A delicious step by step UK-friendly recipe to make a bright and vibrant layered Rainbow Sponge Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting - perfect for birthdays! A super easy tutorial to make a stunning and delicious Six Layer Rainbow Cake! Perfect for childrens (and big kids!) birthday parties, it's made with a failproof Victoria Sponge mixture and cream cheese frosting.

A super easy tutorial to make a stunning and delicious Six Layer Rainbow Cake! Perfect for childrens (and big kids!) birthday parties, it's made with a failproof Victoria Sponge mixture and cream cheese frosting. Easy 6-Layer Rainbow Cake - Step by Step

How much will your Rainbow Cake cost to make?

At least Β£20, plus your time! You’ll need to buy a set of vibrant gel colours, if you don’t already have them, for about Β£12. The disposable tin foil cases I recommend currently cost Β£1, and you can expect the rest of your ingredients to be Β£7 – Β£10 depending on where you shop.

How many people does this Rainbow Cake serve?

Of course, it depends how big their cake bellies are (mine can fit in A LOT!) but this Rainbow Cake will serve 12 – 15 people comfortably. If you’re looking to feed a bigger crowd and you want them all to have some Rainbow Cake, here are a few things you could try

  1. make a batch or double batch of my Easy Rainbow Cupcakes
  2. double or even triple this Rainbow Cake recipe (unfortunately unless you have access to an industrial kitchen, you’ll still need to make them in several batches) and make a square or rectangular Rainbow Cake, like this one. You can easily get disposable tin foil roasting trays that would be a good size for this – they certainly sell them in supermarkets and shops like Home Bargains.
  3. make other rainbow themed food, like fruit skewers – I have lots of Rainbow party food inspiration on this Pinterest board!

How can I scale up this Rainbow Cake recipe?

Easily! This recipe divides by 6 (since it gives 6 layers) so it’s easy to scale it up OR down.

To make a three layer rainbow cake: We’ll cut the recipe in half! You might want to make a halloween, or a Christmas coloured one, or anything you like. Use 175g each of butter, sugar and flour and 1.5tsp of baking powder.

To make a 6 inch rainbow cake: Use the recipe as given above, it will give you a perfect Rainbow Cake but with thicker layers than the 8 inch version.

To make an 8 inch rainbow cake: Use the recipe as given above, it will give you a perfect Rainbow Cake but with thinner layers than the 6 inch version.

To make a 10 inch rainbow cake: You’ll need to use 465g of butter, sugar and flour, and increase the baking powder by half a teaspoon.

To make an 8 layer rainbow cake: So you want your rainbow to include pink and turquoise? Awesome! You’ll need to use 465g of butter, sugar and flour, and increase the baking powder by half a teaspoon.

Want to make a gluten-free Rainbow Cake?

Just replace the plain flour with gluten-free flour, such as Dove’s gluten-free flour (or similar).

Where can I get bright Rainbow sprinkles from?

Again, ebay! Or a local cake decorating shop will probably have some good ones. I’ve also occasionally found great ones in shops like TK Maxx/Homesense, Home Bargains, and supermarkets – but it’s very unreliable, and supermarkets tend to sell the worst, dullest ones.Β 

Β 

Can I make a Rainbow Cake with natural food colourings?

You can….. BUT it won’t be nearly as vivid as one made with vibrant gel food colouring. It’ll probably look a bit like this.

Want to cover your Rainbow Cake with fondant?

Simply cover the Rainbow Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting as the recipe, leave it to chill until firm, and then add the fondant. The Rainbow Cake is sturdy and will hold up to the weight of the fondant, plus decorations on top, without any dowels (the freezing part of the process especially helps with that so don’t skip it if you want to put lots of fondant on your cake).

This cake would be super duper awesome for a kids birthday party…. especially if you kept the rainbow part a secret… can you imagine?

Rainbow cake makes me so happy. Oh and did I mention that rainbow cake is just the beginning? Check out these amazing ombre cakes which use exactly the same method. And my amazing Rainbow Cupcakes, which are an even easier version of this cake!

Please share your Rainbow Cakes with me – tag me on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram so I can see and share! If you’d like to send me a picture of your cake, email me one at kerrycooks.com@gmail.com!

I would LOVE it if you’d leave a comment below and give the recipe a rating to let other people know what you thought πŸ™‚

Happy baking!

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Filed Under: Baking, Cakes, Most Popular Recipes, Rainbow Cake Tagged With: baking, birthday cake, cake, cook, food, How to get bright cake layers, rainbow cake!, what colours to use for a rainbow cake

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Scarr says

    June 25, 2018 at 8:44 pm

    When up or downscaling the recipe you say how much eggs, flour and butter to use but don’t mention the change in the amount off eggs?

    Reply
    • Kerry Cooks says

      June 26, 2018 at 9:37 pm

      Hi Scar πŸ™‚ In the example I give, I say ‘to cut the recipe in half’. Half of six eggs is three eggs. It’s really easy to work out – if you divide the recipe by 6 (it has 6 eggs), you can then times it by whatever number you want. So a bigger but not double sized cake for example would have ten eggs.

      Reply
  2. Lucy says

    April 12, 2018 at 8:13 pm

    Hi. My rainbow cake layers are in the freezer Now. Just wondering if I Should take the layers out of the foil TO DEFROST or leave them in? Is overnight in the FRIDGE best or can I just take out of the freezer AND defrost on the side the day I want them?

    Reply
  3. Kay says

    April 5, 2018 at 2:28 pm

    i am worried about adding the extra baking powder that it will giVe it a bitter taste. Sorry about the caps but I cant turn it off. Thanks

    Reply
    • Kerry Cooks says

      April 14, 2018 at 8:52 pm

      It doesn’t.

      Reply
  4. Victoria says

    March 19, 2018 at 2:07 pm

    HI Kerry – the cake came out very very dry for me. i followed everything and definitely did not over cook it. why does this need extra baking powder? too much baking powder makes a cake crumbly DOESN’T it?

    Reply
    • Kerry Cooks says

      March 23, 2018 at 9:33 pm

      Hi Victoria! I’m not sure what could have happened other than your oven running hotter than you think… it’s not something which other people has told me has happened to them and a LOT of people have made this cake :).

      Reply
  5. Monica MacLeod says

    March 12, 2018 at 9:53 pm

    Thanks so much for this recipe, it worked so well! I made it with my 3 year old and i couldn’t believe how well it turned out. The step by step guide was really helpful, and the cream cheese frosting was way better than anything i’ve made before. will be trying this again! Thanks

    Reply
  6. Grainne Shaw says

    March 8, 2018 at 2:08 am

    Made my first ever RAINBOW cake following your recipe and was DELIGHTED with how it turned out. Thank you for Sharing!! XX

    Reply
  7. Chantal says

    March 6, 2018 at 2:59 pm

    I followed the instructions for the 10″ cake tin size using 465g of sugar, flour and butter. also upped the eggs by 2. the layers are pretty thin and dense. edges are very unforgiving as you can imagine. i am sticking them in the freezer and hoping a tonne of chocolate frosting will help. will give the cupcake recipe a go tomorrow as i have 35 kids comning to the party and the cake will probably serve 12-16 at this stage. hopeful i can make the cupcakes work (anyway, wondering if this could this be from the additional eggs? am not a regular baker…should I not have added them? any other tips.

    Reply
    • Kerry Cooks says

      March 11, 2018 at 10:20 pm

      Hi Chantal! Not sure how the cake turned out, but the layers shouldn’t be thin and dense at all… I’d recommend checking the dates on your baking powder and self raising flour. The only other way the edges could be hard is if the cakes were overbaked.

      Reply
  8. Amy says

    February 9, 2018 at 7:01 am

    Hi Kerry, love the look of this recipe especially your suggestion of dispoSable foil tins as i’m not an experienced baker! Do you think i could freeze the cakes in the tins And just wrap around them rather Than remove the cakes first or would this make it trickier to remove them once they’ve defrosted? I’m Planning on making this for my son’s 2nd birthday this coming weekend. Thank you!

    Reply
    • Kerry Cooks says

      February 13, 2018 at 10:23 pm

      Hello! I’d never thought of that before but you can absolutely freeze in the tins! Once they’re frozen it should be easy to peel the tin foil away from the cake πŸ™‚ good luck!

      Reply
      • Abigail Elcome says

        February 15, 2018 at 12:19 am

        I wanted quite thick layers and i am doing it in 7 inch cake tins so should i double all the ingredients or just leave it the same? what would you recommend?

        Sorry about the caps, not sure why this has happened

        Reply
        • Kerry Cooks says

          February 19, 2018 at 10:21 pm

          Hi Abigail! I’d recommend leaving it as it is, it will still have thick layers πŸ™‚

          Reply
  9. Rebecca Wilcoxson says

    February 6, 2018 at 11:28 pm

    Thank you so much for your amazing rainbow cake recipe. Made the cake for my son’s 4th birthday and everyone loved it. Slight panic when frosting was lumpy but followed your advice and it was recovered. Everyone loved the cake, it tasted ANd looked fantastic!

    Reply
  10. Coline Craig says

    February 1, 2018 at 5:18 pm

    I made this cake and it was perfect so many compliments, i wish i could add a picture πŸ˜‰

    Reply
  11. Nat says

    January 29, 2018 at 10:12 pm

    Hi. Please can you confirm what temperature is needed for a Fan Assisted Oven? I’m guessing the 170 degrees that you state in your recipe is for a conventional OVEN? or is it 170 Degrees for FAn OVEN? Please confirm! Thanks so much.

    Reply
    • Kerry Cooks says

      February 4, 2018 at 5:14 pm

      Hi Nat, that’s for a conventional oven, so you’ll need to adjust down for fan assisted πŸ™‚

      Reply
  12. Lisa says

    January 2, 2018 at 11:26 pm

    Ive used this recipe three times now and just wanted to say its really nice! Ive had lots of compliments on the taste. I put the mixture into 3 8 inch Tins and did this twice to get 6 big layers and they came out really nice. Thanks!

    Reply
  13. Mila Mac says

    December 3, 2017 at 9:28 pm

    Hi kerry,

    I tried this yesterday as a test so just made half and while the cakes tasted ok, tHey sunk in the middle πŸ™ any ideas what could’ve gone wrong? I followed recIpe… so i Thought! WanTed to make it for my little girls 4th birthday. Sorry this is in caps. Its not letting me chaNge it!

    Reply
    • Kerry Cooks says

      December 13, 2017 at 10:30 pm

      No worries Mila, sorry about the caps! I’d double check that your self raising flour and baking powder are as fresh as can be. Sinking can also sometimes be caused by jostling the cakes before they’re risen, but I’ve never had that happen with rainbow cakes and I do move mine around in the oven quite a bit. Good luck!

      Reply
  14. Clare Donnell says

    November 2, 2017 at 7:09 am

    Hi Kerri, after practising last week I made the rainbow cake last night (WEDS).

    I finished too late to freeze it last night. Would it be worth freezing it now
    (v. EARLY THURS morn) as I need to decorate it late-ish (8pm) TOMORROW night (Fri) ready for the party on Sat?

    Also, I have never frozen a cake before so how long would it need to defrost?

    Reply
    • Kerry Cooks says

      November 4, 2017 at 6:10 pm

      Hi Clare – I’ve only now seen your comment, so hope people loved the cake!

      Reply
  15. Lisa says

    October 26, 2017 at 10:50 am

    Hi Kerry. do you think I COULD DIVIDE THE MIXTURE INTO 3 8 INCH TINS TO GIVE THICKER LAYERS? IM MAKING A Birthday cake and dont think a 6 inch is big enough in diameter. i was thinking of doubling the ingredients instead. have you done this before?

    Reply
    • Lisa says

      October 26, 2017 at 10:51 am

      Sorry about the capitals, dont know what happened there!

      Reply
    • Kerry Cooks says

      November 4, 2017 at 6:12 pm

      Hello! That’s a great idea – I would double the mixture if you want quite thick layers. The cake would be quite tall but it should be a showstopper!

      Reply
  16. twinkle says

    October 25, 2017 at 3:16 am

    Can I use the same recipe to bake a rainbow swirl cake (separate the batter into 6 colours, but then put all the batter into the same cake tin and bake at the same time)? How long would I bake the cake for then?

    Reply
    • Kerry Cooks says

      October 25, 2017 at 8:41 pm

      1)absolutely 2) I have no idea because I’ve never done that! πŸ™‚ Just keep a close eye on it in the oven

      Reply
  17. Becca says

    October 11, 2017 at 9:05 pm

    I Made This Cake Last Week For My Friends Birthday And It Turned Out Really Well! I Chose This Recipe As I Was Looking For A Traditional Sponge (Some Others Looked Quite Dense). It Took A Few Hours As I Only Had 2 Cake Tins So Had To Make 3 Batches And Wash Up In between.

    I Already Had Bought The Dr. Oetker Food Gels From A Different Recipe I Looked At And After Reading The Comments I Was A Bit Sceptical But The Layers Came Out Bright And Distinctive (I Used A Tsp Of Each), Although The Yellow And Orange Looked Very Similar. The Purple Looked A But Dull SO I Added A Bit Of Red.

    Thanks For A Great Recipe, I Will Make Again For A Special Occasion!

    Reply
  18. Marianela says

    September 15, 2017 at 12:46 pm

    Hi kerry! The cake looks amazing (and your blog too) I was WONDERING if I can use this for the concentrated food colours?
    Iam based in Dublin. http://www.tesco.ie/groceries/Product/Details/?id=252155972 Thank you!!!

    Reply
    • Kerry Cooks says

      September 15, 2017 at 6:57 pm

      Nope – these are the worst possible ones to use! You need to use gel food colouring like the ones I link to in the post.

      Reply
  19. Klementine says

    September 2, 2017 at 11:42 pm

    i made this cake for a friend’s birthday and it worked wonderfully! I used queen’s gel colours and a white chocolate buttercream icing, instead of your cream cheese, but the cake recipe was great. Just remember what a tall cake it’ll be…

    Reply
    • Kerry Cooks says

      September 9, 2017 at 4:05 pm

      Glad you liked it! It absolutely is tall but you can make it less tall by using 8 or 9 inch pans instead of 6 πŸ™‚

      Reply
  20. Claire says

    August 5, 2017 at 12:09 pm

    hi kerry
    i was wanting to make the cake today and freeze it till monday thats 3day .how long can i freeze it for ?

    Reply
    • Kerry Cooks says

      August 7, 2017 at 6:49 pm

      Hi Claire – if you take a look at the rainbow cake timeline, that’s perfect! Even a couple of days will make the cakes easier to frost, but you can also freeze the cakes for up to 3 months

      Reply
  21. sue says

    July 29, 2017 at 2:34 pm

    I am so impressed – it was so easy. used 8 inch foil dishes and discovered they can be reused for my next one – as I have been careful. now for the icing ………….

    Reply
  22. Kat says

    July 28, 2017 at 9:51 pm

    I made this cake following your recipe and it came out fab!! I wish i coukd show you a Pic! Thank you

    Reply
  23. Graziella says

    July 18, 2017 at 11:14 am

    I followed the recipe step-by-step and the cake was delicious and a show-stopper. Cooking time was approximately 17 minutes per batch of 4 alternating the cakes on the oven shelves once after 10 minutes.

    Reply
  24. Michelle Mota says

    June 27, 2017 at 10:35 pm

    Hi Kerry, Once filled and covered with cream cheese frosting should I store the cake in the fridge? I will be filling/covering it tomorrow, Wednesday, to eat on Thursday. Thanks for your help (sorry about the caps)

    Reply
    • Kerry Cooks says

      June 28, 2017 at 5:12 pm

      Hey Michelle! It depends on how warm it is where you are, but I’d err on the side of in the fridge, then out around an hour before serving

      Reply
  25. Vivian says

    June 21, 2017 at 6:35 pm

    THE RAINBOW CAKE LOOKS SO AMAZING. I CAN’T WAIT TO TRY IT. iT WILL BE A GREAT BIRTHDAY CAKE FOR MY KID. tHANKS FOR SHARING.

    Reply
  26. Adeeba says

    May 17, 2017 at 12:44 am

    Hi kerry ,my friend told me that if i beat the egg whites to meringue and fold into the batter cake it will becomes super moist , it is okay , Or it will infact my cake taste or texture ?

    Reply
    • Kerry Cooks says

      May 17, 2017 at 8:18 pm

      Hi Adeeba – I haven’t tried making the rainbow cake using this method – if you do try it, let me know the results!

      Reply
  27. Poldi says

    May 11, 2017 at 9:29 am

    Hi kerry i hope.i get a.reply.from.u.

    The self rising flour recipe.link u sent to.me was a bit confusing for mw. So do i still put 3tsp of baking powder even if the self raising flour recipe has baking powder in it too o i can exclude the 3tsp baking powder? And the link u sent me isnt clear either how many tsp of salt and baking powder should i out in 350g of flour they only have for 2 cups. How mang cups is 350 g anyway? Hope u notice my comment i want to bake this for my friends bday this week. Help me.out pls thanks

    Reply
    • Kerry Cooks says

      May 13, 2017 at 6:07 pm

      Hi Poldi, yes you still need the extra baking powder on top of the self-raising flour – as the recipe says.

      You can see how cups and grams relate to each other here – http://dish.allrecipes.com/cup-to-gram-conversions/

      Reply
  28. kasha says

    May 10, 2017 at 2:09 pm

    Hi Kerry,
    How far in advance can you bake the cakes and freeze them without affecting the quality please? Many Thanks!

    Reply
    • Kerry Cooks says

      May 13, 2017 at 6:24 pm

      Hi Kasha – up to three months!

      Reply
  29. Adeeba says

    May 5, 2017 at 3:08 am

    Hi Kerry ,I from Malaysia,can you give the measurements in cup.thank you Kerry

    Reply
    • Kerry Cooks says

      May 10, 2017 at 9:05 am

      Hi Adeeba – you’ll need to convert the recipe yourself – there are many websites that can help you do that.

      Reply
      • Adeeba says

        May 11, 2017 at 4:48 am

        Thank you kerry for your compliment

        Reply
      • Adeeba says

        May 11, 2017 at 8:38 am

        Hi kerry ,middle of my cake was totally underbaked ,but top of my cake was browned and edges of my cake was pull off prom the cake pan . Why it happened? Any idea or tips to fix the problem .thank you kerry

        Reply
        • Adeeba says

          May 11, 2017 at 8:43 am

          Hi again kerry , and my cake was stick to the pan , i already grease my pan and dust with some flour , hope you can help me or give some advice , thank you again kerry

          Reply
  30. Poldi says

    April 29, 2017 at 12:08 am

    Hi again kerry thanks.for the reply. So do i still put 3tsp of baking powder even if the self raising flour recipe has baking powder in it too o i can exclude the 3tsp baking powder? And the link u sent me isnt clear either how many tsp of salt and baking powder should i out in 350g of flour they only have for 2 cups. How mang cups is 350 g anyway? Hope u notice my comment i want to bake this for my friends bday this week. Help me.out pls thanks

    Reply
  31. Anna Tsingos says

    April 26, 2017 at 5:26 am

    Hello Kerry!
    I am attempting to make this for the first time, for my daughter’s birthday on friday. as it needs to feed 40 people (adults and children included), i think i may follow your suggestion and make a rectangular version (although i believe round looks better visually). Perhaps rectangular will cut easier for this amount of people. I saw that your suggestion for this shape leads to a link off your site and to other recipes, but ideally I’d like to use your recipe. Can you tell me how to adjust YOUR recipe for this? I thought perhaps using the trays of a regular sized (60cm) oven may work for the size. Suggestions?

    SAME GOES FOR THE FROSTING…. HOW MANY BATCHES (of the above recipe)? THREE?

    Thanks for your help in advance! Can’t wait to make it!!

    Reply
    • Kerry Cooks says

      April 26, 2017 at 7:45 pm

      Hey Anna! Hmm, 40 people… some options for you

      1 – make multiple rainbow cakes, or perhaps 1 round rainbow cake, 1 round ombre cake (same as a rainbow cake but ombre say from purple to pink) and some rainbow cupcakes (Recipe here)
      2 – make large rectangular rainbow cake big enough to feed 40. Dr Google tells me that you’ll need a sheet pan 11 x 15 inches to feed that many. I’m afraid I’m not good enough at maths to do the calculations for you and it depends on what size cake pans you have – you need a deep kind, like a very large brownie tin or large roasting tray. I’ve found this link though that can help you (based on the size of your pan) work out how much cake mix you’ll need for one layer. I would say that the entire cake recipe produces 8 cups of batter at the moment.

      But I would say that three batches of frosting would be sufficient for what we’re talking about πŸ™‚

      I’d recommend option 1 to be honest!

      Reply
      • Anna Tsingos says

        April 28, 2017 at 6:56 pm

        Hi Kerry!
        Thank you for your help! I tried doing a double dose of cake mix, but it wasn’t enough. It resulted in 4 layers (about 1-1.5cm thick). I made the equivalent double dose of frosting, which was enough for the 4 layers. For a tin that was like a deep, rectangular brownie tin, I would do 2.5 – 3 batches for 6 layers. The flavour was amazing!!!! WOW!!!!!!! An absolute winner with everyone! Next time though, I’ll be sure to opt for your first suggestion πŸ™‚ I want to try the ombre too at some point. Thank you so much for this recipe! I’ll be keeping it on my list of favourites for sure! πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

        Reply
      • tahmina says

        May 8, 2017 at 4:10 pm

        hi, i want to know if i’ll make 8inc round rainbow cake then how many egg should i use.as per ur recipe.thank u

        Reply
  32. Josandi Thor says

    April 23, 2017 at 8:30 pm

    Hi Kerry, i dont have an oven big enouge to cook all 6 without stacking them in the oven, is that ok? Also Whenyou talked bout rotating your cake pans, what does that mean? Can i make them in batches? Will it affect the quality of the cake?

    Reply
    • Kerry Cooks says

      April 26, 2017 at 7:47 pm

      Hello! That’s not a problem. One oven shelf (in my oven anyway) is big enough for 3 of the cakes, so I normally do 3 on the middle and 3 on the bottom, then swap them over as I don’t want any to become too browned, or to rise up in the middle – that way they stay nice and flat.

      Reply
  33. Poldi says

    April 22, 2017 at 2:05 am

    Hi kerry! That rainbow cake looks amazing cant wait to try it. Im from.tropical philippines and im.wondering if theres any way to substitute self raising flour cause we only have all purpose and cake flour around. What should i add or remove? Thank u!!

    Hope u reply back

    Reply
    • Kerry Cooks says

      April 22, 2017 at 11:56 am

      Hey! Do you have baking powder? If so you can make self raising flour yourself – https://food52.com/blog/8375-how-to-diy-cake-flour-and-self-rising-flour

      Reply
      • Poldi says

        April 24, 2017 at 3:50 am

        Hi again kerry thanks.for the reply. So do i still put 3tsp of baking powder even if the self raising flour recipe has baking powder in it too o i can exclude the 3tsp baking powder?

        Reply
  34. Kirsty says

    April 21, 2017 at 7:48 pm

    Hi am in the middle of making this cake have used the wilton food colouring and they looked great before going in the oven but have mostly come out colourless. Any tips how much colouring can i put in? Cakes have come out perfect other than that. Thanks in advance a frustrated beginner baker

    Reply
    • Kerry Cooks says

      April 22, 2017 at 11:53 am

      Hi Kirsty – as the recipe says, its around a tsp of each colour, but the really important thing is that the batter is brightly rainbow coloured before it goes into the oven. If it is, there’s no way it could come out colourless… Hope it turned out okay!

      Reply
  35. Jane says

    April 12, 2017 at 11:59 pm

    Hi Kerry
    Am in process of making rainbow cake for first time, v v excited! Thing is the purple mix was a fab colour when it went in oven but has come out and colour looks black! Any Advice? Will it be ok inside? Should i make another cake? I used professional gel colouring. Thanks xx

    Reply
    • Kerry Cooks says

      April 13, 2017 at 8:31 pm

      Hey Jane! Have you cut into it yet? What purple colour did you use? Wilton or Sugarflair is the best xx

      Reply
      • Jane says

        April 13, 2017 at 10:50 pm

        Hi kerry
        Thanks for Replying, The dye is called colour splash. Its stranGe because i also got the orange and thAt looks fine. Havent cut it yet, its for a party tomorrow but will let you know. Will remember those brand names for next time. Ps do you ever straighten your layers if cakes arent level or do you just eVen it up with the icing? ThaNks, v excitiNg! Jane x

        Reply
        • Kerry Cooks says

          April 14, 2017 at 4:41 pm

          Yes let me know, hope it looks good!! Generally I stack them so that a bottom ends up on top giving a flat top πŸ™‚

          Reply
  36. fozia says

    April 8, 2017 at 8:20 pm

    thanks Kerry! the instructions and tips are easy to follow. 8
    I made my niece a beautiful birthday cake! very impressive with little effort if you read the advice carefully!

    Reply
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Cookie-dough addict, rainbow cake lover, friend to cats, never met a pizza I didn't like. VERY enthusiastic human. Homebody and adventurer. Nice to meet you!

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